Careful renovations and extensions for one of the most historic towns in the south, by a family firm with its own electricians and plenty of conservation area experience.
Lewes is the county town, and it has the buildings to match: Georgian and earlier houses on the High Street and Southover, flint and brick cottages in the Cliffe, and mathematical tiles on frontages that look like brick but are not. A great deal of the town is a conservation area and a great many of its houses are listed, which makes building work here a matter of care as much as skill.
O&S takes on renovations, extensions, loft conversions, kitchens and bathrooms across Lewes. We are a family run firm based in Polegate, a short run along the A27, and our own electricians handle the rewiring that so many Lewes houses need when they are properly renovated.
The old town, from the castle down to the Cliffe and out along Southover High Street, is where the historic stock is. Georgian townhouses, older timber framed buildings behind later frontages, and flint cottages on the twittens. The work here is renovation, repair and the occasional careful extension to the rear, usually with the planners and often with a conservation officer involved, and the services inside these houses are frequently decades old.
Beyond the centre, Lewes has interwar and postwar housing in the Nevill and Landport areas and towards the Malling estates: semis, bungalows and family houses where rear extensions, loft conversions and garage conversions are the normal way to gain space, and where permitted development usually applies.
The villages around the town, Kingston, Glynde, Cooksbridge and Barcombe among them, mix period cottages with mid century bungalows on generous plots, and the jobs there run from full refurbishments to new driveways and groundworks.
Period renovation in the old town, and straightforward extensions further out. Every service
Tired or run down properties taken back and brought forward, room by room or all in one go.
Single and double storey extensions, from the footings and the steel through to the last coat of paint.
Unused roof space turned into a proper bedroom, office or bathroom, with the stairs and the insulation done right.
Walls out, floors levelled, units fitted, and everything plumbed and wired by our own team.
Full bathroom and wet room fit outs, tanked and tiled properly so nothing moves in five years.
Rewires, lighting and renewable energy installations, carried out by our own qualified electricians.
Lewes town centre is a conservation area with a very high proportion of listed buildings, and the whole town sits within the South Downs National Park, so planning goes through the National Park Authority rather than the district council alone. That affects extensions, dormers, windows and in some cases internal alterations to listed houses. We have worked through it before and we build the approvals into the programme rather than treating them as an afterthought. On the twentieth century estates, permitted development is more likely to apply, subject to the National Park's own limits, and we will tell you at the first visit which route your house takes.
Renovation is the word in Lewes. Georgian and Victorian houses in the old town that need rewiring, replumbing, replastering and new kitchens and bathrooms, done in a way the conservation officer is happy with and the house deserves. We are used to flint, lime and mathematical tiles, and to the patience the work takes.
In Nevill, Landport and Malling the requests are more familiar: rear extensions, loft conversions, garage conversions and driveways on the twentieth century housing, most of it within permitted development even inside the National Park.
Listed building consent, the conservation officer and the National Park Authority are part of the job here. We know the process.
Flint, brick, lime and timber worked the way they were meant to be.
Our own electricians handle the wiring on every renovation, which nearly every old Lewes house needs.
Polegate to Lewes is a short run along the A27, so we visit often while the job runs.
The same four steps wherever you are, and the first one is free.
Call 01323 382155 or send a few details. Tell us roughly what you are thinking of and where in Lewes you are.
We come and look at the job, measure up, and talk through what is realistic for the house and the budget.
An itemised written quotation, free of charge, so you know exactly what you are agreeing to.
Our own team throughout, building control inspections where they are needed, and the site left tidy every day.
If the answer you need is not here, call Martin on 01323 382155 and ask.
Yes. We work with your architect or the conservation officer to agree what can change, and we are used to matching flint, brick, lime and timber so the repair belongs to the building.
It can. The whole of Lewes is inside the National Park, which has its own planning limits on extensions and dormers. We check what applies to your house before we quote and handle the application if one is needed.
Yes, with our own electricians. Most Georgian and Victorian houses in the town need a partial or full rewire when they are renovated properly, and we do it as part of the same job.
About twenty minutes along the A27. We are in Lewes regularly and it is well within our patch.
Yes. Both are conservation areas with many listed houses, and renovation there is careful work with the planners and often a conservation officer involved. We are used to it.
Yes. Kingston, Glynde, Cooksbridge, Barcombe and Offham are all regular destinations.
Four of the towns and villages next to Lewes that we work in just as often.
Call Martin on 01323 382155, or send a few details and we will call you back to arrange a visit. Estimates are free and there is no obligation.
