Heritage & Listed Buildings
Listed building renovation, handled with care
Sensitive renovation and extension of listed and period properties across Essex.
The service
Essex villages are full of houses that are older than the firms working on them: timber framed cottages, Georgian frontages, Victorian villas, and homes listed for good reason. Working on them is a different discipline. Every intervention needs to respect the building’s fabric and history, and listed buildings need listed building consent before alterations are made.
We renovate and extend period and listed homes with that discipline: careful design, the right approvals secured first, and craftsmanship that sits comfortably beside what the original builders left behind.
What we build
- Sensitive whole house renovation of period and listed homes
- Sympathetic extensions designed to sit correctly against older fabric
- Internal alterations with the building’s structure and history respected
- Kitchens, bathrooms and interiors that belong in a period house
- Listed building consent and planning coordinated with the right specialists
Standards
Craft first
We do not claim to be a heritage institution. What we bring to a period house is what we bring to every project: 33 years of Craig’s craft experience, show home standard finishing, and a refusal to buy cheap and buy twice, which matters more in an old building than anywhere else, because poor materials and quick fixes are exactly what period fabric cannot absorb. Where a project needs a conservation architect or a specialist trade, lime plastering, sash restoration, traditional joinery, we bring in the right people and manage them, the same way we run every design and build project.
That approach has a named example. In Wickham Bishops we renovated an 1850s red brick home built with traditional lime mortar and horsehair: every room we worked in was stripped back to the brickwork and rebuilt in a traditional fashion, to a modern finish and a high specification.
SMAS accredited · SMSTS site management · First aid trained team
£5m public liability · £10m employers liability · £1m professional indemnity
Established 2009 · £20m+ of projects delivered
Related services
See the Wickham Bishops 1850s renovation and our other completed projects.
FAQ
Answers from the Madisons team, led by Craig Bellamy, founder and director. Last checked 27/09/2026.
Do I need listed building consent?
If your home is listed, yes, for almost any alteration that affects its character, inside or out, and starting work without consent is a criminal offence. Consent is separate from planning permission and is decided by the council, advised by its conservation officer. We coordinate the application before work is priced. There is no application fee for listed building consent.
Can you extend a listed building?
Often, yes. Listed buildings can usually be extended where the design respects the original: subordinate in scale, honest in materials, and detailed so the new work is legible without shouting. Approval turns on the quality of the design case, which is why we involve the right architect from the start.
How do you protect period features during work?
By treating them as the point of the project rather than an obstacle. Features are surveyed and recorded before work starts, protected physically during the build, and repaired rather than replaced wherever the fabric allows. Where replacement is unavoidable, it is matched properly, in the right materials, by the right trade.
Have you actually renovated a period property?
Yes. In Wickham Bishops we renovated an 1850s red brick home built with traditional lime mortar and horsehair. Every room we worked in was stripped back to the brickwork and rebuilt in a traditional fashion, in keeping with the original construction, to a modern, high specification finish.
Can you work with traditional materials like lime?
Yes, and where a project needs a specialist trade beyond our own, lime plastering, sash restoration, traditional joinery, we bring in the right people and manage them as part of the project. At Wickham Bishops the rooms were rebuilt in keeping with the house’s original lime construction, because modern materials in the wrong place are exactly what old fabric cannot absorb.
Do you work in conservation areas?
Yes, with the approvals handled first. Conservation areas cut back permitted development rights, so extensions and external alterations that would be straightforward elsewhere usually need an application, and the design case has to earn it. We confirm the honest position for your property at the site visit and coordinate the application before any work is priced or programmed.
More answers to common questions are on our FAQ page.
Sources: Listed building consent, Planning Portal; Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990, section 7, legislation.gov.uk; Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990, section 9, legislation.gov.uk; Permitted development rights for householders: technical guidance, GOV.UK.
Areas we cover
Enquiries
Old house, careful hands
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