Flat
refurbishment
in Great Missenden, HP16
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Flats are a small share of homes in Great Missenden, found in purpose-built blocks, in converted buildings and in commercial buildings such as those over shops; refurbishing one starts with the lease and with the floors and walls it shares.
The 2021 Census counted 366 households in purpose-built blocks of flats in the Great Missenden ward, 8.7 per cent of its 4,204. Another 34 lived in converted or shared houses, 20 in other converted buildings such as a former school or church, and 35 in commercial buildings, the category that covers homes over a shop.
Some of the village's flats are in listed buildings. Elmhurst, inside the conservation area, is listed at Grade II* under a name that records its flats, and its north wing has its own Grade II entry. For the High Street the 1997 Local Plan's Policy S10A provided for upper floors above shops and other businesses to change to residential use.
Sources: ONS/Nomis: Census 2021 TS044 Accommodation type, 2022 ward Great Missenden (E05013147); planning.data.gov.uk (MHCLG, Historic England data): listed buildings within the Great Missenden conservation area (entity 44010519); Chiltern District Council: Chiltern District Local Plan, adopted 1 September 1997 (alterations 29 May 2001; consolidated September 2007 and November 2011)
The lease, the freeholder and the neighbours
Most flats are leasehold, and the lease sets out the conditions you have agreed to, including whether you need permission to make alterations. We read it before drawing anything, because a refused consent can undo a design.
The Party Wall Act's term party structure covers a wall or floor partition separating parts of buildings reached by separate staircases or entrances, flats being its example, and work on an existing party structure is notifiable. Neighbours above, below and alongside are told before it starts.
We agree access, quiet periods and protection of the common parts with the freeholder or managing agent before a start is fixed.
Sources: GOV.UK: Leasehold property (printable guide); GOV.UK: The Party Wall etc. Act 1996 explanatory booklet; GOV.UK: Party walls and building work - overview
Which flat works in Great Missenden need building regulations approval
Building regulations approval is different from planning permission, and you might need both. In a flat the usual triggers are a new circuit, replacement windows, a bathroom with new plumbing and any structural change, while installers on a competent person scheme certify their own items.
Requirement E1 of Approved Document E expects dwellings, flats included, to resist sound from other parts of the same building and from adjoining buildings, and E3 limits reverberation in the common parts of buildings that contain flats. When a hard floor replaces carpet we add an acoustic layer so the flat below hears no more than before.
Converted flats carry a wrinkle of their own; the census found 34 of the ward's households in converted or shared houses and 20 in other converted buildings. Work needed because of a material change of use is building work under regulation 3, yet Approved Document E's internal-sound requirement E2 does not cover the existing walls and floors of a building going through such a change; we treat the old floors as needing attention all the same.
Fire separation matters as much as sound. The regulations count an alteration as material where it could leave a building failing the escape or internal fire spread requirements, so new openings or service routes through a separating floor are checked by Buckinghamshire Council's building control service or a private registered building control approver.
Sources: GOV.UK: Building regulations approval - when you need approval; GOV.UK: Approved Document P: Electrical safety - dwellings, 2013 edition; legislation.gov.uk: The Building Regulations 2010 (SI 2010/2214), regulation 3, meaning of building work (latest available revised); GOV.UK: Approved Document E: Resistance to the passage of sound; ONS/Nomis: Census 2021 TS044 Accommodation type, 2022 ward Great Missenden (E05013147); GOV.UK: Building regulations approval (printable guide)
Flats in listed buildings and in the conservation area
Elmhurst shows that a flat here can sit in a listed building, and works to a listed building may require listed building consent. The board's design guide adds that consent may be needed before a repair is even attempted.
Householder permitted development does not reach flats: the permitted development order's meaning of dwellinghouse leaves out a building containing one or more flats, and any flat within one. A change that materially affects the outside, such as windows of a new design, therefore needs planning permission from Buckinghamshire Council, while purely internal work falls outside development.
Inside the Great Missenden Village Centre conservation area, Policy CA1 asks for natural materials that match the buildings around and rules out synthetic ones, and the design guide's Great Missenden example warns that PVC frames rarely complement traditional buildings.
Sources: planning.data.gov.uk (MHCLG, Historic England data): listed buildings within the Great Missenden conservation area (entity 44010519); GOV.UK (Planning Practice Guidance): When is permission required?; Chilterns Conservation Board: Chilterns Buildings Design Guide (published February 2010); legislation.gov.uk: Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015 (SI 2015/596), article 2 (latest available revised); 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)
Shop-top flats and flats in blocks
The census counted 35 of the ward's households in commercial buildings, the category that includes homes over a shop. Where the flat sits over a business, the commercial floor gets surveyed too, since the services, the fire separation and the way in may all pass through it.
Our London team takes on flat refurbishments in Great Missenden with in-house architects, designers and structural engineers and with Hampstead Chartered Surveyors & Building Consultancy, working from the Finchley Road studio in Hampstead, NW3. Planning and listed building consent applications go to Buckinghamshire Council.
Because a flat is refurbished with neighbours on every side, we group the noisy and dusty work into agreed periods and keep the shared stairs and halls protected and clean.
Outside Great Missenden, 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: ONS/Nomis: Census 2021 TS044 Accommodation type, 2022 ward Great Missenden (E05013147); legislation.gov.uk: The Buckinghamshire (Structural Changes) Order 2019 (SI 2019/957), Part 2, as made (22 May 2019); Hampstead Renovations: The Mount, NW3 case study
Flat Refurbishment in Great Missenden: Questions
Do I need my freeholder's consent to refurbish a flat in Great Missenden?
Often, yes. Most flats are leasehold, and the lease says whether you need permission to make alterations. We read the lease first and prepare the drawings that the landlord's side will ask to see.
Which flat works in Great Missenden need building regulations approval?
Structural changes, new circuits, replacement windows and a bathroom with new plumbing are the usual ones, and items done by an installer on a competent person scheme are certified by that installer. The rest goes to Buckinghamshire Council's building control service or a private registered building control approver.
What sound insulation rules apply when a flat's floors are changed?
Approved Document E's requirement E1 asks flats to provide reasonable resistance to sound from other parts of the building, and the floor between two flats is a party structure under the Party Wall Act. We specify an acoustic layer under any new hard floor so the flat below hears no more than before.
Do window changes to a flat in the Great Missenden Village Centre conservation area need permission?
If they materially change how the outside looks, yes: flats have no householder permitted development rights, so a different design or material needs planning permission. Policy CA1 then expects natural materials matching the existing, and a listed building such as Elmhurst may also need listed building consent.
How do you scope and quote a flat refurbishment in Great Missenden?
We read the lease, survey the flat and the structure around it, and agree access with the freeholder. The quote follows the drawings and lists the protection of common parts and any acoustic work as separate items.
Are there flats in listed buildings in Great Missenden?
Yes. Elmhurst, inside the village conservation area, is listed at Grade II* under a name that records its flats, and its north wing has a separate Grade II entry. Works to a listed building may require listed building consent.
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