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1st floor flat, in 'Conservation area' with 'feature' sticky out window (sort of bay/box on side wall - about 6ft high, 5ft wide, sticks out about 18") - wood (brown painted), single glazed, in winter condensation has been incredible - carpet edges and curtain bottoms green with mould etc etc.
So want to replace with double glazed pref upvc - they can do a nice upvc one, pretty good colour match etc etc but this has been rejected due to it being upvc and not suitable for a conservation area, metal (*wwe thik) is acceptable but is about 4 times the price...
For context - building next door is a kebab shop and across the road is a modern block of flats.
Any suggestions on what arguments might help ?
None. Do gooders will do in these scenarios and rarely see your points such as the kebab shop as valid. Had it a few times previously with zero results. Sorry.
Try secondary double glazing?
Talk to the conservation officer and find out what would be a acceptable? Get a price for wooden windows?
The problem with the kebab shop is it was probably there before the conservation area was instigated.
The village had one recently - grade two listed building wanted to change to metal double glazing, identical to the one next door. It wasn't allowed, due to the constraints. The one next door had been allowed, as it was replacing already replaced windows. The more recent applicant was trying to replace originals.
Seriously, if cost is an issue, the only solution will probably be secondary double glazing. Especially if - as you say - it's a feature window. Any changes to a conservation zone are supposed to "conserve and enhance". Anything else is liable to be rejected.
But, we put in Aluminium windows during our extension, and they weren't that much more than uPVC. Try a local supplier
That's the price you pay for buying a house in a conservation area or one that's listed.... you can't just do what you want. I'd imagine the fact that it's in a conservation area would have been stated when it was sold.
I very much doubt you'll be able to get around it.
Nip n to see the local planning officer for 'a chat'. Thats how our planning system works, isn't it?
There's normally a citation document associated with conservation areas (why and what is special about it - identifying features of the area). Worth having a look at that to check whether the features you are altering are identified in the citation or not. If not you could argue that they are not material to the consideration of the conservation area.
Cheers,
Keith
Following precedent, stick a couple of these in the bay. Heat will keep the mould away, and definitely in keeping with the local area.
Can you replace the glass with a sealed unit in he existing window?
We live in a Victorian street which is part of a conservation area. Buildings are not listed and one or two houses have used upvc replacement windows - thee was not a planning issue. They look awful compared to the original sash windows, however. We replaced the sashes (not the frames) in ours with double glazed new. It cost an absolute fortune though (£2k per window), by a reputable craftsman firm. It was worth it.
Talk to your local councillor, they'll get to vote on the application and can support / object to a specific application. We're in a conservation area and our neighbour (local Labour councillor) had a god awful extension done, not at all in keeping with the Victorian street.