London · Private residences
House renovation in London.
A townhouse renovation is a services and consent project wearing an interiors costume.
Prime London houses are old, tightly constrained and heavily governed. Planning and conservation consent, listed building status, party wall awards, restricted street access and neighbours who are entitled to their peace shape the project long before a finish is selected.
The construction reality is equally unglamorous: rewiring, plumbing renewal, heating and cooling, ventilation, acoustic separation, damp and structural repair. Those items consume most of the budget on a serious refurbishment and cause most of the delays when they are discovered late.
Método runs the project the way a specialist main contractor runs a commercial one — survey and investigation first, design and services resolved together, scope and cost frozen, off-site manufacture, sequenced installation, documented handover.
What the scope includes
- Measured survey, opening-up and condition report
- Coordination with planning, conservation and party wall processes
- Structural alterations, basements and openings where consented
- Full electrical rewire and lighting design
- Plumbing, heating, cooling and ventilation renewal
- Bespoke joinery, stone and specialist finishes made off site
- Heritage repair and retention of original fabric
- Furnishing, commissioning and handover
Local detail
What matters on these projects in London.
Consents and neighbours
Planning, conservation area and listed building consent, party wall awards, licences to alter and highways permissions all sit on the critical path. We programme them explicitly rather than discovering them.
Services renewal in period fabric
Running modern electrical, cooling, ventilation and AV through a house that was never designed for them requires route planning against original joinery, cornice and floor structure. Done badly, it is irreversible.
What is worth keeping
Original cornice, panelling profiles, staircases, sash windows and floorboards usually carry the value of the house. They are protected, repaired and matched rather than replaced with approximations.
Logistics in a narrow street
No lay-down space, restricted parking and permit-controlled access make off-site manufacture and scheduled deliveries essential — which is how our workshops already work.
How the work is controlled
01
Define
Understand the property, the requirements, the budget and how the home will actually be used.
02
Freeze
Resolve design, materials, engineering, specification and cost before anything is manufactured.
03
Make
Procure and manufacture the approved elements, with samples and benchmarks approved first.
04
Deliver
Coordinate logistics, site works and installation as one sequenced programme.
05
Close
Inspect, resolve and hand over a completed home, with documentation and aftercare.
Questions
House renovation in London — questions
- What is involved in a complete townhouse refurbishment?
- Typically strip-out, structural works, full MEP renewal, new joinery and finishes throughout, heritage repair where relevant, and furnishing. On a five-storey prime house it runs twelve to twenty-four months including consents.
- Do you work on listed houses?
- Yes, alongside the heritage consultant and architect responsible for consent, with method statements appropriate to the fabric.
- Can the works be phased?
- Sometimes, but whole-house services renewal is difficult to phase sensibly. We will give you an honest view for your property.
Start
Discuss your London project.
Tell us where the property is, what condition it is in and how you want to use it. We will tell you honestly what it needs.