Most Cotswold houses weren’t built for the way we live now. Small kitchens, dark rear rooms, awkward circulation and additions that were added piecemeal over two centuries. Remodelling is often a better answer than moving, and it usually starts with knowing exactly what you’ve got.
Start with an accurate record
A measured survey produces a dimensionally accurate record of the building as it stands: floor plans, elevations and sections. It’s the base that every later decision rests on.
Working from estate agent plans or assumptions is a false economy in an old building. Walls are rarely square, floor levels change, and thicknesses vary. Designing on inaccurate information means the problems surface on site, when they’re expensive. Our guide to measured building surveys explains what’s involved.
Understand the building before you change it
Old buildings have logic to them. Where the load goes, how moisture moves through solid walls, which parts are original and which were added. Remodelling that ignores this causes problems later, particularly where modern impermeable materials are introduced into a building designed to breathe.
On Cotswold stone properties in particular, the interaction between the wall construction and any new work matters enormously. See our guide to Cotswold stone properties and surveying period properties in the Cotswolds.
Design that suits the house
The schemes that work best tend to:
- Put the new work where the building can take it, rather than where it first seemed obvious
- Keep the original plan legible rather than knocking everything into one space
- Use the difference between old and new deliberately, instead of imitating the original badly
- Deal with light and circulation, which are usually the real complaints
- Consider how the building performs afterwards, including ventilation and moisture
Planning and consent
Depending on the property you may need planning permission, listed building consent, or both, and conservation area controls may apply. Getting this mapped out before the design is finished saves reworking it later. Our guides to planning permission and conservation area surveys cover the basics, and for listed properties see listed building consent.
Common remodelling work in the Cotswolds
- Opening up the rear of the house to the garden without losing the character of the front
- Bringing outbuildings, garages and barns into use
- Reorganising upstairs to add bathrooms where there’s no obvious space
- Dealing with previous extensions that were poorly built or badly planned
- Improving comfort and warmth in solid wall construction, carefully
One team from survey to application
We carry out measured surveys, produce design work for remodelling projects, and deal with planning applications and guidance. That means the survey, the design and the application are joined up, and there’s no gap between the people who measured the building and the people drawing the scheme.
How we could help
We work with homeowners across the Cotswolds, Gloucestershire and Bath on remodelling projects, from single-room reorganisations to whole-house schemes. Have a look at our surveying and design page, or get in touch to talk about your property.
Frequently asked questions
For any meaningful scheme, yes. Accurate plans are what allow the design to be built as drawn, particularly in an old building.
Yes. We handle planning applications and provide planning guidance alongside the design work.
We’d tell you, and investigate it properly if you want us to. It’s better to know before you build. See our problem solving page.
