Air conditioning in Houghton Regis

From farming village to a town of new homes

Houghton Regis was a farming village for most of its history. It supplied Dunstable's market from the 1100s and had a busy straw-plaiting trade from the 17th to the 19th centuries. The council's conservation area statement records a population of 2,826 in 1951, with a High Street, a village green and a handful of farms.

By 1978 the population had passed 16,000. The High Street had been largely rebuilt around a 1960s shopping centre, and two large council estates had gone up, notably Parkside, a Greater London Council scheme for London overspill. Private housing followed on former farmland. Today the town is growing again, with thousands of new homes being built to the north.

Houghton Regis North: Linmere and Bidwell West

Houghton Regis North is a major urban extension between the A5 and M1 junction 11a, with the A5-M1 link road as its northern edge. The council's Local Plan puts it at around 7,000 homes on two sites. Site 1 got outline permission in June 2014 for up to 5,150 homes and is being built as Linmere, where several housebuilders are at work and the first school, parks, shops and a community hall are open. Site 2, Bidwell West, got permission in November 2015 for up to 1,850 homes and a primary school.

The Local Plan also allocates Land East of Houghton Regis for 355 homes. If you're buying or have just moved into one of these new homes, air conditioning is usually a simple install: modern walls, short pipe runs and space at the side or rear. The checks are mostly paperwork, as below.

Before you fit air conditioning to a new-build home

New estates often come with rules that older streets don't have. We help you check these at the survey.

• Read your planning permission's conditions: some estates remove permitted development rights for changes to the outside of the house
• Check your deeds and transfer for covenants about external equipment on the walls
• Ask the management company about its rules, especially for flats and homes on shared courtyards
• If the developer still owns the roads or shared areas, ask whether it needs to agree
• If your home is under a new-home warranty, check what it says about alterations to the outside walls
• Pick a side or rear wall away from bedroom windows next door, so the unit passes the noise check

Houghton Regis homes and what they mean for an install

Planning: Central Bedfordshire Council

Houghton Regis was part of South Bedfordshire until 2009. Planning now goes 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.

We found no Article 4 direction covering the town on the council's list. The one nearby, at Lower Sundon, is about agricultural buildings, not homes.

The Houghton Regis conservation area

The conservation area was designated in 1977 and extended in 1995. It covers about 34 hectares around The Green, the 17th-century Houghton Hall and Houghton Hall Park, with All Saints Church close by. The oldest known building in it is Dene Hollow on Sundon Road, a timber-framed house thought to date from the 16th century, and The Crown is the town's only thatched building.

The council's statement notes that the designation adds controls over things like extensions, cladding and where satellite dishes are mounted. Treat an outdoor unit the same way: keep it off any wall facing a road, and site it at the rear, low and out of view. Sewell, on the edge of the town towards Totternhoe and in the same parish, has its own conservation area.

Villages north of the town

We also cover the villages between Houghton Regis, Toddington and Luton. Some have Luton postcodes, but all are in Central Bedfordshire, so planning goes to the same council:

• Thorn, by the A5 at Thorn Turn, part of Houghton Regis parish
• Chalton (LU4), on the way to Toddington
• Upper and Lower Sundon (LU3), with Sundon Park just over the boundary in Luton
• Streatley (LU3), which has its own conservation area
• Sewell (LU6), between the town and Totternhoe

Businesses and parking

We fit and service systems in shops, offices, clinics, nurseries and the new employment land planned at Houghton Regis North. Ceiling cassettes suit offices with suspended ceilings, and wall units suit shops and smaller rooms. Commercial installs are done in business hours.

The council lists no residents' parking zones in Houghton Regis. On new estates, though, roads can be narrow and may not yet be adopted by the council, so tell us when you book if parking is tight and we'll plan where the van goes.

What air conditioning costs in Houghton Regis

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

• Open plan or a loft

  5 kW wall unit

  from£2,450inc. VAT

• Two rooms, one outdoor unit

  Multi-split

  from£3,650inc. VAT

• Three rooms

  Multi-split

  from£5,100inc. VAT

• Commercial wall unit

  Fitted in business hours

  from£1,795+ VAT

• An annual service

  Keeps the manufacturer warranty valid

  from£119inc. VAT

Houghton Regis questions