Old Pennar School - What you might get for the rocks etc...

Why demolish Old Pennar School?

One reason could be the value of the actual demolition materials.

This point was raised at the meeting in Pennar Hall on 11 June 2015. It was poo-pooed by members of the panel, the reason being given that the sale price of such demolition material was very low, and hence not a factor. I thought I would look into this. I came across a website that caters for the sale and exchangw of architectural salvage. This was SalvoWeb.com.

I warn you now, in advance, that if you look at this website you will either think about demolishing your house to sell it off bit by bit or you will buy all sorts of glorious features for your garden.

If I get a moment (or several), I will try and work out the actual income that could be generated from the sale of the building for salvage, but for now I will just quote some prices for items, similar to those that could come from the school, if it were knocked down in a moment of insanity.

Before I start, there is a well known story locally, (as to its veracity I cannot say, but there is oft truth behind the folklore), that the purchase of another iconic PD landmark was closely followed by its demolition. The amount paid for the building was reputedly £10,000, which was amply recouped by the developer who sold all the stone, timber and architectural metalwork for a price that far exceeded his outlay. Some, it is said, in the inns and bars in the town, even crossed the Atlantic to a new life in the New World.

Judge for yourself.

Stone work.

For example, if the building is built from random Old Red Sandstone or random Carboniferous Limestone, with just the quoins (corner blocks) and window/door surrounds of worked and shaped Carboniferous Limestone (the grey stuff) then the going rate for these materials is:

Old Red Sandstone random stones:  about £120 + VAT per ton.
Cartboniferous Limestone random stone: about £60 + VAT per large builders bag up to £250 + VAT per ton.
Worked and shaped Carboniferous limestone blocks: about £220 + VAT per ton.

Both of types of stone mentioned above would have been sourced locally.

Stonework around windows and doors   ...more difficult to quantify, but a small example I found online, being about 1.5 metres x 2 metres was £250 + VAT.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Timbers

The roof timbers would seem to be the original timbers put in when the school was built. c1873 and extended c1890.

If the timbers are deal (softwood): For example, 30ft x 15 inches x 15 inches, £350 + VAT per beam.
If Oak, a price of about £50 per cubic foot seems to be the going rate, give or take a few £s. The local source for timber, was of course the Royal Dockyard, which often auctioned off surplus stocks (and there was lots of it!), Some of the timbers might even be more exotic - who knows?

Roof tiles

If the roofing is Welsh Slate (I am a bit dubious about this, although that is how I have heard it described), then they are about £0.70 to £1.30 + VAT each.

Anyway, I do not think that the demolition materials are worth but little money? Do you?