Littlehampton has more older housing than its neighbours
Littlehampton grew in layers. The oldest houses, from around 1700 to the 1720s, are knapped flint with brick dressings, some in rounded beach cobbles. The resort known as Beach Town followed in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, along South Terrace, Norfolk Place and Western Road, mostly in brick with some later stucco. The railway brought Victorian and Edwardian terraces from the 1860s. Then came the interwar and post-war estates, and now the new estates to the north.
That range shows up in the census. In 2021 one Littlehampton home in four was a terraced house, a fifth were purpose-built flats, and nearly 8 per cent were flats inside a converted or shared house. A quarter of households rented privately. Renovation in Littlehampton is therefore a broader trade than it is in the bungalow villages: whole terraces brought up to date, flats inside old seafront houses, and rented homes refurbished between tenants.
Flint and early brick: lime, not cement
The earliest houses in the old core and the Victorian flint buildings at Wick were built with soft lime mortars and solid walls that manage damp by breathing. Renovate them with cement render, gypsum plaster and plastic paint and the moisture that used to escape through the wall is trapped in it. We use lime: lime mortar for repointing, lime plaster where the walls are solid, breathable paints, and insulation chosen for how it handles vapour. It is slower and a little dearer, and it is the version that stops the damp rather than moving it.
Victorian terraces: one opportunity to do it all
A terrace that has had three owners since the 1970s has usually had three partial modernisations. The renovation that makes sense is the one done in one go: a rewire with a new consumer unit, new heating pipework and controls, the back addition opened into the kitchen, the bathroom moved upstairs if it is still downstairs, sash windows overhauled rather than ripped out, and the floors levelled. At the 2011 census, quoted in the town's neighbourhood plan, 11 per cent of homes had no central heating, well above the English average, and some of that housing has still not caught up.
Flats in converted houses
Renovating a flat inside a converted house brings in other people. The lease will say what you can alter, the freeholder or managing agent will want to approve structural work and anything that changes the drainage, and the neighbours share the walls, floors and soil stack. We prepare a method statement and a short programme for the managing agent at the start, keep noisy work to agreed hours, and protect the common parts. In the seafront conservation area, the outside of the building is also under planning control: in 2014 the owner of a flat at 25 South Terrace was required on appeal to replace uPVC windows with timber sashes matching the originals.
Rented homes, refurbished between tenancies
With a quarter of Littlehampton households renting privately, a lot of the work here is for landlords: a refurbishment fitted into the gap between tenancies, to a fixed programme, with the safety certificates in place at the end. We price that work the same way as any other, itemised line by line, so a landlord can see what each room costs and decide what to do now and what next time.
Buildings of Character and the conservation areas
Besides its three conservation areas, the seafront, East Street and River Road, Littlehampton has a list of locally valued Buildings of Character protected by Policy 17 of its neighbourhood plan. They are not listed, but alterations to them are judged with their character in mind. If your house is on the list or in a conservation area, the external parts of a renovation, from windows to front walls, are designed with that in view.
Cost, and how the job runs
A whole-house refurbishment sits at £42,000 to £90,000 and upwards on our price guide, including VAT; a flat or a small terrace is usually toward the lower end. You get a written programme, a quotation itemised past two hundred lines, fortnightly valuations and one person, James, on the phone throughout. Our documented projects are in Chichester, Bognor Regis and Guildford rather than Littlehampton; previous projects shows what they cost and how long they took.
The wider service is building works and renovations; nearby are renovations in Rustington and renovations in Arundel. The town is on builders in Littlehampton.
Tell us the street and whether it is a house or a flat, and James will tell you what consents you need before anyone lifts a floorboard. Ring 07470 078236. £2m public liability, employers' liability and two years' guarantee on the workmanship.