Heritage window survey questions

Yes. Every survey and report is written to be submitted as part of a planning application or an application for listed building consent. We write in plain language and document findings visually, because the reader is usually a conservation officer working through a large number of applications.

It is the inspection that sits behind our window condition reports, and it is usually commissioned before a listed building consent application, before works are tendered or phased, or when someone needs an independent view on whether the windows can be saved. The professional survey page explains exactly what is recorded and what the finished report contains.

Yes. A survey measures the depth of the rebates, the size of the glazing bars and the condition of each sash, which together decide whether new glass can go into the original sashes, whether new like-for-like sashes are needed, or whether neither will work, and the report sets that out window by window for your consent application. Our guide to double glazing a listed building explains the options in more detail.

Yes. Our conservation area advice is a desktop review of your council's appraisal, any Article 4 direction and its window guidance, set out in writing so you know what is permitted, what needs an application and what an officer is likely to accept, before anything is drawn or ordered. Our conservation area guide explains how the rules work in general.

Our own surveyors carry out the survey and write the report, and every report is reviewed before it is issued to you.

A digital survey is assessed from photographs or video you supply and returned within 72 hours. An on-site survey is a physical inspection of the building. Where the report will support a listed building consent application, or the property has more than a handful of openings, an on-site survey is the right choice.

We send an upload link once the work is agreed. Photograph each window whole and square-on in daylight, then take close views of the meeting rail, cill, glazing bars and any area where paint or timber has failed. Interior shots are as useful as exterior ones.

Digital surveys are returned within 72 hours of receiving usable photographs. On-site surveys depend on the size of the job, the number of windows, how easy they are to reach and whether the building is occupied, so we confirm the programme in writing along with the fee before anything begins.

No. Heritage Window Consultants is an advisory practice, so we survey and report rather than carry out the work. If you would like a quote for the work once you have the report, we can arrange one through the right business in The Barnsbury Group, but only if you ask us to, and you are of course free to take the report to any contractor you choose.

Yes. The practice acts for private owners, architects, developers, managing agents and commercial landlords, on anything from a single listed flat to estates running to several hundred openings.

Yes. We carry out on-site surveys across the UK from our London base, with travel quoted per job, and recent work includes Liverpool, Harrogate and Belfast, while digital surveys are available anywhere.

That is a common position and often a correct one. A survey will establish how much original fabric survives and whether repair is viable. If it is not, the report will say so and give the reasoning, which is the evidence an application to replace needs.

No, and any consultant who says otherwise should be treated with caution. The decision rests with the local planning authority. What a report does is ensure the application rests on documented evidence rather than assertion.

Every property is quoted individually on its size, its heritage status, access and location, so there is no standard fee. Send us the details and we will put a figure in writing before anything begins.