Air conditioning in
Kensington and Chelsea
Installation, servicing and repair across Chelsea, South Kensington, Notting Hill, Holland Park, Earls Court, North Kensington and Ladbroke Grove. Forty five to sixty minutes from N14.
- Free survey, usually within 48 hours
- Fixed written price before any work starts
- Permission position checked for your address first
Kensington. Photograph by CVB, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Accredited, and fitting the brands you know
Finished jobs nearest Kensington and Chelsea
Our own installations, the closest to Kensington and Chelsea first, photographed on the day. Tap one for the full story.
Heat pump
W14
Holland Park
Vaillant aroTHERM plus 7 kW air source heat pump
A Holland Park house taken off gas in three days. The outdoor unit fits a narrow side passage, and the cylinder is only a short run away from it.
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Heat pump
NW1
Camden
Samsung monobloc air source heat pump
Levelled on packers on an existing tiled patio rather than bolted through it, so the tiling stays intact and the unit still sits dead flat.
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Heat pump
NW10
Neasden
Vaillant aroTHERM plus air source heat pump
Set into the corner of the garden against the fence on a raised base, clear of the lawn, replacing a gas boiler over three days.
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Heat pump
N1
Islington
Vaillant aroTHERM plus 7 kW air source heat pump
There was no room for it in the garden, so it went on the flat roof, stood on rubber blocks over a protective mat so the roof covering carries no point load.
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Heat pump
W5
Ealing
Samsung 12 kW high temperature air source heat pump
A two-zone system with a 300-litre cylinder and a buffer tank, 15 metres of pipework run underground to the unit on its own concrete base, and radiators replaced where they were too small for a heat pump.
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Heat pump
TW9
Richmond
Air source heat pump
Flow and return brought up the wall as one insulated pair in a single clipped run, which is the difference between pipework that looks designed and pipework that looks added.
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Solar
TW8
Brentford
Roof-mounted solar array
Panels on a flat roof carried on tilted frames rather than laid flat, which is what brings a London flat roof close to the yield of a south-facing pitch.
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Heat pump
TW8
Brentford
Vaillant aroTHERM plus 7 kW with a 300-litre cylinder
Outside, the unit stands against the side wall on its feet. Inside, a 300-litre uniSTOR cylinder, wireless controls and a 25-litre buffer vessel.
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Air conditioning installation in Kensington and Chelsea costs 2,400 to 3,200 pounds for a single room, fitted and including VAT, and takes one day on site.
A stucco-fronted terrace in this borough will not take an outdoor unit anywhere visible from the road. That is not a council opinion, it is what the conservation area rules on highway-facing elevations already say.
Read the full guide: 6 sections, about 3 minutes
The housing stock in Kensington and Chelsea, and what it means for the job
Kensington and Chelsea has the highest conservation area coverage of any borough we work in, and a very large proportion of listed stucco terraces where any external alteration is a formal application. The stock is overwhelmingly period flats and large period houses, and the outdoor unit position is almost always a rear light well, a rear roof section or a mews elevation. Where the job works cleanly is in the mews properties and the newer developments in North Kensington. Where it needs patience is anywhere with a stucco frontage.
The typical Kensington and Chelsea installation
A typical Kensington job is a period flat with the outdoor unit set into a rear light well on anti-vibration mounts, invisible from any street, with consent and planning secured before the install date.
How far we are from Kensington and Chelsea, and what we have finished nearby
Our own address is N14 5RH, which is 9.5 miles from the middle of Kensington and Chelsea in a straight line. A drive is longer than that and depends on the hour, so forty five to sixty minutes from N14.
The three jobs of ours closest to Kensington and Chelsea, with the distance from the borough rather than from us, because that is the number that says whether we know the area:
- Holland Park W14, heat pump: under a mile from Kensington and Chelsea. Vaillant aroTHERM plus 7 kW air source heat pump.
- Camden NW1, heat pump: 3.5 miles from Kensington and Chelsea. Samsung monobloc air source heat pump.
- Neasden NW10, heat pump: 4.6 miles from Kensington and Chelsea. Vaillant aroTHERM plus air source heat pump.
What it costs here
| Job | System | Installed price |
|---|---|---|
| One bedroom | 2.5kW single split | £2,400 to £3,200 |
| One room in a flat | Consent pack included | £2,600 to £3,900 |
| Outdoor unit on a bracket | Rear wall or light well | £2,650 to £4,100 |
| Living room | 5kW single split | £2,750 to £3,850 |
| Two rooms | 2 unit multi-split | £4,300 to £5,800 |
| Pipework boxed in and made good | Where a surface run is not acceptable | +£180 to £600 |
| Annual service | Any make | £95 plus VAT |
Every figure on this site is an estimate built from the quotations we issued in 2026 and our own installation experience. It is not a quotation. The price you are given after the free survey is the price you pay.
Permission in Kensington and Chelsea
Conservation area coverage in Kensington and Chelsea is high, so the first check on any address here is whether the street sits inside one. Inside a conservation area you keep permitted development rights, but the outdoor unit cannot go on a wall or roof slope fronting a highway, which in practice means the rear. Where the property is a flat, planning permission is needed regardless of any of that. Your street, any Article 4 direction and the listed building register are the first three things we check, and the answer is in writing before you pay anything.
What the housing in Kensington and Chelsea means for permission
83 per cent of homes in Kensington and Chelsea are flats, and the split inside that number is what matters: 25 per cent of all homes here are in converted buildings rather than purpose-built blocks. A conversion usually means a freeholder who is a person rather than a managing agent, which is a faster conversation and a cheaper consent, but it also means a building never designed for plant on the outside of it. Position is the whole job here. The most common home in Kensington and Chelsea is a flat in a purpose-built block, 57 per cent, which usually means a managing agent, a licence for alterations and a plant position the building decides. By share of houses it is in the lower half of the 21 boroughs we cover north of the Thames.
| Home type | Share of Kensington and Chelsea | What it means here |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | 1% | Almost none here |
| Semi-detached | 3% | Almost none here |
| Terraced | 13% | No side access, so the rear or a bracket |
| Purpose-built flat | 57% | A large share here. Planning permission and freeholder consent, both |
| Converted flat | 25% | A high share. Two permissions, usually a smaller freeholder |
Shares of the 66,884 households counted in Kensington and Chelsea at the 2021 Census, table TS044, rounded. Percentages do not total 100 because homes in commercial buildings and temporary structures are counted separately.
Everything we fit in Kensington and Chelsea
83 per cent of homes in Kensington and Chelsea are flats, so most of our work here is cooling, servicing and repair. Where there is a house or a roof of your own, the same team fits heat pumps, solar and batteries.
Split air conditioning
One room or the whole house. Domestic and commercial.
See what it costs
Air source heat pumps
Replaces the gas boiler. We take the 7,500 pound grant off your invoice.
Price my heat pump
Servicing and repair
Book a service
Ducted air conditioning
The unit sits in the ceiling void. Only the grilles show.
How it is fitted
Solar panels
Get a roof survey
Battery storage
See if it pays
Your estimate
£2,400to£3,200
Supplied, fitted, commissioned and certificated. Includes VAT.
Send this on WhatsAppPrice it for your address
The same model the rest of the site uses. Tell us the postcode and the survey turns it into one fixed written price.
Last step: where do we send your written price?
Every figure on this site is an estimate built from the quotations we issued in 2026 and our own installation experience. It is not a quotation. The price you are given after the free survey is the price you pay.
Air conditioning in Kensington and Chelsea: common questions
How much does air conditioning cost in Kensington and Chelsea?
2,400 to 3,200 pounds for a single room, and the professional fees around consent are frequently larger than the installation itself. A two-room system on one outdoor unit is typically 4,300 to 5,800 pounds, and three rooms 6,400 to 8,600 pounds.
Every price includes the units, installation, commissioning, electrical work and VAT. The fixed price comes after a free survey. There is a full breakdown on the cost page.
Do I need planning permission for air conditioning in Kensington and Chelsea?
It depends on which of the two you have. 83 per cent of homes in Kensington and Chelsea are flats, and a flat always needs planning permission for this work.
The section further down this page sets out what the housing stock here means in practice, and every condition is on the planning permission page. We check the conservation area boundary, any Article 4 direction and the listed building register for your exact address before quoting.
How quickly can you get to Kensington and Chelsea?
Forty five to sixty minutes from N14. For a survey we usually offer something within 48 hours, and for a fault call we will tell you the day we can genuinely attend rather than promising one we cannot keep.
Do you install in flats in Kensington and Chelsea?
Yes. 83 per cent of homes in Kensington and Chelsea are flats, 57 per cent of them purpose-built and 25 per cent conversions, so it is a large share of what we do here. It takes two permissions rather than one: the freeholder's written consent and planning permission from the council.
We prepare the licence pack the managing agent will ask for at no charge, including the drawing, the sound data and the insurance. The order the two permissions are done in is what decides whether it is expensive, and there is a full sequence on the leasehold flats page.
Do you service and repair existing systems in Kensington and Chelsea?
Yes, any make and any age, including systems installed by companies no longer trading. An annual service is 95 pounds plus VAT and a fault diagnosis is 89 pounds plus VAT, waived if we do the repair the same day. See servicing and repairs.
Free survey anywhere in Kensington and Chelsea
Forty five to sixty minutes from N14. Tell us the postcode and the rooms, and we will give you a written fixed price and an honest answer on permission.
Monday to Friday 9am to 7pm, Saturday 10am to 3pm, Sunday closed
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