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Heritage & Conservation
Building conservation starts with evidence. A listed building carries a record of every decision made about it: repairs, alterations, interventions that helped and ones that caused damage. Reading that record accurately, before anything is designed or specified, is where the real work begins. We work on listed buildings, scheduled monuments and properties within conservation areas. Our conservation specialists work in-house alongside structural engineers, M&E designers and digital capture teams, so the advice is never fragmented.
Speak to our building conservation specialists
What sets us apart in building conservation
Historic structures carry load in ways that have nothing in common with modern framed construction. Importing modern structural assumptions into that setting leads to the wrong conclusions: over-specified intervention that damages fabric unnecessarily, or missed risk that goes unaddressed. Our structural engineering team works from what the building is actually doing. Where intervention is needed, we specify it to be compatible with the existing fabric.
Building conservation demands that you understand a building before you prescribe for it. Every crack, every layer of paint, every earlier repair tells you something about how the structure behaves and what it can accommodate. That reading has to happen before a single specification is written. It’s where we start.
Planning & consents
Listed building consent and conservation area advice
The Listed Building Consent threshold is lower than most owners expect. Internal works, changes to fixtures and some routine maintenance activities can trigger the consent requirement. We prepare submissions across the Grade I, II* and II tiers, including heritage statements and significance assessments for planning authorities and Historic England. We also support planning applications in conservation areas, where permitted development rights are frequently restricted.
Survey & investigation
Investigation before specification
Condition surveys that rely on visual inspection miss too much. Our investigation work uses materials analysis, architectural paint research where finish history is relevant, and 3D laser scanning to capture geometry without physical contact. Our digital capture team produces highly accurate as-existing records before works begin: a baseline that supports planning submissions, ongoing condition monitoring and future maintenance. Our Scan to BIM capability extends that into a coordinated model that the whole design team can work from.
Performance & sustainability
Energy performance in historic buildings
Standard energy efficiency measures rely on building physics that don’t apply to historic fabric. Historic walls are often vapour-permeable. They absorb moisture and release it. Adding insulation or sealing draughts without understanding how the existing envelope manages moisture can cause condensation and interstitial decay. Our low carbon building services team designs M&E and fabric strategies calibrated to how the building already behaves, sequencing improvements to deliver the highest benefit without compromising the fabric.
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Understanding building conservation
These are the questions we’re asked most often about heritage building conservation.
Building conservation is the practice of managing change to a historic structure in a way that sustains its heritage significance. Restoration returns a feature to a known earlier state using physical evidence. Renovation makes a building functional again, often without the same significance-led framework. Conservation is the only approach that requires you to understand what makes a building significant before deciding what can change.
Listed Building Consent is required for any internal works likely to affect the character of a listed building. That includes removing historic joinery, altering floor finishes or installing services that penetrate historic fabric. The test is not visibility from the street. Always speak to your local planning authority’s conservation officer before starting work; unconsented alterations can result in costly enforcement action.
Heritage building conservation is fully compatible with improving energy efficiency when the right sequence is followed. Address fabric defects first, then heating efficiency, then targeted measures compatible with the existing construction. Secondary glazing is one example of an effective intervention that doesn’t require replacing original windows. The key is understanding how the existing envelope manages moisture before specifying any changes.
A conservation area is a designated zone recognised by a local authority as having special architectural or historic interest worth preserving or enhancing. Approximately 10,000 conservation areas exist in England. Designation restricts permitted development rights, controls demolition of unlisted buildings and gives trees automatic protection. The specific restrictions that apply to your property depend on its location within the conservation area boundary.
Listed Building Consent is subject to a statutory determination period of eight weeks. Complex applications involving Grade I or II* properties, significant alterations or Historic England consultations regularly take longer. Pre-application discussions with the conservation officer are the most reliable way to reduce determination time, as they surface concerns before a formal submission is made rather than after.
