West Cornwall · TR26 · Cornwall Council West
Design, planning and build for St Ives full build package
Once drawings are approved, the build is the bit that decides whether you get the home you imagined or a frustrating compromise. We deliver projects on a single contract — design, drawings, approvals and construction — so the team that drew it is the team that builds it. What works on a TR26 plot rarely works elsewhere — St Ives is a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty town with a tightly packed historic harbour, the Tate gallery and some of the steepest streets in Cornwall, with a building stock that leans toward modern hillside homes above the town and Edwardian guesthouses.
St Ives sits in West Cornwall — just off the A3074; with Truro the closest city; 1 miles from Carbis Bay, 3 miles from Hayle.
- Conservation Area
- Cornwall AONB
- Coastal exposure zone
- ✓ Free first site visit, no obligation
- ✓ Cornwall Council West sub-area regulars
- ✓ One studio — design, planning and build under one roof
- ✓ Local to West Cornwall — not a national franchise
Who this is for
St Ives runs the full mix — owner-occupier, holiday-let, commercial and the occasional smallholding — so we scope every full build package enquiry from the use-class up.
Local watch-list
Local snags worth knowing before drawing a St Ives full build package.
Watch #1
Principal Residence policy ruling out new dwellings sold as second homes
Watch #2
Granite-walled cottages where loft conversion headroom is borderline
Watch #3
Stepped access on Downalong streets limiting plant and crane reach
Watch #4
Slate roof pitches that complicate dormer geometry
Local proof — Most St Ives full build package clients we work with are second-time builders — they've seen the templated approach fail once already.
Get a free feasibility viewFAQs
St Ives Full Build — local questions answered.
- Do you handle the whole project from drawing to finish?
- Yes — that's the model. One contract from feasibility to handover, with design, regs and build all under our roof. No coordination gap between designer and contractor. In St Ives specifically, we'd start by checking the Conservation Area boundary before committing to a direction.
- Fixed price or open book?
- Both. Fixed price suits well-defined projects with clear specs; open book suits renovations and listed work where the unknowns only reveal themselves once you start opening things up. We'll recommend the right route.
- What guarantees and aftercare do you offer?
- Standard twelve-month defects period, plus product and workmanship warranties on relevant elements. We're a Cornish business — you'll still find us in the same studio in five years' time.
- How do you handle changes during the build?
- Weekly client meetings, written change requests, costed and signed before work proceeds. No surprise invoices.
- Are you insured?
- Public liability, employer's liability and contractor's all-risks cover are in place for every project, with certificates available before contract signing.
Local context
Why St Ives is its own job.
Cornwall Council's lens on St Ives is consistent: st Ives operates a Neighbourhood Plan with a principal residence policy on most new dwellings — second homes and holiday lets face strong policy resistance. The Conservation Area covers Downalong, the harbour and most of the town centre, where granite, slate and lime-render detailing is non-negotiable. For full build package specifically, parts of St Ives sit within a designated Conservation Area, which means materials, fenestration and roof pitches all need to read sympathetically with the existing streetscape; the surrounding landscape falls inside the Cornwall Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, so massing, height and landscape impact carry extra weight in any planning decision; coastal salt-laden air around St Ives drives detailing choices — fixings, render systems and timber treatments all need to be specified for exposure. That's why we treat every St Ives project as a TR26-area job first — not a generic Cornwall job with a postcode bolted on. The modern hillside homes above the town that dominate St Ives (and continue out toward Lelant) set the tone for any full build package scheme here.
Planning note
Build delivery doesn't need planning, but planning conditions often dictate site setup, materials and working hours — we read every condition and build the programme around them.
Recent work nearby
Carbis Bay clifftop rebuild we ran last year leaned on a granite plinth + standing-seam zinc roof.
See more recent West Cornwall work →What we focus on
Full Build considerations specific to St Ives.
01
Off-grid sites need their own water, drainage and power solutions designed and procured rather than assumed.
02
Weather windows on Cornish coastal sites are short — getting the building watertight before autumn matters more here than in central England.
03
Cornish trades are a tight community; using contractors who've worked together before saves weeks on programme and arguments on site.
04
Material lead times to Cornwall are longer than the M5 corridor; sequencing orders early protects the build programme.
Our process
How a St Ives full build package project runs.
Step 1
Pre-construction
Programme, procurement, contractor briefing and site setup.
Step 2
Substructure
Foundations, drainage, ground beams — the unglamorous bit that decides everything later.
Step 3
Superstructure
Frame, roof, glazing — getting the building watertight.
Step 4
First and second fix
Services, plaster, joinery, kitchens and bathrooms.
Step 5
Snag and handover
Final inspection, building control sign-off, handover pack and aftercare.
Full builds run from twelve weeks for small extensions to eighteen months for new build family homes.
Local fabric
Why a West Cornwall studio is the right fit for St Ives full build package.
Building stock
Across St Ives (TR26) we work on fishermen's cottages, granite terraces, Victorian villas, Edwardian guesthouses, modern hillside homes above the town. Each stock type drives a different full build package response — modern hillside homes above the town in particular needs careful detailing here.
Parish & policy
St Ives sits in the parish of St Ives, which matters for how parish-level consultation lands on a full build package application.
Coverage
We cover TR26 from our studio, with regular full build package jobs also running in Carbis Bay, Hayle, Lelant. Most St Ives site visits get booked within the same week.
How quickly can you visit a St Ives site?
Usually within the same week. St Ives (TR26) is on our regular West Cornwall run, alongside Carbis Bay, Hayle, Lelant. First visits are free and you'll get an honest feasibility view inside seven days.
Request a free visitSt Ives is the hub for these neighbourhoods
We run full build across St Ives and the surrounding TR26 neighbourhoods — same studio, same site team.
- Carbis Bay
TR26
Other services in St Ives
Nearby places we cover
Local neighbourhoods in St Ives
Designing a full build package in St Ives is as much about reading the parish as reading the brief; we do both, and the planning outcomes follow.