A whole house renovation pulls structure, services, finishes and consents into a single programme. In Epping that programme has to respect a conservation area running through the middle of the town, and a housing stock spanning the 17th century to the 1970s. We coordinate the trades and the applications, with one point of contact. Free, no obligation quotations, and the company is fully insured.
Which parts of Epping are in a conservation area
Epping Forest District Council's conservation area register lists 26 conservation areas, five of them prefixed Epping: Epping, Bell Common, Coopersale Street, Copped Hall and Hill Hall. Epping Conservation Area covers the centre of the town and was originally designated in 1969. Bell Common is a conservation area in its own right, on the High Road on the southern approach to Epping. It provides the transition between Epping Forest and the built up area that forms the outskirts of the town.
Whether your address falls inside one of those boundaries changes what counts as permitted development and what needs an application. It is the first thing to establish, before a specification is written or a budget is set.
The materials the conservation area expects
The Epping Conservation Area Character Appraisal names brick, render and weatherboarding as the traditional external walling materials of the area, with plain clay tiles, pantiles and slate on the roofs. The Cottis family ran a brickworks next to Epping station, and the Epping Town Neighbourhood Plan records that houses built from Cottis bricks still stand in the town.
The Epping Conservation Area Management Plan asks that unsympathetic modern materials such as uPVC, untreated aluminium and concrete roof tiles are discouraged in the conservation area. Inside the boundary that shapes windows, rainwater goods and roof coverings. We price to the specification that will be accepted rather than to the cheapest equivalent, so the budget survives the planning response.
No Article 4 direction applies to Epping town
None of Epping Forest District Council's published Article 4 directions applies to Epping town. The seven area directions cover sites at Loughton, Waltham Abbey, Nazeing and Sheering, and a further direction covers the St John's conservation area in Buckhurst Hill. So permitted development rights have not been withdrawn here by that route, although conservation area and listed building controls still apply in their own right.
Where they do apply, the council requires a Heritage Statement with any application that may affect a listed building, a conservation area, or a building on its Register of Local List Buildings. We coordinate the professionals who prepare it and keep it in step with the build programme.
The age of what you are renovating
The Epping Town Neighbourhood Plan records that the town was rebuilt in the mid 18th century after a major fire destroyed its earlier fabric. Older survivors remain. The plan names the Black Lion public house as the oldest of the 17th century timber framed buildings still standing on the High Street, and Beulah Lodge in Lindsey Street dates from the 17th century, refronted in the early 19th.
At the other end of the range, two large sections of the High Street between the George and Dragon and Station Road were completely rebuilt during the 1960s and 1970s. Timber frame, solid brick and 1960s construction each want a different approach to insulation, damp and services. We survey before we specify, because a specification written for the wrong construction causes damage.
- Snagging list agreed and worked through before handover
- Plastering, flooring, painting and decorating
- Damp treatment, tanking and timber repairs
- Cornice, skirting and period feature restoration
- Structural alterations and load-bearing wall removal
Why Epping Homeowners Choose GS Renovation
Epping sits inside the area we cover from Potters Bar, around 13 miles to the west, so a renovation here can be run as a continuous programme rather than in occasional visits. A whole house job needs one person holding the order of work: structure first, then services, then finishes, with the applications running alongside instead of behind. We appoint the structural engineer where structure is involved, and coordinate building control applications and inspections with Epping Forest District Council. Fully insured, rated 4.9 from 31 reviews on MyBuilder.
- Straight advice on what is and is not worth spending money on
- Dust screens and floor protection in occupied homes
- Wiring, pipework and boiler condition surveyed before we price
- One itemised quote covering structure, services and finishes
- Waste cleared as we go, not left piled in the garden
- Photographs kept at each stage for your records