Listed Building to 9-bed all-en-suite HMO · Burslem

A Listed Building in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, previously configured as six studio flats. The brief: take the building back to brick, restore the Listed elements correctly, and reconfigure the floor plan into a 9-bedroom all-en-suite HMO with a substantial open-plan communal space.

We knew going in that the property had damp issues. "Damp" turned out to be wildly understated. The purlins throughout the property were completely rotten due to water ingress: the front of the property was structurally unsafe by the time the team got onto site. The build became the most water-damaged property HYPE has converted to date.

Back to bricks. The depth of water damage forced it, there was no honest way to refurbish around the rotten purlins. Exposing the brickwork also made the extent of the water ingress clearly evident, which then drove every downstream specification decision.

The initial phase: walls down, chimney breast removed, new internal walls erected, full rewire. New roof, because the existing one wasn't safe. Insulated plasterboard on all external walls to meet the owner's energy-efficiency brief (and to hit the 2018 EPC requirements that now apply to every let property). Heritage features retained and restored, the Juliet balcony being the most distinctive of those.

The regulatory choreography mattered as much as the build itself: Listed-Building status meant the Heritage Officer had a say on every conservation decision. HMO Officer had a say on every licensing decision. Building Control had a say on every structural and compliance decision. Three authorities, three sets of requirements, all of which had to be satisfied simultaneously. Open communication and honest discussion with all parties is what got the build through them.

Six tired studio flats to a 9-bedroom all-en-suite HMO with restored Listed-Building features, retained Juliet balcony, new roof, fully insulated thermal envelope to meet current EPC requirements, and a stunning open-plan communal space at the heart of the building. The conversion is functionally a new building behind the historic frontage: and it'll continue to perform for decades because the bones underneath the cosmetics have been put right, not papered over.