Air conditioning in Arlesey, Henlow and Langford

A long town beside the main line

Arlesey is an unusually long, thin place. The Arlesey Cross masterplan, written with Central Bedfordshire Council, describes an extended north-south linear settlement, strung along one spine of Hitchin Road, the High Street and House Lane, with Church End at the northern end. The Church of St Peter there dates from the early 13th century and is listed Grade I.

The railway runs just west of the town. The first station opened in 1850, was renamed Arlesey and Henlow in 1933 and closed to passengers in 1959. Arlesey station reopened on the same site in 1988, on the northern edge of the town, with trains on the East Coast Main Line to London King's Cross.

Arlesey white bricks

Arlesey was a brickmaking town. Robert Beart opened a brickworks in the south of the parish in 1852, and by the late 1860s three more were working alongside the railway. They dug the local gault clay, and the perforated Arlesey White brick was patented in 1878. The main quarry is now the water-filled Blue Lagoon, and brickmaking in Arlesey ended in 1992.

That past is still on the street. The Arlesey Cross masterplan picks out the town's characteristic cream brickwork and its cream-brick Victorian terraces. Many of these houses were built without off-road parking, so tell us when you book if your street fills up with parked cars, and we'll plan where the van can unload the outdoor unit.

Where Arlesey is growing

Arlesey is one of the main places Central Bedfordshire Council has chosen for new homes. Arlesey Cross, allocated in 2011, covers land at Chase Farm, north-east of the High Street, and land west of it. The council's 2021 Local Plan then allocated land east of Arlesey for about 2,000 homes, a relief road and a country park. The road would run from Hitchin Road, south of the town, to a new link with the A507 in the north, taking traffic off the High Street.

The country park would keep a permanent gap between Arlesey and Fairfield, around the Blue Lagoon and the Green Lagoon. The plan also adds about 67 homes on land next to Lewis Lane and 20 behind 214 to 216 High Street. The council says a masterplan for the land east of Arlesey will follow, with more consultation.

New-build homes are usually the simplest to fit: sound walls, simple pipe routes and space at the side for an outdoor unit. Their planning permissions sometimes carry conditions about external equipment, so we check those, and the deeds, before we quote.

Arlesey and Henlow homes and what they mean for an install

Planning: Central Bedfordshire Council

Arlesey, Henlow, Lower Stondon and Langford are all in Central Bedfordshire, so planning applications go to Central Bedfordshire Council. A heating-capable unit on a house is often permitted development if it meets the limits on size, position and noise. Cooling-only units, listed buildings and units on road-facing walls in a conservation area need permission. Our planning guide explains each rule.

Arlesey has no conservation area on the council's list and no Article 4 direction. Its neighbourhood plan, adopted in January 2018, is used alongside the council's policies when it decides applications in the town. Langford has its own neighbourhood plan too, adopted in 2021.

Henlow does have a conservation area, with an appraisal from January 2009. It takes in the Church of St Mary the Virgin, listed Grade I, and several listed houses. Inside it, a unit can't go on a wall or roof facing the road under permitted development.

Henlow, Lower Stondon and Langford

We cover the villages around Arlesey as well as the town itself:

• Henlow: the village and its conservation area, with about 101 new homes planned at Derwent Lower in the 2021 Local Plan
• RAF Henlow: the Ministry of Defence has declared the base surplus, and the council expects the site to be redeveloped for non-military uses
• Lower Stondon: in Stondon parish, with SG16 postcodes like Henlow
• Langford: a village on the River Ivel with SG18 postcodes, where the Local Plan adds homes at Thistle Hill Field and Bridge Field
• Fairfield and Stotfold, just east of Arlesey, have a page of their own

Air conditioning for local businesses

We fit and service systems in shops, cafes, pubs, surgeries and offices along Arlesey High Street, and in business units and workshops across the area. Ceiling cassettes suit offices with suspended ceilings, and wall units suit shops and smaller rooms.

Commercial installs are done in business hours. We take over servicing from other installers, carry out F-Gas leak checks on systems that need them, and can regas a system once a leak has been found and fixed.

What air conditioning costs in Arlesey and Henlow

Our starting prices are the same here as across Bedfordshire and London. Home prices include VAT; business prices are plus VAT. The survey gives you a fixed written price.

• A bedroom or study

  2.5 kW wall unit, 5 m pipe, fitted in a day

  from£1,850inc. VAT

• A living room

  3.5 kW wall unit

  from£2,050inc. VAT

• Two rooms, one outdoor unit

  Multi-split

  from£3,650inc. VAT

• Three rooms

  Multi-split

  from£5,100inc. VAT

• Four rooms

  Multi-split

  from£6,500inc. VAT

• Commercial wall unit

  Fitted in business hours

  from£1,795+ VAT

• An annual service

  Keeps the manufacturer warranty valid

  from£119inc. VAT

Areas and postcodes we cover

We cover the town and the villages around it, including:

• SG15: Arlesey, including Church End and the homes along Hitchin Road
• SG16: Henlow, Henlow Camp and Lower Stondon
• SG18: Langford
• Nearby: Stotfold, Fairfield, Shefford, Biggleswade, Hitchin and Letchworth Garden City

Arlesey and Henlow questions