Serving Windermere, the Lake District and surrounding areas
Keswick is the furthest of our regular areas, twenty-one miles north over Dunmail Raise, on the shore of Derwentwater under Skiddaw.
Keswick is the market town of the northern Lakes: the Moot Hall in the market place, streets of Victorian guest houses, and Derwentwater a short walk away. Its older buildings use the dark Skiddaw slate stone of the fells behind it, often rendered, under slate roofs – a little different in colour and texture from the stone around Windermere.
It also sits under a different council. Keswick was in the old Allerdale district and is now in Cumberland, not Westmorland and Furness, so council services and building control come from Cumberland Council – while planning, because the town is inside the National Park, still goes to the Lake District National Park Authority.
And like much of Cumbria it has been flooded. The River Greta overtopped its banks in Storm Desmond in 2015, affecting homes in the town. For properties near the river, flood resilience belongs in the design.
Keswick’s Victorian guest houses and holiday lets are refurbished around the season and bookings.
Planning comes from the National Park Authority, other services from Cumberland Council. We handle both.
Near the river, floor levels, drainage and resilient finishes are designed in from the start.
Older buildings use dark, often rendered Skiddaw slate stone. Repairs and extensions are matched to it.
Single and two-storey extensions in stone, slate and glass, built to sit naturally against a Lakeland house.
Low-energy extensions with high insulation, airtightness and glazing placed for the light, not the heat loss.
Insulated garden offices, studios and rooms for guests, clad in cedar or larch and built on a proper base.
New homes, replacement dwellings, garages and outbuildings, from groundworks to the finished building.
Measured surveys, plans, elevations and 3D drawings, and the planning application that goes with them.
Timber jetties, landing stages and lakeshore decking, built for water levels that rise and fall.
Steel-framed buildings, workshops, hospitality and holiday-let work for Lake District businesses.
Careful barn conversions, character homes, holiday lets and studios for Lake District landowners.
Practical agricultural buildings, livestock sheds, stables and storage for Lake District farmers.
Extensions, bedrooms, restaurants, spa facilities and refurbishments for Lake District hoteliers.
Yes. It is about twenty-one miles from Windermere, and we take on extensions, garden rooms, new builds and renovations there.
The Lake District National Park Authority, because Keswick is inside the National Park. Council services, including building control, come from Cumberland Council.
Yes – we plan the programme around your bookings and can phase the work so part of the property stays open.
Yes. The National Park rules for outbuildings apply here too – an outbuilding more than 20 metres from the house and over 10 square metres needs planning permission – and we check your site before you choose a size.
Talk to Lakes Construction and arrange a free quotation.