Non-standard construction
A Parkinson-framed house has a brick outer skin and the frame was not opened. What is the brick not proving about the frame?
The brick is not proving anything about the frame. A Parkinson-framed house has a brick outer skin, and the frame was not opened. The skin can look ordinary, repointed, or cracked, and none of those faces is the concrete frame behind it. The survey named the system and saw the brick. It did not expose a stanchion, did not test the frame, and did not confirm that the brick is tied to a sound structure. Outer brick is cladding in this arrangement. It is not evidence for or against the frame.
Last reviewed 24 October 2026. Written for buyers in England and Wales unless this answer says otherwise. No named surveyor has signed this page. It is general guidance, not a report on your house, and not legal advice.
What is the fuller explanation?
Parkinson frame construction puts the structural concrete inside, with brick as the visible leaf. Buyers often read the brick as the wall. On this house the brick is what was available to see, which is why it cannot stand as a test. A straight brick elevation can front a deteriorated frame. A cracked brick elevation can be a skin movement that never reached the frame. The inspection cannot choose, because the frame was not opened. The name records the system. The brick records the skin.
Ask the solicitor for any frame repair certificate or engineer’s report, and keep the brick condition as a separate note about the skin. If the frame must be known, instruct a specialist to open it under an agreed brief. Do not tell a lender the structure is conventional because the outside is brick. The survey called it Parkinson-framed. The brick did not prove the frame.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- What did you see of the brick skin, and what of the frame was opened?
- Which features led you to call the house Parkinson-framed?
- Did you treat the brick as cladding rather than as proof of the frame?
What are the typical next steps?
- Keep the brick note separate from the unopened frame.
- Ask the solicitor for any frame repair certificate.
- Instruct a specialist to open the frame if its condition must be known.
Costs vary with the building and with who you instruct. Where this page does not cite a published figure, ask the surveyor, a relevant specialist, or your solicitor for a written quote. Do not treat a forum average as the price.
Also asked about this
If the brick is plumb, is the frame plumb too?
The survey cannot say. The brick skin was seen and the frame was not opened, so a plumb skin is not a plumb frame. The Parkinson name stands. Nothing in the brick elevation tested the concrete inside it. Plumb brick proves the face that was measured, and only that face.
Does repointing of the brick count as work to the frame?
No. Repointing is mortar in the skin. The frame was not opened, and the survey has not called mortar a repair of the Parkinson concrete. The brick is not proving the frame sound, repaired, or decayed. Those would require a look the inspection did not have.