Heritage consultant Medway
Heritage consultants in Medway.
Listed building consent, heritage statements and conservation advice across Rochester, Chatham, Gillingham and Strood, from Georgian naval and military buildings to medieval and Victorian townscape along the River Medway.
We respond within one working day leading to a no obligation outline approach.
Rochester Castle is both a Grade I listed building and a Scheduled Monument, and stands a short walk from Rochester Cathedral. Medway is full of layered heritage.
The listed stock of the Medway towns was shaped by the river, the Church and the Navy. Rochester High Street keeps timber-framed and Georgian frontages, Restoration House and Eastgate House with their Dickens associations, and the Guildhall of 1687. At Chatham, the Historic Dockyard, Fort Amherst, the Great Lines and Brompton Barracks form one of the most complete groups of naval and military buildings in England. Our work runs from changes to a single listed townhouse to refurbishment of institutional buildings still in daily use.
Heritage consultancy in Medway
What we do in Medway.
1.
Listed Building Consent
Medway Council is the single unitary authority for planning and listed building consent across Rochester, Chatham, Gillingham, Strood, Rainham and the Hoo Peninsula. We prepare applications with the drawings, schedules and justification its conservation officers expect, as we did for the refurbishment of North Block at Brompton Barracks, consented in January 2026.
2.
Heritage Statements
Proposals in conservation areas such as Rochester, Star Hill to Sun Pier, Brompton Lines, New Road Chatham or Upper Upnor need a heritage statement that addresses the NPPF and the council’s own appraisals. Several areas have adopted appraisals and management plans, and we write directly to the character those documents describe.
3.
Naval and Military Buildings
Chatham’s dockyard, barracks and fortifications were built by the Navy Board and the Board of Ordnance, and many are now in civilian, educational or mixed use. Brick storehouses, barrack blocks, casemates and slipways each raise different questions about subdivision, services and fire safety. We establish what is significant and how new uses can work around it.
4.
Conservation Management Plans
Trusts, universities, the Ministry of Defence and church bodies hold some of the most important buildings in Medway, from the Historic Dockyard and Fort Amherst to Rochester Cathedral precinct. A Conservation Management Plan gives these owners an agreed understanding of significance to guide repairs, funding bids and future change.
5.
Solar for Listed Buildings
Rochester and Chatham roofs are mostly clay peg tile and Welsh slate, and the roofscape is seen from the castle keep, the river and the high ground of the Great Lines. On a listed building panels normally need listed building consent, and in conservation areas and the Kent Downs National Landscape siting is tested closely. We look for rear slopes, valley roofs and outbuildings, and set out the public benefit of the clean energy under the NPPF.
We hold an active caseload across Medway and the wider North Kent area. If your area is not listed, we still work there.
That includes Rochester, Strood, Chatham, Gillingham, Rainham, Upnor and the Hoo Peninsula villages, Maidstone and the Medway valley, Gravesend and Gravesham, Sittingbourne, Faversham and Swale, and Canterbury. We also carry out pre-works recording of listed buildings to CIFA standards across all of them.
Featured Medway project
A Grade II* listed barracks by James Wyatt, still in use.
Brompton Barracks
North Block, built in 1804 to 1806 for the Board of Ordnance and still housing soldiers. Listed building consent for its refurbishment, granted with no pre-commencement conditions.
Heritage Unlimited supported the design team with a Heritage Statement, a room by room gazetteer and a schedule of some forty window bays, dated against an 1866 photograph and the Royal Engineers Museum archive. The work showed where significance lay, in the masonry walls, staircases and original sashes, and let new services follow existing routes. Medway Council granted consent in January 2026.
Read the full project →Browse our work
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Heritage consultancy across England.
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Listed building consent and heritage advice across all 32 boroughs.
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Common questions
Medway heritage questions.
How quickly can you prepare a heritage statement for a Medway application?
Does Medway Council offer pre-application advice on listed buildings?
Do you work in the Kent Downs National Landscape?
Can you help with converting a former naval or military building?
Do I need consent to replace windows or repoint a listed house in Rochester?
Do you provide a fee proposal before we commit?
Active caseload across Medway and North Kent
Tell us about your Medway project.
Send us the address and a brief description of the works. You will have a response within one working day.
To get a fast outline approach, share:
- The address and listing grade of the property
- A description of the proposed works
- Where you are in the planning process
- Your role: owner, developer, architect, or public body