Air conditioning in a Victorian terrace

Solid brick walls, no side access, narrow rear yards and (often) a conservation-area designation. None of that rules out air conditioning, but each constraint shapes what's possible.

Upstairs rooms; especially loft conversions; are typically the priority. Front-facing rooms get heaviest afternoon gain; rear-facing rooms get the longest sustained warmth.

Three realistic options: at the back of the house on the rear elevation, mounted on a flat extension roof, or in the rear yard at ground level. All three have trade-offs.

• Rear elevation: invisible from the street, but noise carries to neighbours; check distances to bedroom windows.
• Flat roof on a rear extension: ideal acoustically; needs a structural check and condensate drainage.
• Ground level in the yard: easiest install, but loses outdoor space and is closest to neighbouring boundaries.

A rear-mounted condenser on a non-listed terrace outside a conservation area is usually permitted development; but the rules are tighter than people realise (size, distance to boundary, noise).

If your property is listed or in a conservation area, plan for a planning application. Pre-application advice from your local authority is almost always worth the small fee.

The refrigerant pipework needs to run from indoor unit to outdoor unit, typically through external walls. In a solid-brick Victorian terrace this means small core-drilled holes; sealed and trimmed neatly. Installers used to modern cavity walls will sometimes underestimate this; ask to see photos of their previous Victorian work.