Improving comfort in a listed building starts with understanding which features need to remain. At Shepherdess Walk in Hackney, our proposal introduces secondary glazing inside the existing windows, addressing concerns about draughts, street noise and heat loss while retaining the historic window fabric.
Hackney Council granted listed building consent on 17 August 2026, under application 2026/1234. The approved works cover internal secondary glazing at 109 Shepherdess Walk, a Grade II listed property within the Regent’s Canal Conservation Area.
Keeping the character of the existing windows
The windows contribute to the character of the terraced building, including the proportions of its front elevation and its sash-window detailing. The design keeps the existing windows in place and adds a separate glazed layer on the room side. The secondary-glazing detail shows vertically sliding units, allowing the new inner layer to open within its own frame.
This approach maintains the external window pattern and appearance. It also focuses the work on an internal intervention designed to be reversible. Our listed building consent service considers how proposed changes affect historic fabric as well as the practical improvements a property needs.
The wider terrace is part of the setting, too. The project sits within a conservation area, where the relationship between individual buildings and the surrounding townscape matters. Our guidance on design and planning in conservation areas explains how that context informs a proposal.
Showing the change from inside the rooms
External elevations alone would tell only part of this story. Because the new glazing sits internally, the application drawings also show internal elevations, floor plans and sections through the window openings. These explain which windows are affected and how the additional glazed layer relates to the spaces behind them.
The drawings cover the lower ground, upper ground, first and second floors, with window locations serving living rooms, bedrooms, kitchens and other spaces. The room layouts remain unchanged. This is a focused improvement to the existing accommodation, with no increase in the size of the building.
Preparing that information is an important part of detailed architectural design. For a window project, the relationship between frames, openings and surrounding joinery can matter as much as the overall elevation. The submitted sections and secondary-glazing details give the proposal a clear basis for assessment and subsequent specialist coordination.
Comfort as the aim, retention as the starting point
The design responds to the reported problems of draughts, noise and a cold interior by adding another glazing layer while keeping the existing windows. Its intended benefit is a more comfortable indoor environment, with the original window features continuing to form part of the building.
A heritage statement accompanied the drawings, explaining the building’s significance and the reasons for the approach. Bringing that explanation together with the design is part of our planning application support. The consent requires the works to follow the approved plans and any subsequent approved details.
If you are exploring window improvements or internal alterations to a listed property, book a call about your proposed works. We can review the building and help identify a design and consent route suited to its particular features.
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