Builders in Hackney.

Hackney is varied housing stock and varied client briefs. London Fields, Broadway Market, Mare Street — Victorian and Edwardian terraces in conservation areas. London Lane and the streets east towards Homerton — the same period but mostly outside conservation. Pockets of post-war stock too.

The conservation areas in E8 are tightly drawn. Anything visible from the street — sash windows, the front door, the boundary wall, the front garden surface — is a planning matter. The rules are stricter than in many other London boroughs.

The terraces themselves have the usual challenges: failed lime pointing where someone has used cement to repair, sashes that haven't been opened in twenty years, lath-and-plaster ceilings that have come loose in places, bay windows where the supporting beam has rotted. None of these are unusual, all of them are fixable, but each one needs to be priced honestly.

Many of the Hackney clients we've worked with come with an architect or a designer already engaged. The standard of finish is high. The detail matters more than the speed.