Flat
refurbishment
in Amersham, HP6
Designers, Architects, Engineers & Builders Under One Roof.
One Studio. One Contract. One Team.
Amersham's flats are a minority of its homes but a real one: purpose-built blocks around the hill town's commercial centre, a converted workhouse in the Whielden Street area, former farm buildings west of the High Street and rooms above shops. Each refurbishment starts with the lease.
At the 2021 Census, 833 households in the Amersham and Chesham Bois ward lived in purpose-built blocks of flats, 19.7% of the total, with 91 more in converted or shared houses, 20 in other converted buildings and 79 in commercial buildings, over a shop or in an office building for example. In Penn Wood and Old Amersham the figures were 485 (11.0%), 77, 52 and 33.
The Historic Towns Assessment lists blocks of flats among the building types of the Oakfield Corner zone, the main commercial point of the modern town; the 19th-century workhouse in the Whielden Street zone, now converted to flats; a significant amount of historic farmyard turned into modern flats in the late 20th century in the Little Shardeloes zone west of the High Street; and modern flats on the High and Over estate.
Sources: ONS/Nomis: Census 2021 TS044 Accommodation type, 2022 ward Amersham and Chesham Bois (E05013121); ONS/Nomis: Census 2021 TS044 Accommodation type, 2022 ward Penn Wood and Old Amersham (E05013154); Buckinghamshire County Council with English Heritage: Amersham, Buckinghamshire Historic Towns Assessment Report (2009)
The lease and the freeholder come first
Most flats are leasehold, held under a lease agreed with the landlord, sometimes called the freeholder. The lease sets out the conditions you have agreed to, including whether you need permission to make alterations and who is responsible for repairs and for dealing with noisy neighbours.
Floors between flats are party structures in law: the government's party wall guide describes a floor separating parts of a building with different owners, flats for example, as one. Work on an existing party wall or party structure needs notice to the owners on the other side.
We read the lease and any licence to alter before design, list the works that need the landlord's written consent, and prepare the drawings and method statements a managing agent usually asks to see.
Access is planned with the building's other residents in mind: where deliveries come in, which stair or lift we use, how the common parts are protected, and when noisy work is allowed.
Sources: GOV.UK: Leasehold property (printable guide); GOV.UK: Party walls and building work (printable guide); GOV.UK: Party walls and building work - work you must tell your neighbour about
Planning for an Amersham flat: no householder rights
The householder permitted development rights do not reach flats. The government's technical guidance says a dwellinghouse does not include buildings containing one or more flats, or a single flat within a building, and that in those cases planning permission should be sought.
Internal work is a different matter: works that affect only the interior, or do not materially affect the external appearance, fall outside the meaning of development in section 55 of the 1990 Act. New windows of a different design, a new balcony or an altered entrance are where an application comes in.
Flats over shops on the Old Town High Street lie in the conservation area, where Policy CA1 calls for natural materials like those already used and does not permit synthetic ones, and many High Street buildings are listed, 82 in the market and borough zone and 48 on the north side.
The 1997 Local Plan notes that former homes above shops can fall into disuse or become storage, and says that in such cases re-use for living accommodation will be encouraged.
Sources: GOV.UK (MHCLG): Permitted development rights for householders: technical guidance (September 2019); legislation.gov.uk (The National Archives): Town and Country Planning Act 1990, section 55 (meaning of development); Chiltern District Council: Chiltern District Local Plan, adopted 1 September 1997 (alterations 29 May 2001; consolidated September 2007 and November 2011); Buckinghamshire County Council with English Heritage: Amersham, Buckinghamshire Historic Towns Assessment Report (2009)
Sound, fire doors and services between Amersham flats
Approved Document E requires flats to be built so that they give reasonable resistance to sound from other parts of the same building and from adjoining buildings. Its guidance warns against hard floor finishes rigidly fixed to the floor base, and notes that a soft covering reduces impact sound at source.
Fire safety in a block rests on containment: Approved Document B's approach is that a fire stays in the flat where it starts while the common escape routes stay relatively clear of smoke and heat. A flat entrance door onto a common corridor is specified to E 30 S and fitted with a self-closing device.
Changing the layout inside the flat is checked against the same guidance, which treats escape within the flat separately: a protected entrance hall serving the habitable rooms is one option, and cooking facilities should sit away from the entrance door so they do not block the way out.
Replacing windows, a consumer unit or the heating system can need building regulations approval, though registered installers under a competent person scheme handle their own work.
Sources: GOV.UK: Approved Document E: Resistance to the passage of sound; GOV.UK (MHCLG): Approved Document B (fire safety) volume 1: Dwellings, 2019 edition incorporating 2020, 2022, 2025 and 2026 amendments and forthcoming 2029 changes; GOV.UK: Building regulations approval - when you need approval; GOV.UK: Approved Document P: Electrical safety - dwellings, 2013 edition
How we refurbish a flat in Amersham
Our London team takes on flat refurbishments in Amersham, from a single kitchen to a full strip-out: in-house architects and designers, structural engineers for any opening in a loadbearing wall, and Hampstead Chartered Surveyors & Building Consultancy for the survey. Any planning application goes to Buckinghamshire Council, and the regulated work is inspected by Buckinghamshire Council's building control service or a private registered building control approver.
Before work starts we record the condition of the common parts and the neighbouring ceilings with the managing agent, so any question afterwards can be answered from the record.
New floors are laid on resilient layers, pipe runs are isolated where they pass through separating floors, and the entrance door is replaced only with a certified fire doorset.
At the end we hand over the electrical and gas certificates, the doorset certificate and the building control completion paperwork, which the freeholder and any future buyer will ask for.
Outside Amersham, and in London rather than Buckinghamshire: Project example: Hampstead, NW3. That project of ours was a full renovation of a three-bedroom, two-bathroom flat in Hampstead, as its case study records.
Sources: Buckinghamshire Council: Building regulations and control; GOV.UK: Building regulations approval - when you need approval; Hampstead Renovations: The Mount, NW3 case study
Flat Refurbishment in Amersham: Questions
Do I need my freeholder's consent to refurbish a flat in Amersham?
Often you do. Most flats are leasehold, and the lease sets out whether you need the landlord's permission to make alterations and who is responsible for repairs. We read the lease before any design work and list what needs the landlord's written consent.
Which flat works in Amersham need building regulations approval?
Replacing windows, fitting a new consumer unit, installing or replacing heating and installing a bathroom with new plumbing can all need approval, from Buckinghamshire Council's building control service or a private registered building control approver. Work by an installer registered with a competent person scheme does not need a separate application from you.
What sound insulation rules apply when a flat's floors are changed?
Flats should give reasonable resistance to sound from the rest of the building, under Approved Document E. Its guidance says not to use hard finishes rigidly fixed to the floor base and notes that a soft floor covering reduces impact sound at source, so wood or stone floors go down on a resilient layer. Read your lease as well, since it records the conditions you have agreed to.
Do window changes to a flat in one of Amersham's conservation areas need permission?
Usually. Permitted development for householders does not cover flats, and window replacements that materially change the outside of the building need planning permission. In the Old Town conservation area the 1997 plan asks for natural materials matching the existing ones and refuses synthetic materials, and the freeholder's consent is normally required as well.
How do you scope and quote a flat refurbishment in Amersham?
We visit, read the lease and survey the flat, including where the services run through the building and what the managing agent requires. The written scope lists every item from protection of the common parts to final certificates, and the quote is priced from it line by line.
Which flats in Amersham do you work on?
Any of them: purpose-built blocks, such as those around Oakfield Corner, flats in converted buildings like the former workhouse in the Whielden Street zone and the farm buildings west of the High Street, and flats above shops. The census counted 833 households in purpose-built flats in the Amersham and Chesham Bois ward and 485 in Penn Wood and Old Amersham.
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