Air conditioning in Northwood
Metro-land in the original sense, more designated areas than anywhere else on our patch, and a postcode that quietly crosses into Hertfordshire.
Air conditioning installation across London. Based in Harrow and Stanmore.
Air conditioning in Northwood
Yes, we cover Northwood. Two things here are worth knowing before anything is ordered. The planning authority for Northwood and Northwood Hills is the London Borough of Hillingdon, but HA6 crosses the Greater London boundary, and a Moor Park address is in Hertfordshire under Three Rivers District Council instead, which is a different council and a different application. Northwood also carries more heritage designation than anywhere else we work: three conservation areas and five areas of special local character. So the honest answer is that the outdoor unit position depends on your specific address rather than on the town, and we check it before quoting. Outside the designated areas Northwood is a mix of large detached houses and purpose built flats, and both are routine work for us once the position is settled.
Wall mounted systems start from £1,995 fully installed, and the price does not change with the postcode.
Planning authority
Hillingdon, or Three Rivers in Moor Park
Postcode district
HA6
Conservation areas
Three
Special local character areas
Five
An HA6 address is not always a London address
This is the one that catches people out, and it is worth a minute of your time. Northwood and Northwood Hills sit in the London Borough of Hillingdon. Moor Park, on the same HA6 postcode district, sits in Hertfordshire and is decided by Three Rivers District Council. Different authority, different local plan, different application. We check which side of that line your address falls on before we quote, because advice written for one is not advice for the other.
The three conservation areas
As Hillingdon publishes them. Northwood has three inside a small area, which is why the first question here is always which one you are in, if any.
| Conservation area | Designated | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Northwood Town Centre, Green Lane | 2 December 2009 | The commercial core around Green Lane and Maxwell Road |
| Northwood, Frithwood | 1989, extended 2 December 2009 | The Frithwood residential area |
| The Glen | July 2007 | A 1950s planned estate of maisonette blocks in a landscaped setting |
Published by the London Borough of Hillingdon. Northwood also holds five of the borough's fifteen areas of special local character: Dene Road, Copsewood Estate, Gatehill Farm Estate, Old Northwood and Hillside at Northwood Hills.
Northwood is Metro-land in the original sense
People use Metro-land loosely, usually meaning any 1930s suburb. Northwood is the real thing and it is much older than most of it. The council's adopted appraisal is blunt about the cause: Green Lane was a quiet country lane until the opening of Northwood Station in 1887, and the area is bisected by the Metropolitan Line, which prompted its development.
For comparison, the Underground did not reach Stanmore until 1932 and Edgware until 1924. Northwood had a railway forty five years before Stanmore did, which is why its oldest suburban streets are late Victorian rather than interwar.
The street names record who did it. The appraisal names Frank Murray Maxwell Hallowell Carew, who acquired the Eastbury Estate in 1887, and states that by 1891 he had laid out the road pattern, named the roads after himself and his family, and sold off all the plots. Maxwell Road, Murray Road and Hallowell Road are all one man.
The Article 4 direction here is not about outdoor units
Hillingdon's Article 4 direction applies to every address in the borough, Northwood included. It came into force on 22 September 2014 and its whole scope is a single storey rear extension projecting more than 4 metres beyond the rear wall of the original house, under Class A of Part 1. It has nothing to say about an air conditioning condenser. If a quote cites it as a reason you need a planning application for air conditioning, that is a misreading.
The town centre area is smaller than people expect
Given how much of Northwood is designated, it is easy to assume the town centre conservation area is wall to wall listed buildings. It is not. The council describes it as a relatively small conservation area covering the commercial core, and records that it includes one grade II listed building and a war memorial along with four locally listed buildings.
That matters practically. Conservation area status still applies, so a street facing condenser is the wrong answer, but the density of listed buildings is nothing like Ruislip village, where the same council counts 23. Fewer addresses here will need listed building consent on top of planning.
What this means street by street
In Moor Park
Hertfordshire, not London. Three Rivers District Council decides, and the Hillingdon material on this page does not apply to you. We establish this first, because getting it wrong wastes weeks.
In The Glen
A 1950s maisonette estate, and a conservation area since 2007, which is an unusual combination. Maisonette blocks mean freeholder or management company consent before anything else, and a shared external elevation that the designation protects.
In a flat near the station
Northwood ward is about 35 percent purpose built flats and only about 12 percent semi detached, which is close to the reverse of most places we work. Freeholder consent comes first, and above the first floor a condensate pump is likely and is priced on the quote.
In a large detached house
Roughly 30 percent of Northwood ward households are detached, well above the 14 percent across Hillingdon. Bigger plots usually mean somewhere discreet for the outdoor unit, and a longer pipe run past the three metres included, which is quoted per metre upfront.
One thing people get wrong about Northwood
Northwood and Northwood Hills get treated as one place. For an installation they are not quite the same. Northwood ward is flats and large detached houses with very little in between, at about 35 percent flats against 12 percent semi detached. Northwood Hills is the more conventional suburb, roughly 31 percent semi detached and 26 percent flats.
The job differs accordingly. A maisonette needs consent and probably a pump. A detached house on a wide plot needs neither, and needs a longer pipe run instead. It is worth telling us which you have rather than which the town is assumed to be.
Your planning authority is London Borough of Hillingdon
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.
London Borough of Hillingdon conservation areasWhat we fit most in Northwood
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 Northwood that we are asked about most.
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Instant estimate
Northwood is a short run from Pinner.
We are across there regularly, so the survey and the install usually sit close together. Size your room in about a minute and we will give you a starting price.