Sash & Heritage Windows in Nottingham

Timber Sash Windows

A new timber sash can be made in hardwood or softwood. It can hang on traditional cords, weights and pulleys, or on spiral balances hidden in the frame. What makes it look right is the detail: the pattern of the glazing bars, the horns at the bottom of the upper sash, and mouldings that match what's already there. Ask for one of your existing windows to be measured and copied.

uPVC Sash Windows That Look Like Timber

A uPVC sash slides the same way as a timber one. The better versions have a woodgrain finish, run-through horns and slimmer sections closer to a period window. They need less upkeep than timber.

Quality varies, so ask to see a sample beside one of your own windows and compare the frame depth, the meeting rail and the glazing bars.

Slim Heritage Double Glazing

Standard sealed units are often too thick for a traditional sash. Slim heritage units are thin enough to sit in timber sashes with narrow glazing bars.

The energy standard for a whole replacement window is a U-value of 1.4 or Window Energy Rating band B (Approved Document L). Where meeting it would harm a building's character, the same document allows a heritage route: either a centre-pane U-value of 1.2, or keeping the single glazing and adding low-emissivity secondary glazing. Ask the installer which standard the quote is written to.

Secondary Glazing

Secondary glazing is a separate slim window fitted on the inside of the existing one. The original sash stays as it is, which is why it suits a listed building or a window with stained glass. It should be reversible, coming out again without harming the window behind it.

Historic England says reversible secondary glazing "does not generally need listed building consent", and the Planning Portal says you won't usually need planning permission to add internal secondary glazing in a flat. So in most homes it usually needs no planning permission or listed building consent. On performance, Historic England says it "can reduce heat loss as effectively as double glazing, particularly if low emissivity glass is used, and is even better than double glazing at reducing noise".

If the window is an escape route from a room, the secondary unit has to open as well, so the way out still works.

Sash & Heritage Windows in Nottingham's Conservation Areas

Nottingham City has 33 conservation areas. A house in one usually keeps the right to fit new windows of a similar appearance without applying, unless that right has been removed for the property. Flats and maisonettes have no such right anywhere, and listed buildings need consent. Our guides on planning permission and conservation areas go through each case.

Where the council decides, its 2025 conservation-area guidance says: "Replacement of original windows should be like-for-like in design and material." It asks for sash windows to be replaced with sashes. On materials, it says: "Materials may be timber hardwood, timber softwood, or timber-effect UPVC." Read that way, the council's guidance doesn't rule out uPVC in a city conservation area, but it has to look like timber, and a sash has to stay a sash.

In Sherwood, terraces and villas went up after the electric tram arrived in 1901, and the Sherwood Rise conservation area is nearby.

Listed Buildings

A listed building needs listed building consent. Historic England says replacing windows "will always require" it, and that putting double glazing into historic windows "will usually require" it. Doing work that affects a listed building's character without consent is an offence under section 9 of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990. The city's guidance adds: "Only timber will be accepted for replacing existing timber." See listed buildings for more.

This is general information, not planning advice. Check with your council's planning team before work starts.

The Park Estate

The Park Estate has been a conservation area since 1969. It holds about 450 houses and 700 flats, and 93 of its buildings and features are on the National Heritage List. Its appraisal describes timber sliding sashes, Tudor-revival mullioned windows and a notable collection of stained glass. Flats have no permitted development rights, so changing the windows of the Estate's flats can need planning permission. Homeowners should check their title deeds and can ask the Park Estate Office. See The Park Estate and The Park Estate rules.

Sash and Timber Window Repairs

Common faults are a broken cord that lets a sash drop, sashes painted shut, and rattles and draughts. On timber casements it's often a loose or worn hinge. A repairer can renew cords, ease and rehang sashes, fit draught seals, splice new timber into a rotten rail and replace worn hinges or catches.

Replacing only the glass, or a sealed unit in its existing frame, isn't a controlled fitting, so it needs no building regulations sign-off. On a listed building, ask the council's conservation team before any work, repairs included.

What Changes the Price

• Timber or uPVC. And for timber, hardwood or softwood.
• Whole window or sashes only. A new box frame, or new sashes in the one you have.
• The glazing. Single, slim double or secondary.
• The detail. Glazing bars, horns and mouldings matched to the originals.
• Consent. The time a planning application or listed building consent adds.

Sash and heritage figures sit alongside the others in double glazing costs.

How It Works

1. Tell us about the windows, and whether the house is listed or in a conservation area if you know. 2. We pass your enquiry to an independent local installer, and we may be paid for the introduction. 3. They visit and quote you direct. There's no obligation.

We don't make or fit anything, and we don't inspect or approve the installer who quotes. Our guide on how to choose an installer covers the checks worth making.

Related Services

See also uPVC windows for the rest of the house and composite doors for the front door.

Areas We Cover

The Park Estate, Lace Market & City Centre, Sherwood, Mapperley, Calverton and Ruddington. see all service areas