I’m currently digging out some footings for a conservatory at the back of our house and have come across and old well that straddle the boundary between ours and the neighbours property (obviously a shared well in the past).

Now for me I don’t think it would be much of a problem as I only need a shallow footing, and it looks like its filled in with rubble, but I know my neighbour is planning a proper extension in the future and would therefore need appropriate much deeper footings.

Can I just carry on with what I need to do and let the neighbour sort out any issues that may arise with his build in the future, or has it got to sorted ‘properly’ now. Doing it properly may delay things as the neighbour currently has a lean-to which goes over half the well!

Any advice welcome!

There are a few houses in this area with a well in the floor of the building including a pub that has made a feature of it in the bar

We had one when we extended- right on the foundation line. We had an engineer design the footings accordingly which from memory was reinforcement over the well with an overlap of about half a metre either side- its still standing!!

As pop larkin. Do a ground beam and span over the top of the well.

There were some houses put up in Hayfield not that long ago, some of which went over what was either a very wide well or an old quarry entrance – think they put beams across in the end

Do it now. You can’t really rely on the infill and it needs a proper slab. That will require work on both sides and if you leave it until the neighbour’s extension is built it will affect your new conservatory.

Sounds like you are on reasonable terms with the neighbour – maybe go halves on the cost? It would be worth making the slab suit the neighbour’s extension, eg, right level etc. Probably more a PITA for neighbour than you, given the lean-to and need to do spend money now, but by the same token, even more in their interests than yours.

I’m a civil engineer, btw.