Air conditioning in Royston

A crossroads town on the county line

The North Herts Local Plan describes Royston growing up around the crossroads of the Icknield Way and Ermine Street, in a shallow bowl in the chalk hills. The Icknield Way was the boundary between Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire, so the town straddled the two counties. Royston only became a parish of its own in 1540, and the county boundary last moved in 1989, after the A505 bypass was built.

Under Melbourn Street, near the crossroads, is Royston Cave: a man-made chamber cut into the chalk, with carvings from the 13th or 14th century. It is a scheduled monument and one of four Grade I listed buildings in the town, with St John's parish church (once the church of an Augustinian priory), the Old Palace at 23 Kneesworth Street and 18 Melbourn Street.

The Royston conservation area

Royston's conservation area covers the town centre. It was designated on 6 October 1969, first reviewed in 1974, and the current assessment was approved on 27 March 2007. That review took a large area behind Upper King Street out of the conservation area.

The council describes a medieval street plan with mostly 18th and early 19th-century fronts: red brick and colour-washed render over timber frames, pale gault brick on 19th-century buildings, plain clay tile and Welsh slate roofs, and many flint boundary walls. Most buildings sit on the pavement edge, with yards and outbuildings behind.

• High Street, Kneesworth Street, Baldock Street and Melbourn Street around The Cross
• Upper and Lower King Street, Fish Hill and Market Hill
• Detached and semi-detached houses in gardens at the north end of Kneesworth Street and the east end of Melbourn Street
• The Priory Memorial Gardens and The Warren

Planning: North Herts Council

Planning in Royston is handled by North Hertfordshire District Council. A heating-capable outdoor unit on a house is often permitted development if it isn't cooling-only, is no bigger than 1.5 m³ and passes the MCS 020(a) noise check of 37 dB(A) at neighbours' windows. Inside the conservation area, it can't go on a wall or roof facing a road. Our planning guide covers the rest.

The council's Royston town centre Article 4 direction, made in October 2022, stops shops, offices and similar premises becoming homes without permission. It doesn't affect houses or outdoor units. Listed buildings always need listed building consent for an outdoor unit or pipework through their walls.

Air con in Royston homes: what each type means

New homes around Royston

The North Herts Local Plan, adopted in 2022, counts 1,421 homes built or granted permission in Royston since 2011, including two sites of around 300 homes at the eastern and western edges of the town. It allocates four more sites for 478 homes: land south of Newmarket Road (300), land north of Lindsay Close (100), Anglian Business Park on Orchard Road (60) and land at Barkway Road (18).

For the Lindsay Close site the plan asks for noise measures against the A505 bypass. If your new home faces the bypass, a quiet indoor unit lets you keep windows shut on hot nights and still sleep cool.

Businesses and parking

We fit and service systems for the shops, cafes, offices and clinics of the High Street and the streets around The Cross, many in listed buildings. Commercial installs are done in business hours and we sort out the siting and consent first.

North Herts runs residents' permit parking zones in Royston. Tradespeople can use a resident's visitor permit or apply to the council for a parking dispensation. Tell us your street when you book and we'll plan where the van parks.

What air conditioning costs in Royston

Our starting prices are the same here as across Hertfordshire 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

• Premium range upgrade

  Quieter, more efficient unit

  from£250inc. VAT

• Commercial wall unit

  Fitted in business hours

  from£1,795+ VAT

• Ceiling cassette

  In a suitable suspended ceiling

  from£2,750+ VAT

• An annual service

  Keeps the manufacturer warranty valid

  from£119inc. VAT

Villages and postcodes we cover

We cover Royston and the Hertfordshire villages around it. Therfield, Barkway, Barley and Reed each have their own conservation area. Some SG8 addresses north of the town, such as Melbourn and Bassingbourn, are in Cambridgeshire, and this page covers the Hertfordshire side.

• SG8: Royston, Therfield, Kelshall, Reed, Barkway and Barley
• Therfield Heath, on the south-west edge of town, is a Site of Special Scientific Interest
• Nearby: Baldock, Letchworth Garden City, Stevenage and Buntingford

Royston questions