9 and 10 Ship St are Grade II listed properties owned by Oxford City Council. The properties are on the Medieval Town wall and are timber framed. A short heritage snapshot revealed that both 9 and 10 Ship Street, retain surviving building fabric from the medieval wall of Oxford, which survive within the cellars. Both properties were re-faced and re-roofed in the 18 Century whilst elements of the timber framed structure seems likely to date from 1643-1675. According to the Inventory of the City of Oxford, 1939, No. 10 Ship Street was re-fitted in the 18th Century and No. 9 has a newel staircase. At this date both properties were in a good condition The listing description confirms that no 10 Ship St was altered in 1969, however, from our initial inspection of the surviving fabric and a verbal description of previous alterations provided Oxford City Council, it appears that both properties were substantially altered at this time.
Oxford City Council have engaged James Mackintosh Architects Limited to prepare proposals for upgrading the building to comply with the stringent requirements of the HMO (House of Multiple Occupation) design guide and part B of the Building Regulations. Timber framed buildings are naturally difficult to upgrade for fire as there are often voids between floors and walls allowing a fire to travel from basement to second story. The good news is that there are many suitable construction details and specialist products to overcome this. Specified and approached correctly most are benign in conservation terms. An added complication is that in both properties there is no direct means of escape to outside, so alternative means of escape from the first floor are proposed.
We have currently prepared a strategy to for escape and to avoid additional claims whilst the work is on site plan to prepare bespoke details for upgrading each and every junction.