Sash window repairs and restoration in Victoria
We restore, repair and draught-proof timber sash windows in Victoria and in Grosvenor Gardens, the streets around Westminster Cathedral and the edge of Pimlico. The buildings are mixed: Victorian and Edwardian mansion blocks, charitable estates, commercial frontages and late-Georgian terraces. Several conservation areas cover the area, and altering or replacing a shop front generally needs planning permission.
Victoria's windows
Victoria was largely rebuilt around the railway terminus in the second half of the nineteenth century, so most of what stands is Victorian and Edwardian. The red-brick mansion blocks around Westminster Cathedral have large two-over-two and one-over-one sashes, four or five storeys of them. The Peabody and other charitable estates nearby have big plain sashes built to light working homes. Grosvenor Gardens is French in manner, with stone-dressed elevations and tall windows. Toward Pimlico, the late-Georgian terraces carry smaller-paned sashes. In mixed buildings, the sashes above shops and offices are often the most neglected on the street. Large sashes several storeys up are where working from inside matters most.
What matters most in Victoria
Victoria's windows are mostly big ones, high up. The red-brick mansion blocks around Westminster Cathedral carry large two-over-two and one-over-one sashes stacked four or five storeys high, and the charitable estates nearby have broad plain sashes built to light working homes. Restoration of sashes like these is carried out from inside the flat.
Large sashes in flats also lose heat at the meeting rails and around the beads, so draught-proofing usually belongs on the same visit. The mixed buildings add a third concern. The sashes above shops and offices are often the most neglected on the street, and altering or replacing the shop fronts below them generally needs planning permission. Where an application needs drawings, we can prepare them. That is separate work and we quote for it.
What we do in Victoria
Conservation in Victoria
Victoria is covered by several conservation areas, including Westminster Cathedral and Grosvenor Gardens, and there are listed buildings throughout. Our guide to conservation areas and Article 4 directions explains how it works. Check your own address on Westminster City Council's conservation area and Article 4 map, and we will go through what your windows need at the survey. Where an application does need drawings, we can prepare them. That is separate work and we quote for it.
Common questions
Can you restore the sashes above our shop?01
Yes, and the shop front below. Upper-floor sashes over commercial premises are often left for years; we repair them from inside where we can. Altering or replacing a shop front generally needs planning permission. Where an application needs drawings, we can prepare them. That is separate work and we quote for it. Where a front has been badly replaced, we can advise on one that suits the building. See shop fronts.
Our mansion flat windows are too heavy to lift. Can that be fixed?02
Usually. A heavy sash that won't stay up is out of balance: a cord has broken, or the weights no longer match the glass. We re-cord with waxed cotton, rebalance the weights and free the sashes so they run properly. In mansion blocks we often find the same fault in every flat, which suits a building-wide programme. See restoration.
Do you cover all of Victoria?03
Yes: Victoria Street, Grosvenor Gardens, the streets around Westminster Cathedral, Vauxhall Bridge Road and Buckingham Palace Road, and on into Pimlico and Belgravia. A free digital survey from photographs is the usual first step.
Book a survey
Send us photographs of your windows and we'll tell you what needs doing and what doesn't, with a written quotation. The digital survey is free.
Free digital survey with written quotation