A Grade II listed 1780s Georgian townhouse in the Macclesfield conservation area, restored end-to-end — fourteen original sash windows refurbished by a heritage joinery specialist, lime plaster repaired throughout, full rewire and replumb concealed in the original fabric, and a sympathetic Shaker-style kitchen installed against approved drawings.
A 1780s Grade II listed Georgian townhouse in the Macclesfield conservation area, originally built for a silk merchant's family during the height of the town's textile boom. Three storeys plus cellar, four bedrooms, fourteen original sash windows, two principal reception rooms with surviving cornicing and ceiling roses, four marble fireplaces, original pitch pine flooring on the upper floors, and a Georgian dog-leg staircase that had survived 240 years of life largely intact.
The clients had bought the property the previous summer with one stipulation: every decision had to satisfy the conservation officer, and every decision had to leave the house better than they found it. They had spent six months interviewing builders before commissioning anyone. Our pitch was the only one that opened with the Listed Building Consent process, the heritage statement and the photographic record requirements — and the only one that costed the 12-week pre-construction phase into the contract on the same fixed-price basis as the build itself.
Twelve weeks of design, heritage statement, LBC submission, conservation officer pre-app and conditions discharge. Twenty-six weeks of physical works. The final account settled at the contract sum. The conservation officer's discharge of conditions letter was issued without a single re-submission.
The brief was unusually clear because the clients had inherited an interest in heritage from their parents. They knew what they wanted and they knew what they did not want.
Listed building work is a different category of project to ordinary renovation. The constraints are statutory, not preferential, and getting any one of them wrong can stop a build mid-flight.
Any works affecting the character of a listed building require LBC, and proceeding without it is a criminal offence. Our 12-week pre-construction phase ran heritage statement, LBC application, conservation officer pre-app meeting and conditions discharge in parallel with detailed design. Consent issued in week 11 with seven conditions to discharge through the build.
The local authority's conservation officer is the gatekeeper for every meaningful decision on a listed building. We held a pre-application meeting in week 3 to walk through methodology. Conservation officer attended at first fix and at sash window restoration completion to verify methodology against approved drawings. Both visits resulted in written sign-off rather than re-submission requests.
Fourteen original Georgian sashes, each with crown glass surviving in some panes. Replacement of original glass during restoration is normally refused by conservation officers. We retained a Cheshire heritage joinery firm specialising in pre-1830 sash work, restored each window off-site over six weeks, re-fitted with original cylinder and crown glass retained where intact, and refused replacement where the original frame was beyond repair (one fanlight only).
Modern wiring and plumbing must be concealed within original fabric without damaging that fabric. Cable runs were threaded through existing skirting voids, lifted floorboard runs and one redundant former chimney flue. Each route was photographed before installation and the photographs submitted to the conservation officer as evidence of non-destructive routing.
The conservation officer's LBC condition specified pure lime plaster (NHL 3.5) to all internal walls and ceilings. No gypsum, no PVA, no acrylic admixtures. Three-coat work on lath where lath survived, direct application to brick where lath had been removed by previous owners. Curing windows scheduled around two seasonal warm spells to avoid frost damage.
One of the seven LBC conditions required a photographic record before, during and after, formatted for archiving with the local authority Heritage Environment Record. Two thousand four hundred images taken across the project, indexed by room and date, delivered with the project file. Officer signed off the record on first inspection.
Listed building projects succeed when statutory consent runs in parallel with detailed design, not after it.
Pre-construction is part of the contract, not an extra. Most contractors quote the build, and treat the LBC application as something the clients sort out separately with a heritage consultant. We costed the entire 12-week pre-construction phase into the same fixed-price contract: heritage statement, LBC application, pre-application meeting, drawings, methodology document, condition discharge. One sum, one contractor, one accountable party.
Conservation officer in the room early. We requested a pre-application meeting with the local authority's conservation officer in week 3 of the pre-construction phase, before the LBC application was submitted. We walked through methodology, materials and concealed services routing. The officer's verbal feedback shaped two adjustments to the application before submission, removing a likely refusal point and shortening the determination period by an estimated four weeks.
One specialist per craft. Heritage joinery, lime plastering, fireplace restoration and cornice casting are four different specialisms. We retained a sub-contractor for each, brought into the project against an LBC method statement specific to their trade. No general builder doing heritage work as a sideline. The lime plasterer who has spent thirty years on listed buildings is in a different category to a competent generalist.
Photograph before you cut. Every concealed services run, every floorboard lift, every plaster repair patch was photographed before any work commenced and after completion. The photographic archive served two purposes: discharge of the LBC photographic condition, and complete provenance for any future works under a future ownership. The record is now lodged with Cheshire East Council's Heritage Environment Record.
Twelve weeks of pre-construction. Twenty-six weeks of physical works. Sequenced so each LBC condition was being discharged at the moment its work was completed.
Heritage consultant retained, full measured survey, photographic baseline. Heritage statement and method statement drafted. Conservation officer pre-application meeting in week 3. LBC application submitted week 5, consent issued week 11 with seven conditions. Detailed design coordinated with heritage trades.
Comprehensive photographic record before any work commenced (1,200 images indexed by room). Soft strip of post-1960 interventions: vinyl wallpaper, gypsum skim, plastic emulsion paint, redundant 1980s wiring left in situ. All original features catalogued and protected.
Fourteen sash windows removed and crated to heritage joinery workshop in Chester. Concealed cable and pipe runs drilled through skirting voids and one redundant chimney flue, photographed in progress. First conservation officer site visit in week 5 to verify routing methodology.
Three-coat NHL 3.5 lime plaster work to all habitable rooms. Scratch coat applied week 6, float coat week 7–8, finish coat week 9. Curing managed under monitored humidity, working in three rooms at any one time on a rolling sequence to keep the plasterer continuously productive.
Cornice runs in two principal rooms repaired in place where intact. Damaged sections cast on site from silicone moulds taken from undamaged adjacent runs. Three ceiling roses cleaned, two repaired, one fully recast and reinstated. Conservation officer signed off cornice methodology mid-phase.
All fourteen restored sashes returned from heritage joinery workshop. Original cylinder and crown glass retained in 13 of 14 windows, replacement 4mm hand-drawn glass used only in one fanlight where original frame was unrecoverable. Each window draught-sealed with brush seals routed into existing rebates.
Four marble fireplaces cleaned, polished and hearth tiles re-bedded. Pitch pine floors lifted, individual boards repaired, damaged sections replaced with reclaimed boards from a Manchester salvage yard. Mineral paint applied throughout (no acrylic, no PVA).
Bespoke Shaker-style hand-painted kitchen installed against the drawings approved as part of the LBC. Belfast butlers sink, freestanding range cooker, oak worktops. No internal layout changes to the listed fabric. Conservation officer second site visit in week 22 verified install against approved drawings.
All seven LBC conditions formally discharged in writing by the conservation officer. Photographic record (2,400 images) compiled and lodged with Cheshire East Council Heritage Environment Record. Project file delivered including LBC, heritage statement, materials specifications, and a 56-page conservation log for future ownership.
Materials and methodology specified for compatibility with 1780s solid-wall Georgian construction, signed off as part of the LBC.
Three-coat NHL 3.5 lime plaster system: scratch, float and finish. Lath retained where surviving, direct to brick where lath had been removed by previous owners. Total covered area 540m².
14 original Georgian sashes restored off-site. 13 retained original cylinder/crown glass. Cill nosings re-faced, parting beads renewed, sash cords replaced, brush-seal draught-proofing routed into existing rebates.
Cornicing and ceiling roses to two principal reception rooms restored in place where intact. Damaged sections recast from silicone moulds taken from undamaged adjacent runs. No off-the-shelf substitutions.
4 original marble fireplaces cleaned, polished, hearth tiles re-bedded. Cast-iron grates restored, blackleaded and reinstated. No replacement, no relocation, all original to specification.
Full rewire to 18th edition, all cabling concealed within skirting voids, lifted floorboards and one redundant former chimney flue. Period-styled MK Edge switch and socket plates throughout.
Lead pipework fully replaced with copper, concealed in floor voids. Cast-iron column radiators (period-correct profile) on a new sealed system. New combi boiler concealed in cellar plant area.
Original pitch pine floorboards lifted, individually inspected, repaired and relaid. Damaged sections replaced with reclaimed boards from a Manchester salvage yard, age- and grain-matched.
Bespoke hand-painted Shaker-style kitchen, in-frame doors and drawers, oak worktops, Belfast butlers sink, freestanding range cooker. No fixed cabinetry against listed fabric.
A Grade II listed Georgian townhouse restored end-to-end with all seven Listed Building Consent conditions formally discharged in writing, fourteen original sashes operating freely with thirteen retaining their original glass, lime plaster on every wall and ceiling, four marble fireplaces restored, original pitch pine floors saved, and a sympathetic Shaker kitchen installed against approved drawings without altering listed fabric.
Final account £218,000 against the contract sum of £218,000, no variations, no condition re-submissions, conservation officer's discharge letter issued without amendment. The photographic record (2,400 images) is now lodged with Cheshire East Council's Heritage Environment Record as a permanent provenance for the building.
We had spent six months talking to builders before we appointed anyone. Building Group were the only firm to lead with the Listed Building Consent process rather than treat it as our problem. Twelve weeks of paperwork, drawings and a conservation officer pre-application meeting before they put a tool to a wall. The conservation officer's discharge letter at the end was issued without a single re-submission. The sashes look like they were always meant to look. The cornicing in the back parlour was recast from a mould of the front parlour and you cannot tell which is which. The phrase the conservation officer used was "exemplary methodology" and we have it in writing.
If you've got a listed property that needs sympathetic restoration, we'll come out for a free site visit, walk the building with our heritage consultant, and put a fixed-price quote on the table covering both the Listed Building Consent phase and the build itself — one contractor, one contract, one accountable party.
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