Older houses, conservation areas and listed buildings

Listed building

Listed building consent is normally needed for drilling through historic fabric or fixing equipment to it.

Conservation area

Units on a wall or roof facing the street are the ones most likely to need planning permission.

Ordinary older house

Usually treated like any other home, with planning only in particular cases.

Historic England’s online list shows whether a building is listed. Each council publishes maps of its conservation areas.

This area straddles three planning authorities, which matters when you look up conservation area maps or make an application:

• Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead for Windsor, Eton, Datchet, Old Windsor, Maidenhead, Bray, Holyport and Cookham.
• Slough Borough Council for Slough itself, including Langley, Cippenham and Colnbrook.
• Buckinghamshire Council for Burnham, Farnham Royal, Stoke Poges, Taplow, Iver and Gerrards Cross.

The aim is that nobody walking past would know the house has air conditioning. The usual tactics:

1. Outdoor unit at the backBehind a garden wall, in a side return or tucked against a later extension.
2. Pipes through newer fabricRouting through a modern extension or rear outbuilding instead of the original walls.
3. Concealed indoor unitsDucted units in a loft, or floor consoles that sit below a sash window, keep cornices and panelling clear.
4. Matching coloursPipe covers and condensate runs painted to blend with brick or render.

Solid brick and flint walls are thick, and lime mortar needs care. A good installer core-drills slowly with water suppression, sleeves the hole and seals it with a breathable material. Ask how they plan to do it, and expect the survey on an older house to take a little longer than usual.