Planning & Heritage
From feasibility to consent, with construction knowledge behind every proposal.
Advice that understands both the planning system and the building.
SMT Associates is led by Chartered Building Surveyors and experienced planning consultants. That combination matters: our planning advice is grounded in how buildings are actually constructed, repaired and altered, so the schemes we promote can be built, and built well.
We advise property owners, developers, architects and professional teams from the earliest feasibility discussion through to consent and beyond. Because the practice also delivers technical design, specification and contract administration, our planning strategies anticipate the questions that arise later (structure, moisture, materials, access and buildability) rather than leaving them to be discovered on site.
Our planning and heritage services
- Feasibility & Planning Strategy
- Planning Applications
- Design & Access Statements
- Heritage Advice
- Heritage Impact Assessments
- Listed Buildings & Listed Building Consent
- Extensions & Alterations
- Conversions & Changes of Use
- New & Replacement Dwellings
- Planning Appeals & Enforcement
Heritage advice grounded in building fabric.
Working with listed buildings and buildings in conservation areas requires more than an understanding of policy. Proposals succeed when they demonstrate an understanding of the building itself: its construction, its significance and what it can accommodate without harm.
Our heritage work draws directly on the practice's building pathology and conservation experience. We prepare and support listed building consent applications, advise on appropriate materials and repair details, and review designs so that heritage considerations are resolved early rather than argued late.
Where a scheme already has consent, we frequently review and improve it, resolving practical problems, improving layouts and securing amendments through Section 73 applications.
Helping you understand the possibilities and take the next step.
Every project starts with an idea. Whether you are exploring a purchase, extending a property, changing its use or bringing a historic building back into use, discover how we can support you below.
Feasibility Studies
Explore the potential before you commit.
Understand what your site or building could accommodate before investing in a purchase, design or application. We review planning opportunities, heritage considerations and practical constraints, helping you assess your options and make an informed decision about the way forward.
Explore Feasibility Studies →Planning Applications & Advice
A clear route from proposal to decision.
From home extensions and conversions to new homes and rural development, we help shape proposals, prepare applications and coordinate supporting evidence. We also advise on planning conditions, refused applications, appeals and enforcement concerns, tailoring our approach to your project.
Explore Planning Services →Conservation & Historic Buildings
Thoughtful change that respects historic character.
We help owners adapt, repair and reuse historic buildings while understanding and protecting what makes them significant. Our services include Listed Building Consent applications, heritage statements, Heritage Impact Assessments and advice on sensitive alterations, informed by our knowledge of traditional buildings and conservation.
Explore Conservation & Heritage →Improving Inherited Schemes
Making consented proposals work better.
Where a scheme already has consent, we frequently review and improve it, resolving practical problems, improving layouts and securing amendments through Section 73 applications. Three recent examples show how we made inherited proposals work better for the building, the owner and the planning authority.
Explore Inherited Schemes →Case Studies
See our approach in practice.
Discover how we bring planning, heritage and building expertise together to address the challenges of individual projects. Our case studies explain the starting point, the approach taken and the outcome, illustrating how considered advice can help a project move forward.
View Case Studies →