Air conditioning in Borehamwood
The one place on our patch with no conservation area at all. Here it is the house that sets the job, not the council.
Air conditioning installation across London. Based in Harrow and Stanmore.
Air conditioning in Borehamwood
Yes, we cover Borehamwood, and it is the most straightforward place we work for planning. Hertsmere Borough Council publishes fifteen conservation areas and not one of them is in Borehamwood, so unlike Stanmore or Pinner there is no designated area dictating where the outdoor unit goes. Note that Hertsmere is a Hertfordshire district rather than a London borough, so advice written for a London address does not apply here. What decides the job in Borehamwood is the house rather than the paperwork. Only about five percent of homes here are detached, against nearly nineteen percent across Hertsmere, and roughly a third are terraced and a third purpose built flats. That means access to the rear and freeholder consent are the questions that actually matter, and both are easier to answer before a survey than on the day.
Wall mounted systems start from £1,995 fully installed, and the price does not change with the postcode.
Planning authority
Hertsmere Borough Council
Postcode district
WD6
Conservation areas
None in the town
Detached homes
About 5 percent
There is no conservation area in Borehamwood
Hertsmere states on its own conservation area page that there are fifteen conservation areas in the borough, and it lists them: Aldenham, Bushey High Street and Melbourne Road, Bushey Heath High Road, Bushey Heath The Lakes, Elstree Village, Letchmore Heath, Patchetts Green, Potters Bar Darkes Lane West, Potters Bar The Royds, Radlett South, Radlett North, Ridge, Roundbush, Shenley and South Mimms. Borehamwood is not among them. The nearest is Elstree Village, which is a separate place immediately to the south. That makes Borehamwood unusual on our patch and it is genuinely good news: on almost every Borehamwood address the outdoor unit position is a practical question rather than a planning one.
Hertfordshire, not London
Borehamwood is not in Greater London. Hertsmere Borough Council is a Hertfordshire district, with its own local plan, and the London Plan does not apply. If you have read guidance written for a Barnet or Harrow address, it is the wrong guidance.
The postcode does not settle it either. WD6 straddles the county boundary: the Borehamwood wards, Elstree, Shenley and Aldenham are Hertsmere, while High Barnet on the same postcode district is in the London Borough of Barnet. Two different councils, two different applications. We check which one your address sits in before quoting.
The one Article 4 direction, and what it actually says
Hertsmere publishes a single Article 4 direction for Borehamwood, covering land at Theobald Street. It is worth being accurate about it, because an Article 4 is the sort of thing that gets cited to justify a fee.
The published document is a scanned direction of 27 June 2005, made under article 4(1). Its schedule covers the erection, construction, maintenance, improvement or alteration of a gate, fence, wall or other means of enclosure, which is Class A of Part 2. On its face it states that it remains in force until 21 December 2005 and then expires unless approved by the Secretary of State, and the published bundle contains the direction and its plan but no confirmation, so we do not assert its current status here.
Either way it concerns boundary treatment and not building services. It has nothing to say about where an air conditioning condenser goes, and nobody should be charging you for a planning application on the strength of it.
What Borehamwood is actually built of
The four Borehamwood wards combined, from the 2021 Census, against the Hertsmere average. This is the part that decides the job here.
| Home type | Borehamwood | Hertsmere |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | 5 percent | 19 percent |
| Semi detached | 29 percent | 32 percent |
| Terraced | 31 percent | 20 percent |
| Purpose built flats | 32 percent | 25 percent |
ONS Census 2021, table TS044, wards Brookmeadow, Cowley Hill, Hillside and Kenilworth, about 14,200 households in total.
What this means street by street
In a purpose built flat
About a third of Borehamwood. Planning is rarely the obstacle, the freeholder or management company is. Get written consent first, because it is the thing most likely to delay a date. Above the first floor a condensate pump is likely and is priced on the quote.
In a terrace
Another third, well above the Hertsmere average. The question is how we reach the rear: whether there is a side return, a shared alley, or only a route through the house. It changes the pipe run and it is easier to settle at survey than on the morning of the install.
In a semi
The most straightforward job we do. Condenser at the side or rear, short pipe run, usually a single day. Nothing about Borehamwood complicates it.
In a detached house
Only about five percent of the town, so if you have one you are unusual here. Bigger plots mean more choice of position and often a longer pipe run past the three metres included, which is priced per metre upfront.
One thing people get wrong about Borehamwood
Because Elstree Village next door is a conservation area with its own Article 4 direction, people assume Borehamwood carries the same restrictions. It does not. Elstree and Borehamwood share a name on the station and a parish council, but they are not the same place for planning, and the designated area stops well short of the town.
So if you have been told your Borehamwood install needs a planning application because of a conservation area, ask which one. On the council's own published list, there is not one to name.
Your planning authority is Hertsmere Borough Council
They decide any application for your address, and they publish the conservation area maps you would need to check it. We do not submit applications on your behalf, but we will tell you at the survey if one is likely and give you the unit dimensions and position to put on the form.
Hertsmere Borough Council conservation areasWhat we fit most in Borehamwood
Every price is fully installed and includes the unit, the installation, the electrical work and VAT.
Nearby
We work right across London. These are the places next to Borehamwood that we are asked about most.
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Instant estimate
Borehamwood is a short run from Stanmore.
Straight up the A1 or across from Edgware, and with no conservation area to work around the survey is usually quick. Size your room in about a minute and we will give you a starting price.