Friday October 9th 2026
Oliver Place
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Paul Kelly
An estate agent has withdrawn plans to spend almost £26k to replace roof slates on a listed building in Hawick over which concerns were raised about the potential presence of bats.
Andrew Haddon & Crowe WS proposed to use Spanish slates to replace the existing slates at the front of its tenement at 1 to 3 Oliver Place, a three-storey Victorian block featuring ground-floor shops with offices and residential tenements above.
Now the application is marked as ‘withdrawn’ on Scottish Borders Council’s planning portal.
A report from the council’s Ecology Officer stated that due to the age of the building, its slate roof and traditional construction, the building “could support bats” and that a bat activity survey would be needed before the application could be considered.
It added: “The building is also located near water, and this increases the chance that bats, in particular pipistrelle species, are using the roof despite it being located in a built-up area. A bat survey will be required.
“Given the height of the building and the fact that there are flats in the roof space, it is considered that an initial daytime walkover survey to check for signs of bats will have limitations.
“Therefore, it is likely that a bat activity survey will be required to be able to fully assess how bats will be impacted by the proposed works.
“This is unless a qualified ecologist with bat survey experience finds otherwise, once they have made their initial assessment on site.”
Bat surveys for commercial buildings in the UK typically cost from £300 to £6,300-plus, depending on the size of the building and the stage of the survey required.
1 to 3 Oliver Place in Hawick was built around 1878.
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