Period & conversion moves
Moving out of a building that is older than the furniture
Georgian, Regency and Victorian Greenwich, plus the conversions inside them. The building needs protecting as much as your things do, and both are part of the same quote.
The short version
A period move is a normal move with more time in it
There is no secret technique. What there is, is protection that goes down before anything is carried, cases instead of blankets for the things that need them, a staircase that has been measured rather than guessed at, and a crew who are not being rushed by a price that assumed a modern semi. That is the whole difference, and it is most of why a period house quotes higher than its room count suggests.
What an old building asks of a removal firm
The staircase
A turn, sometimes two, and a handrail nobody wants to replace.
Measured at survey — the turn, the headroom and the width at the narrowest point. Wardrobes and bed frames come apart. Sofas go up on their backs or, occasionally, do not go at all, which we say before the day rather than during it.
The walls
Lath and plaster, cornicing, and paint that is older than it looks.
Corners padded and jambs covered before the first carry. Lath and plaster marks if you breathe on it and patches badly, so we treat a period hallway as part of the fragile inventory.
The floors
Original boards, encaustic tiles in the hall, and stone steps outside.
Runners the full length of the route at both ends. Tiled Victorian hallways are beautiful and they chip, so nothing is dragged and nothing is set down without something underneath it.
The contents
Gilt frames, mirrors, marble tops, veneered furniture, glazed cabinets.
Purpose-made cases rather than blankets. Marble travels on edge, never flat. Glazed doors are taped and faced. Anything with a loose veneer gets a note on the inventory before it moves.
The street
A conservation area, resident permits, and no driveway anywhere in sight.
Bay suspension applied for with the Royal Borough where one is possible, with the notice period built into the schedule. Where it is not possible we shuttle with a smaller vehicle from a workable point nearby.
The building itself
A listing, a conservation-area designation, or a freeholder with rules.
We work to whatever the building requires. Where a managing agent or a freeholder wants insurance documents or a method statement in advance, we send them before the date.
Where these moves actually are
The terraces off Crooms Hill and Royal Hill. The streets running up Maze Hill along the east side of the park. Blackheath village and the big houses facing the heath. Westcombe Park on the slope down towards the river. Every one of those has the same combination: a beautiful building, a narrow route through it, and nowhere to park.
The coverage page goes through each of them properly, including which streets we know will not take a Luton.
What it costs you to skip the survey
Time, usually, and sometimes a wall. A crew who arrive expecting a modern two-bed and find a second-floor conversion with a turning staircase will either take much longer than the quote allowed or take shortcuts to stay inside it. Neither is what you want happening to a house you have just sold or a deposit you would like back.
Related
Whole houses are covered on house removals. If yours is a conversion flat, the access side is on flat and apartment removals. And if some of it needs to go somewhere while the rest moves, storage is the page for that.
Period moves — what people ask
What counts as a period property move?
Anything where the building itself needs protecting as much as the furniture does. In practice that is most of Greenwich — Georgian and Regency terraces, Victorian houses and the conversions inside them, and the older stock around Blackheath village and Westcombe Park.
Do you handle antiques and fine art?
We handle antique furniture, framed pictures and mirrors as part of a normal house move, in purpose-made cases. Genuinely high-value or museum-grade pieces sometimes want a specialist fine-art shipper, and where that is the honest answer we will say so rather than take the risk.
Will you take a marble-topped console apart?
The top comes off and travels on edge in a padded case; the base travels separately. Marble carried flat cracks under its own weight, which is one of those things you only need to learn once.
My flat is a conversion on the second floor. Is that a period move?
Usually yes. Conversions keep the original staircase and the original walls, so the constraints are the building's rather than the flat's. The flat removals page covers the access side; this page covers the handling side, and most conversion moves need both.
Do you need permission to move in a conservation area?
Not to move, no. What you may need is a suspended parking bay, and that is a Royal Borough application with a notice period. We make it on your behalf and plan around the answer.
What if something will not come out?
It happens — usually a sofa or a wardrobe that went in before a wall or a bannister changed. We establish that at survey, not on the day, and talk through the options: dismantling further, a window lift where the building allows it, or leaving it and selling it.
Got an old house and a nervous feeling?
That is the right instinct. Send us the address and we will come and look at the staircase before anyone talks about price.