West Cornwall · TR26 · Cornwall Council West
Design, planning and build for St Ives renovation
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. A TR26 site visit comes before a St Ives sketch, every time — 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
- ✓ Cornwall Council West sub-area regulars
- ✓ Conservation Area experience built into the fee
- ✓ Fixed-fee planning packages, no surprise invoices
- ✓ Measured-survey accuracy from day one
Who this is for
St Ives runs the full mix — owner-occupier, holiday-let, commercial and the occasional smallholding — so we scope every renovation enquiry from the use-class up.
Local watch-list
St Ives-specific issues we screen on the first visit.
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 — Our West Cornwall workload means a St Ives renovation project never has to wait for an out-of-county team to drive down.
Get a free feasibility viewFAQs
St Ives 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 St Ives specifically, we'd start by checking the Conservation Area boundary before committing to a direction.
- 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 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.
- 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.
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 renovation 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 Hayle) set the tone for any renovation scheme here.
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.
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
Renovations considerations specific to St Ives.
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
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.
03
Asbestos surveys are standard for anything pre-2000 — we factor a survey into the programme before stripping out begins.
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 St Ives 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
Why St Ives homeowners pick a local studio for renovation.
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 renovation 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 renovation application.
Coverage
We cover TR26 from our studio, with regular renovation 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 renovations 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
Most St Ives renovation enquiries start with one honest conversation about what's actually allowed — and that conversation costs nothing.