Energy Performance Certificates in Bromley

Common property types

• Edwardian terraces: Concentrated near Bromley South station and along streets towards Shortlands. These 1900-1910 properties have solid brick walls, high ceilings, and original timber sash windows. The combination of solid wall construction and tall rooms makes them expensive to heat and difficult to rate above a D without significant investment.
• 1930s semi-detached houses: The backbone of Bromley's housing stock, found throughout Widmore Road, Hayes Lane, Bickley, and Sundridge Park. Most have cavity walls that may or may not be filled, hipped roofs with accessible lofts, and original bay windows. These properties respond well to straightforward improvements like cavity wall filling and loft insulation.
• Modern town-centre flats: Around The Glades shopping centre and Bromley High Street, purpose-built apartment blocks from the 2000s onwards. These achieve B or C ratings as standard thanks to double glazing, modern boilers, and better insulation. They rarely need improvement work for EPC compliance.
• Large detached houses: Found in Bickley, Sundridge Park, and the roads around Bromley Common. These are often pre-war properties with substantial floor areas, multiple reception rooms, and older heating systems. Their size means heating costs are high, and the EPC calculation penalises large properties with inefficient fabric.
• Victorian converted flats: Large period houses near Bromley South and Shortlands that have been split into two or three flats. Each flat needs its own EPC. Conversion quality varies widely, and issues like shared hallways, uninsulated party walls, and aging communal boilers are common.
• Maisonettes around Bromley Common: Purpose-built 1960s-70s maisonettes with their own front doors, typically two bedrooms over two floors. These often have concrete floors, flat roof sections, and older heating systems. Ratings tend to sit around D or E depending on what upgrades have been done.

Typical EPC issues we find in Bromley

• Bay-fronted walls that are hard to insulate: Many Edwardian and Victorian properties in Bromley have projecting bay windows with solid masonry returns. These sections cannot have standard cavity wall insulation and are expensive to treat with external or internal wall insulation.
• Old gas boilers in rental flats: Converted Victorian houses split into flats often retain aging boiler systems. Individual flats may have their own boiler in a kitchen cupboard dating from the early 2000s or older, dragging ratings down.
• Single-glazed windows in conservation areas: Parts of Bromley, Bickley, and Sundridge Park fall within conservation areas where replacing windows requires planning consent. Landlords and homeowners may be stuck with original single-glazed timber sashes that score poorly.
• Conservatories with removed dividing walls: Many 1930s semis in Bromley have had conservatories added, and in a lot of cases the original back wall has been knocked through. This brings the conservatory into the heated envelope of the house, and its poor thermal performance drags the overall rating down considerably.
• Uninsulated suspended timber floors: Edwardian and Victorian properties across Bromley often have suspended timber ground floors with no insulation. Cold air circulates freely underneath, increasing heat loss. Insulating between the joists can improve ratings, though access can be difficult in terraced houses.