Tenement Flat Renovations in Edinburgh

Edinburgh's tenements are some of the best homes in the city: high ceilings, cornicing, timber floors, shutters and big sash windows. They are also shared buildings with stone walls, lath and plaster, old services and neighbours above and below. Crescent Builders renovates tenement flats in Edinburgh as one accountable contractor, so the joiner, plumber, electrician, plasterer and decorator are all run from one programme and one written price.

What a tenement renovation usually involves

• Layout changes: opening a kitchen into a living room, moving a bathroom, turning a box room or press into an en-suite or utility.
• Structure: checking whether a wall is load-bearing, then steel or timber support where an opening is needed.
• Services: rewiring, new heating and plumbing, and ventilation for kitchens and bathrooms.
• Fabric: lath and plaster repair or renewal, cornice repair, floor levelling and repairs to joists.
• Period features: keeping and repairing doors, shutters, fireplaces, skirtings and architraves where you want them kept.
• Finishes: kitchen, bathroom, flooring and decoration.

A tenement is not a standalone property

Your flat sits inside a shared structure. The Tenements (Scotland) Act 2004 sets out how owners share responsibility for common parts like the roof, walls and foundations where the title deeds are silent, through the Tenement Management Scheme. It also puts a duty on every owner not to do anything that would impair the support or shelter the building gives to the other flats. In practice that means:

• We check the title deeds and any factor requirements before we agree a scope that touches walls, floors or the roof space.
• We get an engineer's view before we touch anything that may be load-bearing.
• We plan deliveries, skips, noise and dust around a shared stair and close.

Permissions to check first

• Building warrant. Removing or building load-bearing walls needs a building warrant (mygov.scot). Other internal changes in a flat, such as new bathrooms or layout changes that affect escape routes or ventilation, can also need one. We check with City of Edinburgh building standards before work starts.
• Listed building consent. Many New Town, Marchmont, Bruntsfield and Leith tenements are listed. Listed building consent may be needed for internal work as well as external, because the listing covers the whole building. Historic Environment Scotland's portal shows whether your building is listed.
• Conservation areas. Most of central Edinburgh is in a conservation area, which mainly affects external changes such as windows and doors.

How we run a tenement renovation

1. Site visit and condition check. We look at the walls, floors, ceilings, services and access through the stair.
2. Written scope and price. What is kept, repaired or replaced, room by room, so you can compare quotes properly.
3. Permissions. Engineer's input, warrant drawings and listed building consent where needed.
4. Strip-out and first fix. Services and structure go in before anything is closed up.
5. Plaster, joinery and finishes. Repairs to period features happen alongside the new work, not as an afterthought.
6. Handover. Electrical and gas certificates, warrant completion where needed, and a snagging visit.

Prices and timescales

Every tenement is different, so the price is a fixed written quote after a site visit, and it depends on the scope.

The programme is confirmed in that quote. Things that push price and time up include structural work, listed building consent, floor and joist repairs found once the boards are up, and difficult access on upper floors.

Where we work

Tenement flats across Edinburgh, including Marchmont, Bruntsfield, Morningside, the New Town, Stockbridge, Leith, the Shore and Portobello.

Talk to Crescent Builders

Tell us about your flat, send any drawings or photos, and we will arrange a visit and a written scope.