Middleton was built fast, between the wars
In 1921 Middleton-on-Sea had fewer than 150 residents. By 1931 it had nearly a thousand, and by 1951 almost two and a half thousand. The houses that made that happen were built on a series of private estates: Sea Lane from 1920, Southdean after 1921, Elmer Beach with Central Drive from about 1923, Elmer Sands from 1928 and Harefield by 1929. Some were substantial houses roofed in handmade tiles or thatch. Many were bungalows and weekend houses: before 1939, only about a dozen of the houses at Elmer Sands were lived in all year round.
Weekend houses built quickly in the 1920s and 30s, and lived in permanently ever since, are what most Middleton renovations are working on. The materials were whatever was cheap and available on a coast that had not yet been built on.
Know what the walls are made of before anyone starts
The Victoria County History records that some interwar houses at Southdean and Elmer were built with asbestos walls, and that old railway carriages, including three former luxury coaches, were used as homes at Elmer. Asbestos cement sheet was common in seaside building of that period, inside and out. It is safe left alone and sealed, and dangerous if it is cut, drilled or broken without precautions. So on a Middleton renovation of that age we have an asbestos survey done before strip-out, and if anything is found, it is removed or encapsulated properly before our trades go near it. It adds a few days at the front of the job and removes a serious risk from the rest of it.
Weatherboarding, clay tile and no white plastic
Middleton's interwar houses are often timber-framed and weather-boarded under plain clay tiles, and the 2000 Village Design Statement, adopted by Arun as planning guidance, asks for that weatherboarding to be kept and for white uPVC to be avoided. It prefers timber or metal windows, with replacements to match, and pastel-coloured render. When we renovate one of those houses we repair the frame and boarding rather than clad over them, use breathable membranes behind any new boarding, and fit windows that suit the house.
Floors that survive a wet June
In June 2012 West Sussex recorded 86 flooded properties in Middleton and 95 at Elmer. In Middleton the worst-hit roads were Lodge Close, Willowbrook, West Close, Southdean Drive and Sea Lane; at Elmer, Elm Drive, The Layne, The Hard, Arundel Way and Elmer Road. Ditches between Elmer Road and Ancton Lane have been cleared since, but if your renovation is on one of those streets, it is worth building the ground floor to recover rather than be ruined. That means solid floors with tile or sealed vinyl, a plaster that tolerates water on the lower walls, sockets lifted above the skirting line, the boiler off the floor and a non-return valve on the drain.
Renovating for a long stay
Nearly four in ten Middleton residents were 65 or over in 2021, and over half of homes are owned outright. A lot of our renovations here are owners preparing the house they intend to stay in: a level shower instead of a bath, a downstairs bedroom, doorways widened, heating that is easy to control. We plan that in from the start, so it looks like the house rather than an adaptation.
Private roads, and our yard round the corner
The Sea Lane estate's six private roads are owned by the Middleton on Sea Association, which asks for a non-returnable building charge where heavy vehicles are used, and Elmer Beach's Central Drive is a private estate road too. We plan deliveries around that. The advantage of renovating in Middleton is that our unit is on Yapton Road: smaller loads can come straight from the unit in our own vehicles, and the skip can be swapped without a long lorry run.
How a renovation is priced and run
Our price guide puts a whole-house refurbishment at £42,000 to £90,000 and upwards, including VAT. You get a written programme, a quotation itemised past two hundred lines, fortnightly valuations and James on the phone throughout.
The wider service is building works and renovations; the nearest pages are renovations in Felpham and renovations in Bognor Regis. Roofs and cladding are under roofing, and the village is on builders in Middleton-on-Sea.
Tell us roughly when the house was built and what it is clad in, and James will tell you what a survey should look for before anyone starts pulling things out. Ring 07470 078236. £2m public liability, employers' liability and two years' guarantee on the workmanship.