Air conditioning in Woodford

Why are so many Woodford streets conservation areas?

Because the forest and the Victorian railway suburb around it have been protected since conservation areas began. Of Redbridge's 16 conservation areas, six are in Woodford: Woodford Green and Woodford Wells, both designated in 1970, with Woodford Green extended in 1981; South Woodford and Woodford Bridge, also from 1970, the latter altered and extended in 2014; Woodford Broadway, designated in 1981 and extended on 18 November 2013; and George Lane, from 1981. Snaresbrook, next door, dates from 1970 as well. The council's appraisal credits the Epping Forest Act of 1878, which kept 209 acres at Woodford as forest, with holding on to the green, half-rural feel.

For air conditioning the rule is simple to state. Inside any of these areas, permitted development keeps an outdoor unit off every wall and roof that fronts a road and out of the ground between the house and the road. On Nos 2 to 48 The Drive, E18, an Article 4 direction made on 2 May 2001 goes further and removes rights over fronts, windows, roofs, porches and front hard standing. The South Woodford appraisal even names aerials and dishes on the fronts of 127 to 137 High Road as still undesirable, which tells you how a front-wall unit would be received. Sources: Redbridge Council, 2014; Woodford Green appraisal; Woodford Broadway appraisal; South Woodford appraisal; Snaresbrook scheme; The Drive Article 4; Planning Portal.

What kind of houses does Woodford have?

Larger ones than most of Redbridge. The railway reached Woodford in 1856; In Grove Crescent some of the earliest middle-class semis, built before 1864, were still standing when the Victoria County History surveyed the area in 1969, as were Knighton Villas, four big three-storey pairs of about 1850. Building speeded up between the wars, from an average of 660 new houses a year in the 1920s to 1,600 in the 1930s, when Monkhams was completed in garden-suburb style. At the 2021 Census, Monkhams ward had 31.9% of its households in detached houses, against 7.0% across Redbridge, and 77% of them owned their home.

A detached house may carry two outdoor units under permitted development, which opens up options a terrace does not have: a separate unit for the main bedroom and another for a ground-floor room, or one multi-split serving three or four rooms from a single box. South Woodford is different again, with 31.4% of households in flats and 30.3% renting privately in South Woodford ward. Sources: Victoria County History, Woodford; Area Insights, Monkhams; Area Insights, Redbridge; Area Insights, South Woodford; Planning Portal.

Which Woodford buildings are listed?

Several, starting with the statue on the green. Winston Churchill sat for the area from 1924, when it was part of the Epping seat, and for Woodford from 1945 until he stood down in 1964. David McFall's statue of him was unveiled on 31 October 1959 with Churchill there, and Historic England listed it at Grade II on 19 January 2016. Hurst House on Broomhill Walk, known as the Naked Beauty and traditionally dated to 1714, is Grade II* and was rebuilt after a fire in 1937. Listed buildings have no permitted development rights for an outdoor unit at all, and fixing one to the building usually needs listed building consent first. Sources: Wikipedia on the Woodford seat; Historic England, Churchill statue; Historic England, Hurst House; Planning Portal; the 1990 Act, section 7.

Which landlord rules apply in Woodford?

It depends on the ward. South Woodford and Churchfields wards are in Redbridge's fifteen-ward selective licensing scheme, which runs from 8 April 2024 to 7 April 2029, so a landlord there needs a licence for an ordinary let. Monkhams, the Woodford Green side, is in neither of the borough's selective schemes. Licensing of smaller shared houses and the planning control on creating them apply everywhere in Redbridge. Whichever applies, a tenant needs the landlord's written consent before a unit is fitted. For renting across the borough as a whole, see air conditioning in Ilford. Sources: Redbridge Council; selective licensing; additional licensing; Article 4 on shared houses.

Services we offer in Woodford

All ten services below are available in Woodford. Each card opens a page on what the work involves.

What happens after you get in touch?

1. A short call about the building

   Phone 020 8176 6154 or send the form. We ask what kind of property it is, which rooms you want cooler or warmer, and whether you own the wall the pipes would pass through, so the visit covers what matters.

2. A visit, measurements and a written quote

   At the property we size the room, find a spot for the outdoor unit, work out the sound level at the closest neighbouring window and check that the fuse board can take a new circuit. The quote follows on paper, with the electrical work and any access equipment on separate lines.

3. Agreement before anything is ordered

   If a freeholder, landlord, managing agent or the council must approve the work, nothing is bought until they do. We supply the plan and noise figure they normally want to see.

4. Fitting day and handover

   We fix both units, run the pipes, drain and cable, pressure-test the pipework and pull a vacuum on it before any refrigerant goes in, then check the system in cooling and in heating. We go through the controls with you and leave the paperwork. A yearly service keeps it efficient.