Hi

My company have taken possession of a derelict building (currently awaiting final planning approval with works due to start at the end of this year to rebuild/alter)

The building itself is 4 storeys high, fallen into a state of disrepair (been empty years) and has had fire damage so is therefore dangerous (weak floors, no roof etc) but the front is listed so needs to be retained.

We have now installed a facade retention scheme built using scaffold & kentillage blocks (fully designed) to stop it falling down but my issue is how far do we as a company need to go to prevent intruders - if anyone access the scaffold they have many points to get into the unsafe building as there are no windows in it (if you go in the building there is a good chance of falling through the floors and dying as a result)

Would it be deemed we took all reasonable precautions if the site perimeter is fully secured (by hoarding or heras fence) with warning signage and the ladder access is removed from the bottom lift of the scaffold and a weekly recorded inspection of the perimeter fence ?

Should we be looking at boarding all windows as well? realistically speaking scaffolding is easy to climb up onto if people really want to, hoarding bottom of scaffold is not an option due to the complex design

By dangerous i mean the floors inside would not hold the weight of someone, they are too rotten and fire damaged

the whole building is to be ripped out once we get planning permision in place but likely we wouldnt start until the end of the ear by the time contracts are placed etc.

the new building will likely be steel frame connected to the existinng retained facade

Robert, it's all about what is reasonable and/or reasonably practicable.

Not clear from your posting where the perimeter of the site is compared to the building. Most of the sites that I have come across with similar conditions to those you describe face onto public pavements and usually a fence of hoarding would be erected along the face of the facade protection, sometimes necessitating pavement closure (and permission to do this from the highway authority).

But such sites tend to be in busy urban locations and yours might be in the middle of nowhere. So it's about judging how likely it is that people will attempt to bypass the protections you have already put in place including any Dangerous Building type signage and then deciding whether there is more that is reasonable.

That might include security patrols (visiting or permanent), but might not. 

No easy answer - each case on its merits.

I've dealt with one site where there was a boundary wall, client spent a fortune covering over doors and windows and those who wanted to get in just lifted manhole covers in the site roadways and got in to derelict buildings via the voids underneath, despite full time security presence. Then set fire to an A Listed Building destroying its heritage wooden staircase.