Mid Cornwall · PL26 · Cornwall Council Mid
Foxhole renovations — a Mid Cornwall studio
Cornish housing stock is brilliant and infuriating in equal measure. We renovate cottages, farmhouses, mid-century homes and post-war estates — opening up layouts, fixing damp, adding light and bringing the property up to a standard worth living in. On a Foxhole site, the brief always meets the place — Foxhole is a china-clay village in the PL26 area, with workers housing, industrial landscape and practical family homes forming the local pattern, with a building stock that leans toward former industrial plots and terraced houses.
Foxhole sits in Mid Cornwall — just off the A390; covering PL26 from St Austell, Bugle, St Dennis outward.
- Rural / open-countryside policy area
- ✓Plain-English feasibility before any drawings
- ✓30+ years of Cornwall Council approvals
- ✓Local to Mid Cornwall — not a national franchise
- ✓Same team on paper as on site
Free · No obligation
Free Foxhole feasibility call
Tell us about your renovation. We reply within 1 working day — no obligation.
Who this is for
In Foxhole the renovation brief is almost always a private homeowner improving a forever home — so we lead with feasibility and long-term value, not show-home rhetoric.
Local watch-list
The PL26 constraints that shape a renovation brief.
Watch #1
Local Plan tests on isolated dwellings, plus lane access for plant and deliveries around Foxhole
Watch #2
Party Wall notices and shallow roof voids typical of workers cottages in the PL26 district
Local proof — We typically have one or two renovation jobs live in the PL26 area at any time, so the local planning officers know our drawings on sight.
Get a free feasibility viewFAQs
Foxhole Renovations — local questions answered.
- Can you renovate and extend at the same time?
- Yes, and often it's the right call — the planning, regs and disruption all happen once instead of twice. We design and price it as a single project. In Foxhole specifically, we'd start by checking the latest parish-level planning history before committing to a direction.
- How much does a full renovation cost in Cornwall?
- A whole-house renovation typically lands between £1,800 and £3,000 per square metre depending on condition, listed status and finish level. We survey before quoting and don't price by guesswork.
- We live in the house. Can a renovation in Foxhole be done while we stay put?
- Usually yes for single-storey and rear work, with a temporary kitchen or bathroom arrangement agreed before the start. Whole-house remodels and roof work in Foxhole are often easier if you move out for a few weeks. We set that expectation at feasibility stage rather than halfway through.
- Do I need planning permission to renovate internally?
- Usually no — except on listed buildings, where Listed Building Consent is needed for many internal alterations. We confirm the position before any wall comes down.
- How long does a renovation take?
- Single rooms in weeks, kitchens in two to three months, whole-house renovations in six to fourteen months depending on size and listed status.
- Can I live in the house during the work?
- Sometimes yes, often no. Single-room remodels and phased work can be liveable; whole-house renovations involving rewires, replumbing or floor lifting almost never are. We're honest about this at the brief.
Quick check
Want a straight answer on whether your Foxhole project is worth pursuing?
Send a few details — we'll come back within 1 working day with a plain-English view on planning risk, likely cost band and whether it's a project we'd take on.
Free · No obligation
Get a free feasibility view
For projects in Foxhole and the PL26 area.
Who this is for
Why this page exists, and who it is for
- Drawings, planning and building regulations are all produced in-house, so a renovation enquiry does not get passed between firms.
- Applications for Foxhole are handled through Cornwall Council, with St Austell the nearest planning office we deal with regularly.
- Design and build are offered from the same studio, which means the person answering your Foxhole questions has seen the detail built.
Planning rules change and every site is different. For the final position on your address, check with Cornwall Council as the local planning authority or the Planning Portal.
Keep reading
Follow the chain: survey, drawings, build
Foxhole is covered from our St Austell run. Being a smaller place, the local detail matters more than the headline policy: lane access, neighbour proximity and what the immediate street already looks like.
Page purpose
Drawings only, or drawings through to handover in Foxhole?
Both routes are open on a PL26 project, and the honest answer depends on whether you already have a builder you trust. Plenty of Foxhole clients take the drawings, tender them locally, then come back to us for the build if the numbers do not stack up.
- Route one: feasibility, planning and a tender-ready technical pack
- Route two: the same pack, then the build under one contract
- Either way the survey and feasibility work is identical, so the decision can wait
- Fees quoted per stage against the PL26 scope, not as one opaque figure
Scope
What we can draw, survey and build around Foxhole
Clients in Foxhole take different slices of this list, and that is deliberate.
Structural coordination
Calculations coordinated with the drawings so building control sees one consistent story.
Planning application drawings
Existing and proposed plans, elevations, site and block plans drawn to validation standard.
Construction and technical drawings
1:10 and 1:20 details for the parts of the job builders normally have to guess at.
Measured survey
An accurate record of what is actually there, which is where most avoidable cost is removed.
Full design and build
One contract from first sketch to handover, with the same team on paper and on site.
Local context
Why Foxhole is its own job.
The planning backdrop in Mid Cornwall is real, not abstract: ground conditions, drainage, former industrial land and simple robust materials tend to shape the design and technical brief. For renovation specifically, Cornwall Council's Local Plan applies tighter tests to isolated rural dwellings here, so design rationale and policy fit need to be set out clearly from the outset. Treat the PL26 parish brief as the design brief and the Foxhole application has somewhere to land. Whether the project is on former industrial plots in the centre or further out toward St Austell, the renovation response is locally tuned.
Planning note
Most Cornish renovations don't need planning — but listed status, curtilage listing, Conservation Area designation and material changes can all change that picture.
What we focus on
Renovations considerations specific to Foxhole.
01
Older Cornish properties are often built with cob, rubble or solid granite — modern insulation strategies that work in cavity walls cause damp problems in solid construction. Breathable build-ups matter.
02
Listed and curtilage-listed properties need Listed Building Consent for many internal alterations that wouldn't normally need approval.
03
Damp in Cornish cottages is usually a moisture management problem, not a chemical injection problem — fixing the cause is cheaper long term than treating the symptom.
04
Original fireplaces, slate floors, beams and joinery are often worth rescuing; the design conversation should start with what stays, not what goes.
Our process
How a Foxhole renovation project runs.
Step 1
Survey
Measured survey, condition assessment, services check and listed status review.
Step 2
Design
Layout options, material strategy and a clear list of what stays and what changes.
Step 3
Approvals
Listed Building Consent and building regulations as needed.
Step 4
Strip-out and works
Carefully sequenced demolition, structural works and rebuild.
Step 5
Finish and handover
Joinery, decoration, snagging and documentation pack.
Whole-house renovations typically run six to fourteen months on site; partial remodels two to four months.
Local fabric
Choosing a renovation team that actually knows PL26.
Building stock
Across Foxhole (PL26) we work on workers cottages, terraced houses, post-war estates, bungalows, former industrial plots. Each stock type drives a different renovation response — former industrial plots in particular needs careful detailing here.
Parish & policy
Foxhole sits in the parish of Foxhole, which matters for how parish-level consultation lands on a renovation application.
Coverage
We cover PL26 from our studio, with regular renovation jobs also running in St Austell, Bugle, St Dennis. Most Foxhole site visits get booked within the same week.
What does a first Foxhole consultation cost?
Nothing. We come to the property, walk the site, talk through what works on a PL26 plot and follow up with a written feasibility note inside a week — no obligation either way.
Request a free visitFoxhole is part of St Austell
Foxhole sits inside the St Austell catchment — we cover both as one renovation territory.
See Renovations in St Austell →Other services in Foxhole
Nearby places we cover
A renovation in Foxhole stands or falls on how well it reads the street — we treat that as the design brief, not an afterthought. Applications are dealt with through Cornwall Council, with St Austell the office we deal with most for PL26.
Scope your PL26 project with a local studio Booked alongside our St Austell runs.
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Book a free visit in Foxhole
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