ADVICE ON PLANNING PERMISSION REQUIREMENTS
INSULATING EXTERNAL WALLS WITH THE SMART HOMES GRANT
FEBRUARY 2015
Outside of Conservation Areas
1. If you are seeking to render the Principal elevation (front) of your building, then
planning permission is not required even if this changes the appearance of your property.
2. If you intend to add insulation and then change the appearance of the Principal
elevation (front) of the building from, say, brick to render, then planning
permission is required.
3. If you intend to add insulation to the Principal elevation (front) of the building but then
cover with an equivalent finish, then only permitted development would be required, not
full planning permission.
o This is the case also if you are adding external wall insulation with a rendered
finish on top of a rendered finish.
o We have had no definitive guidance on what permissions are required if the
house is simply painted white (for instance) but we have assumed that the same rule
applies as the bare brick has been covered and therefore the appearance has
already been changed to something similar to EWI.
4. Almost any render or external wall insulation to the other faces of a building will be
regarded as permitted development. This should be agreed with the local authority before
the grant agreement is in place.
Inside Conservation Areas
Any kind of render or external wall insulation will require planning permission and (in our
experience) it is likely to be denied.
HOW WILL YOU KNOW IF YOU LIVE IN A CONSERVATION AREA?
You need to ask your local council – if you search online for ‘(borough name) conservation
areas’ – you’ll usually be directed to a map of your borough, from which you can see if you
are living in a conservation area.