Victorian and Georgian houses, conservation area properties and listed buildings. Modern services and comfort, installed without stripping out what makes the building worth owning.
A solid-wall Victorian house was built to manage moisture by letting it move through the fabric and evaporate. Wrap it in impermeable materials — cement render, gypsum plaster, plastic paint, closed-cell insulation against the masonry — and the moisture stops moving. It accumulates instead, usually in the wall plate, the joist ends and the skirtings.
A great deal of the damp we're called to investigate in period houses is not rising damp. It is a breathable building that has been sealed by well-intentioned work, or a failed rainwater goods run that nobody has looked at in a decade.
The approach that works is to keep the fabric breathable — lime plasters and mortars, mineral or wood-fibre insulation, breathable paints — and put the modern performance into the elements that can take it: the roof, the floors, the glazing and the services.
Listed building consent is required for any work affecting the character of a listed building — internally as well as externally, and regardless of whether planning permission is needed. Removing a chimneypiece, replacing internal doors, altering a staircase or re-plastering in gypsum can all require consent. Carrying out unauthorised work to a listed building is a criminal offence, not a planning breach to be regularised later.
Conservation area designation is different and narrower: it controls external appearance, demolition and, in many boroughs, removes permitted development rights through an Article 4 Direction. Window replacement is the most common flashpoint — many conservation areas will not accept uPVC or will require slim-profile double glazing in timber.
We handle the applications and work with conservation officers and heritage consultants where the property needs one. The practical advice is to open that conversation before the design is fixed, because a scheme developed without it is frequently one that has to be redrawn.
This is where period work gets genuinely difficult, and where having heat, electric and build in one team matters most.
Very possibly. Listed status covers the whole building, inside and out, and applies to anything affecting its special character — internal doors, fireplaces, staircases, plaster, panelling and layout changes included. It is separate from planning permission and required in addition to it. Unauthorised work to a listed building is a criminal offence, so this is one to establish before starting rather than after.
It depends on the borough and on whether an Article 4 Direction is in place. Many conservation areas require timber windows matching the original profile and will refuse uPVC. Slim-profile double glazing in a timber frame is often acceptable where standard units are not, and secondary glazing is usually permitted where replacement isn't.
It exists but it is diagnosed far more often than it occurs. In most period houses we survey, the damp turns out to be a failed gutter or downpipe, raised external ground levels bridging the DPC, cement render trapping moisture in a solid wall, or condensation from inadequate ventilation. A chemical injection into a wall that has one of those problems doesn't fix anything.
Yes, but the material matters more than the U-value. Breathable insulation — wood fibre with a lime finish — allows the wall to continue managing moisture. Closed-cell insulation applied directly to solid masonry can trap moisture at the interface and cause decay in embedded timbers. We'd rather achieve a slightly lower thermal improvement than create a problem in the fabric.
Yes, routinely. On listed work a heritage statement is usually required with the application, and an early pre-application conversation with the conservation officer saves far more time than it costs.
What it costs, what consent you need, and what to check before taking a quote.
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