From Regency bow fronts to 1930s semis in Patcham, with straight advice on what the city’s 34 conservation areas allow.
East Grinstead showroom · covering Sussex, Surrey and Kent
10/10 on Checkatrade
From 149 verified customer reviews
Certass registered
Fully insured and SafeContractor approved
10 year guarantee
On every product we supply and install
Family run since 2007
Our own fitters — never subcontracted out
Holtye Windows in Brighton
Brighton and Hove has 34 conservation areas, and in most of the best known the council has removed the usual freedom to change windows and doors. Fit the wrong ones and the council can require them to come out again. Fit the right ones and the house looks as it should and is warm for the first time.
Away from the centre the picture changes completely. Patcham, Hangleton, Woodingdean and Saltdean are streets of inter-war and post-war houses where uPVC casements, composite doors and bifolds are entirely normal. We work in both, from East Grinstead, twenty-two miles to the north.
What we fit
Supplied, fitted and guaranteed for 10 years by our own team. Nothing is subcontracted.
Timber sliding sashes for street fronts in the conservation areas, where the council expects the original material. uPVC sashes or casements for rear elevations and the suburbs. Aluminium for the modern houses and flats that were designed with it.
In an Article 4 area a new front door needs permission, and should follow the original panelled pattern. Elsewhere a composite door stands up to sea air far better than painted softwood.
Many of the conservatories added to houses in Patcham, Hangleton and Woodingdean in the 1990s are now too hot or too cold to use. A warm roof on the existing frames gives the room back.
Roofline, porches and interior refurbishment are available from the same group, which helps on a house that needs several things put right at once.
Homes in Brighton
Three centuries of housing, and the window follows the date.
The Regency terraces of Kemp Town, Brunswick and the seafront squares have curved bow fronts, stucco, iron balconies and tall timber sashes. Behind the stucco the walls are often bungaroosh, a local mix of flint, rubble and lime that does not hold a careless fixing, so frames here have to be set with some thought.
Victorian Brighton climbs the hills behind: Hanover, Round Hill, West Hill, Preston Park and the terraces of Hove, with three-sided bays and, later, square brick ones. The sash is by far the commonest window, and these are the streets where a casement in a sash opening does most harm.
The outer suburbs are twentieth century: semi-detached houses at Patcham, Hangleton, West Blatchington and Portslade, the estates at Moulsecoomb, Bevendean and Hollingbury, and Woodingdean, Rottingdean and Saltdean to the east. Most were built with casements, and there the choice is yours.
Our work
All our own installations, photographed on site across Sussex, Surrey and Kent. Select a photo to see it full size.
Local planning
Brighton & Hove City Council is the planning authority for the city, apart from the 40 per cent of its area that lies in the South Downs National Park, around Stanmer and Falmer, where the National Park Authority decides.
In many of the 34 conservation areas the council has made Article 4 directions. They mean planning permission is needed for replacement windows and doors, new porches, new roof coverings and painting the outside. They usually apply to single houses, and mostly to the street front. Kemp Town, Brunswick, Cliftonville, The Avenues, North Laine, Preston Park, Round Hill, West Hill, Queen’s Park, Patcham, Rottingdean and the seafront squares are all covered.
The council’s guidance, SPD09 Architectural Features, sets out what it will accept. Original windows should be kept unless they are beyond economic repair. Replacements must match the style, the way they open, the proportions and the detail of the originals, and on a street front the material as well, which in practice means timber. Double glazing is generally acceptable if the units are slim enough to keep the glazing bars fine. On rear and side elevations out of public view, uPVC can be supported.
Flats are a separate case everywhere in the city. A flat has no permitted development rights, so any change to the material or appearance of its windows needs planning permission.
Worth knowing locally
Salt and wind are hard on anything facing the front. Painted softwood needs constant upkeep, plated steel hinges pit and seize, and a poor powder coating chalks within a few years.
For seafront and clifftop homes it is worth asking for stainless steel hinges and handles, a marine-grade finish on aluminium, and hardwood or engineered timber wherever timber is required. We will go through what suits your house, and its exposure, at survey.
Projects
We haven’t written up a job in Brighton itself yet. These show the standard of work, with photos and the detail of what was done.
Twenty-five white woodgrain sash windows with Georgian bars, three doors, an aluminium bifold and new rooftrim on a detached home.
View project
Windows, doors, a Supalite warm roof extension, kitchen, cloakroom, flooring and decorating — all handled by one team from start to finish.
View project
New windows and doors, a gravel driveway, and a garden rebuilt around a sandstone patio and a slate-roofed timber pergola.
View projectCustomer reviews
Rated 10/10 from 149 reviews on Checkatrade, where we’ve been a vetted member since 2014.
Where we work
We cover the whole of Brighton, and we don’t stop at the edge of town.
Nearby areas: Lewes, Burgess Hill, Haywards Heath. See everywhere we cover.
Questions
Can’t see what you need? Call 01342 410079 and we’ll answer it properly.
Free quotations
Book a free, no-obligation survey at your home in Brighton, or come and see us at the East Grinstead showroom.
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