The Royal Harbour housing stock
The Royal Harbour proper runs from the marina inland to Harbour Parade and Vale Square, taking in Military Road, Harbour Street, Addington Street and the harbour-front terraces. The dominant fabric is three-to-four-storey Georgian and early Victorian townhouse over commercial ground floor. Upstairs flats above shops and restaurants, some running as short-let holiday accommodation. The service risers up these buildings were built for gas, gravity water and one-lamp-per-room electric; they now carry consumer-unit sub-feeds, cat6 to every flat, AV to Sky dishes on the roof and, more and more, EV feeds to the on-street bays.
What we do most here
Consumer unit swaps. Almost every Royal Harbour flat we survey has a 1980s or 1990s plastic-cased dual-RCD or older 3036 rewireable board tucked in a hall cupboard. First job on any purchase is usually replace it.
EICRs for the many landlord and short-let owners in the area. The 2020 Regs bite hardest here because rental turnover is high.
Riser rewires in the multi-flat conversions. Someone did the ground floor in 1998, someone else the top floor in 2011, nobody has looked at the vertical riser feeding both. Coded and rewired to a consistent spec.
External accessory replacement - the marina wind carries salt inland further than people expect. Standard IP44 fittings from ten years ago are corroding hollow. We fit IP65 minimum, 316-stainless-fixed.
Conservation and listed context
Most of the Royal Harbour sits inside the Royal Harbour Conservation Area, administered by Thanet District Council. Individual buildings run Grade II. Article 4 directions cover street-facing works. Practical effect: no chased channels on principal elevations without a conservation-officer conversation; external accessory colour and position matter; solar on street-facing pitches is generally not approvable, on rear pitches often is. We survey the fabric before we quote and support the consent application when one is needed.
Local reality
The harbour front is a working commercial hub. Parking a van at 08:00 on a Saturday requires forward planning, and we work around your business or your neighbour's business - no drilling during service hours in a restaurant flat, no scaffold in front of a shop window without prior arrangement.