Matte black air conditioning indoor unit on a white wall beside a grandfather clock

Air conditioning in a
listed building

London has tens of thousands of listed homes, offices and shops, and most of them can have air conditioning. What they cannot have is an installation designed on the day and drilled through whichever wall was closest.

  • Free survey, and we tell you what the property will and will not take
  • Fixed written price before anything starts
  • Permission position checked for your address first
Price it in 60 seconds

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Air conditioning we have fitted

Our own jobs, photographed on site. Real rooms, real outdoor positions, nothing from a catalogue.

All our installations
Outdoor unit on wall brackets, a job we fitted in London Air conditioning Outdoor unit on wall brackets Above brick, isolator and cabling run tidy Condenser going up on straps, a job we fitted in London Air conditioning Condenser going up on straps Lifted into a wall position, no scaffold Wall unit, commissioned, a job we fitted in London Air conditioning Wall unit, commissioned Set to 24 degrees and handed over Black wall unit in a sitting room, a job we fitted in London Air conditioning Black wall unit in a sitting room Chosen to sit with the room, not against it Ceiling cassette, a job we fitted in London Air conditioning Ceiling cassette Recessed flush into the ceiling Samsung Wind-Free, a job we fitted in London Air conditioning Samsung Wind-Free Cooling without a draught on the room Rooftop commissioning, a job we fitted in London Air conditioning Rooftop commissioning Pressure tested and charged on gauges Outdoor unit at ground level, a job we fitted in London Air conditioning Outdoor unit at ground level On paving beside the house, easy to service Black wall unit, running, a job we fitted in London Air conditioning Black wall unit, running Quiet enough for a bedroom One-way ceiling cassette, a job we fitted in London Air conditioning One-way ceiling cassette Only the grille shows Outdoor unit on paving, a job we fitted in London Air conditioning Outdoor unit on paving Against render, clear of the boundary Condenser high on a wall, a job we fitted in London Air conditioning Condenser high on a wall On brackets where the ground was not an option

Air conditioning can usually be installed in a listed building, but only with listed building consent from the council, granted before any work starts. The application shows the unit positions, the pipe routes and the equipment, and it is decided mainly on how they affect the building's character.

There is no application fee for listed building consent in England. Carrying out works that affect a listed building's character without it is a criminal offence, for whoever did or commissioned the work, not only the installer.

Read the full guide: 7 sections, about 3 minutes

What listing changes

Listed buildings: what changes the job
FeatureWhat it meansEffect on the installation
Listed building consentNeeded for works that affect the building's character, inside or outGranted before work starts; the design is the application
The whole building is listedInteriors, later additions and some outbuildings, not only the frontIndoor units and pipe routes are part of the consent
Historic fabricOriginal brick, stone, plaster, panelling and joineryRoutes go through later fabric wherever possible
Principal elevationsThe fronts and anything that matters to the listingOutdoor units go on the rear, a roof or a concealed position
Grade I, II* and IIMost listed homes are Grade IIThe same consent regime for all three
ReversibilityConservation officers favour changes that can be undoneSurface routes in painted trunking are often easier to consent

The order that gets it consented

First the survey and the design: where each indoor unit goes, where the outdoor unit goes, every pipe and cable route, and the equipment with its dimensions and noise figures.

Then, ideally, pre-application advice from the council's conservation officer, which most London boroughs offer and some charge for. It is the quickest way to find out what they will accept before anything is drawn up formally.

Then the application itself, with drawings and a heritage statement. The statement is usually written by the owner's architect or a heritage consultant; we supply the technical information it needs. Permitted development rights for outdoor units do not generally apply to a listed building, so planning permission may be needed alongside the consent, and the council will say which at pre-application.

Only then the installation, built exactly to the consented drawings.

Routes through later fabric, not original

The pipework and the condensate are what do the damage in a listed building, not the units. So the routes are planned through what came later: service risers, existing voids, cupboards, later partitions and extensions, rather than through cornices, panelling or original floorboards.

Where a route has to show, it runs in slim trunking painted to match the wall. A conservation officer will often prefer that to a concealed route, because it can be removed in twenty years and leave the building as it was.

Where the outdoor unit can go

Behind a parapet on a flat roof, out of sight from the street, is often the best position in central London. Rear courtyards, basement vaults and later extensions are the other usual answers.

The one position that is almost never accepted is the principal elevation. Where there is no hidden position at all, an acoustic and visual enclosure can sometimes make a rear position acceptable.

Indoor units that suit the room

In rooms with fine plasterwork a floor-standing console under a window is often the answer, because it leaves the walls and the ceiling alone. In rooms with a later ceiling, a slim ducted unit can be hidden entirely.

Where a wall unit is right, a black or dark grey unit on a dark wall disappears in a way a white one never will.

What it costs

Listed buildings: installed prices
ScopeSystemInstalled price
One room, on a conservation-sensitive routeWall or floor unit£2,700 to £3,800
Floor-standing consoleWhere the walls or plasterwork rule out a wall unit£2,550 to £3,850
Slim ducted, hidden in a later ceiling or voidGrilles onlyAdd £900 to £1,500
Pipework boxed or trunked and painted to matchReversible, and often what consent asks forAdd £180 to £600
Listed building consentCouncil applicationNo fee in England

Every figure on this site is an estimate built from the quotations we issued in 2026 and our own installation experience. It is not a quotation. The price you are given after the free survey is the price you pay.

Other property types

Period houses

Most of inner London's housing was built before anybody imagined cooling it.

Period houses

Terraced houses

A terrace gives you one usable elevation and a neighbour close enough to hear everything.

Terraced houses

Whole house

Doing the whole house at once is cheaper per room than doing it a room at a time, and it is not always the right answer.

Whole house

New builds

New homes are built to keep heat in, and plenty of them do it too well: big windows, airtight walls and a top floor that holds the afternoon until midnight.

New builds

Flats

Two permissions rather than one, the licence pack, and the order that decides whether it is expensive.

Leasehold flats
An outdoor air conditioning unit we fitted on brackets on a London rear wall

Your estimate

£2,400to£3,200

Supplied, fitted, commissioned and certificated. Includes VAT.

Price it for this property

Where the outdoor unit can go is the adjustment that moves a price most in this kind of property, so it is the second question.

How many rooms?
Where can the outdoor unit go?

Last step: where do we send your written price?

Every figure on this site is an estimate built from the quotations we issued in 2026 and our own installation experience. It is not a quotation. The price you are given after the free survey is the price you pay.

Listed buildings: common questions

Do I need listed building consent for air conditioning?

Almost always. The listing covers the whole building, inside and out, and fixing units to it and running pipes through it affects its character.

If in doubt, the council's conservation officer decides, and asking before the work is the only safe order.

How long does listed building consent take?

The council's target for deciding most applications is eight weeks from a valid application. Allow longer if pre-application advice comes first, and it usually should.

The survey and the design can happen straight away, so the application goes in complete.

Can the outdoor unit go on the flat roof behind the parapet?

Often, and it is frequently the position a conservation officer prefers, because it cannot be seen from the street. The roof has to carry the weight, and the unit sits on a frame rather than being fixed through the roof.

Planning permission, for how the rules differ for an unlisted house.

My flat is in a listed building. What changes?

Both consents apply: listed building consent from the council, and the freeholder's consent under your lease. Get the freeholder's first, because the council will want to know it exists.

Air conditioning in a leasehold flat.

Free survey, and an honest answer about the building

We look at what the property will actually take before anybody quotes anything, and if the answer is that a room is not worth doing, we will say so.

Call 020 3393 1331

Monday to Friday 9am to 7pm, Saturday 10am to 3pm, Sunday closed

Which best describes the property?

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