Air conditioning in Wandsworth: what you can install and what the grant covers

Do you need planning permission in Wandsworth?

If you own a house outside a conservation area — and Wandsworth has more of those than most inner boroughs — usually not. One air-to-air heat pump (two on a detached house) is permitted development: under 1.5 m³, meeting the MCS noise standard, not above ground-floor level on a street-facing wall.

Cooling-only air conditioning does not qualify for the national heat-pump permitted-development route, so check the specific proposal with Wandsworth. Its sustainability checklist asks applicants to show passive options were considered first. Rear garden walls and side returns are common Wandsworth placements.

Conservation areas in Wandsworth

There are 46, from Battersea Square and Wandsworth Common to West Putney and the Putney Embankment, plus around 500 listed buildings — Battersea Power Station the most famous.

Inside a conservation area the street-facing option disappears without permission; rear placements normally sail through. Some areas carry Article 4 directions on street-facing alterations, which your installer will check as part of the survey.

Flats and leaseholds

Around 68% of Wandsworth households are still in flats — riverside towers in Nine Elms and Battersea, mansion blocks, and Victorian conversions.

A block of flats can use the national permitted-development route for an air-source heat pump if every Class G limit and condition is met. Check the exact proposal with Wandsworth and obtain any required freeholder consent. In the newer riverside blocks the managing agent is the first call — many already have a process for unit installations.

The £2,500 grant in Wandsworth

Over 18,000 Wandsworth households — about 13% — heat with electricity only, mostly panel heaters and storage heaters in flats and conversions.

The £2,500 air-to-air grant can apply to an eligible residential installation replacing either fossil-fuel or non-heat-pump electric heating. These electric-heated homes can be good candidates, but gas-boiler homes are not excluded on heating type alone. Your MCS-certified installer applies through Ofgem for you and takes the £2,500 off the quote.

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