Listed building bathroom dilemma

[woebetide8]

Currently buying a Grade II listed property with a downstairs bathroom. We would like to turn the upstairs smaller bedroom (it is a four bedroom house) into a bathroom but it's at the front of the listed house so I think no chance of persuading them that a soil pipe would look lovely... Anyone got experience of re-routing soil pipes – we have one already downstairs at the back of the house – or any other suggestions...

I live in a Grade II listed building that had no bathrooms in it up until the early twentieth century. It now has two upstairs, both installed before listed building status in the 1960's, but it has not spoiled the integrity of the building to have modern indoor plumbing upstairs. What spoils the integrity of listed buildings is glass box extensions and plastic windows!

So true!

My local council charges £100 to answer a question. The response I got from their listed building person didn't answer my question (they sent a reply but it didn't answer what was asked) so that was £100 down the drain and I still don't know whether I can do what I need to do to keep my bay window in decent repair.

Have a look at the listing record for the property and it will tell you a bit about why the building is important (it’s “significance”) because that is the thing that will need to be preserved.

So for example if the listing specifically mentions it being a fine example of an X roof or Y windows or Z internal wall paintings, then you are unlikely to be able to mess with those things. If it has “group value”, what you propose will need to be sympathetic to the street scene, or the neighbouring properties etc. It will help if you can find examples of what you want to do very nearby, so you know they have been allowed to do that, and can quote them as being a good solution etc

If the listing is very short (the old ones often are) then a conservation architect can draw up a “statement of significance”, which essentially reports on what the significant features are (and hopefully, how your proposals will cause no harm). Being able to say that you are bringing the property up to standard for modern living is good

Yes, agree with others who have done this in a listed building.

We changed a front upstairs dressing room to a bathroom where there was none. We routed pipes under the floor, built a false floor in the 'new' bathroom, boxed in the soil pipe (so we have a raised skirting board) and routed it to the outside drain. It helped that the outside drain was plastic (yes, even in a listed!) and we suggested replacing it with cast iron, which the planners liked.

We had a sympathetic architect who had a good relationship with the planning dept and a creative and can-do builder.

I think if you are already worried about compromising living with a downstairs only bathroom it will always bother you, so hopefully this is useful to see that change can be done.

(edited to add we are * listed, so you know, it can be done!)

FWIW my parents had a bathroom with macerator loo put in a couple of years ago, as they just couldn’t make the soil pipe work without spending 20k+. (Bad geometries). I was really worried and against it but they went ahead, and it’s been completely fine so far. I know it’s only 2 years but so far - all great. Just wanted to offer a sliver of hope if you do go down that route!

I've lived in a rented house with a downstairs bathroom. It's a pain in the middle of the night.
It's a pain for guests [provide robes] to use the loo when they're dressed for bed or to walk through the kitchen post shower.
It's a pain with small kids [but so is an upstairs only bathroom when you are toilet training]
It's a pain if you have pets who are disturbed as you schlep through the bathroom.
They're often very chilly and have other random stuff shoved in there like washing machines.

Upsides - now that we have a dog, it would be handy to have a shower or bath we could throw the dog in. I'm not taking a large muddy dog upstairs.
Can't think of any other

@woebetide8 Yes grade 2 listed. There were some backwards and forwards with the conservation officer and building regs, as they sometimes have different opinions as to what can and cannot be done. There were some compromises made but we got there. Having builders/plumbers who are used to dealing with period property helped.