For the stucco and stone houses of Mount Sion, Camden Park, St James and the older streets.
Off-white sliding sashes on a stucco terrace.
Where the sashes are
Sliding sashes belong to the older half of the town. On Mount Sion, the listing for number 22 records a stuccoed house of the mid-nineteenth century, three storeys high, with sash windows. In Camden Park, laid out from about 1853 on the pattern of Calverley Park, the listed house known as The Lawn is stucco over brick with sashes that have no glazing bars, a canted bay to the garden and three-light sashes on the service wing. St James, laid out in the 1850s and mostly built by 1871, is a district of large villas with sashes to match.
Calverley Park itself is another matter. Its 24 villas, built of large blocks of Tunbridge Wells stone between 1828 and 1836, are all listed at Grade II*. Any change to their windows needs listed building consent.
uPVC sash for most houses
For a sash house that isn't listed, a uPVC vertical sliding sash is the usual answer. It slides like the original, comes in heritage colours and woodgrain finishes, and costs a little over half as much as timber. Two details make the difference on these streets:
Pattern. Many sashes here were plain panes, without bars. Fit what the house had. Adding a six-over-six grid to a house built with one-over-one looks wrong.
Colour. Against stucco, an off-white or soft cream woodgrain usually reads better than brilliant white.
Timber box sash
Timber box sash is the right choice for listed houses and wherever the council asks for it. Expect the first repaint roughly three years in, then at steady intervals, and plan for it yourself, as the installer doesn't offer a painting service. The example below gives the timber figure for the same job alongside the uPVC range, so you can see the difference on a real-sized house.
Converted villas
Many of the big houses in St James and elsewhere are now flats. A flat has no permitted development rights, so changing the style or material of its windows needs planning permission. If the building has a freeholder or managing agent, their consent is usually needed as well. See permission.
An example from St James
Illustrative example of a typical job · Tunbridge Wells
Seven sashes on a Victorian villa in St James
A Victorian villa in St James, the part of the town conservation area laid out in the 1850s, that is still a single house rather than flats, with seven sliding sash windows on the front and side.
Seven uPVC vertical sliding sashes, about 900 by 1800 mm
Woodgrain finish in off-white, with plain panes and no bars, following the existing windows
Scaffold for the upper floors is priced at the survey on a job of this height
Typically £12,450 to £18,050, supplied and fitted, including VAT
The same seven windows in painted timber box sash would start from £18,550 installed (from £2,650 installed per window). Unless the house is listed, a woodgrain uPVC sash in the right pattern is what most owners here choose.
