Do You Need Planning Permission for a Heat Pump in Edinburgh?

Sometimes.

A lot of domestic air source heat pump installations in Scotland can be carried out under permitted-development rights, which means you may not need to make a full planning application.

But Edinburgh is full of the sort of properties where the simple answer stops being simple.

Conservation areas, listed buildings, shared tenements, the Old and New Towns World Heritage Site and awkward outdoor-unit locations can all change the position.

So I would not tell somebody:

"Heat pumps don't need planning permission."

That is too broad.

The better answer is:

Some do, some don't, and Edinburgh has more reasons than most places to check first.

What does permitted development actually mean?

Permitted development is basically planning permission that already exists in law for certain types of work, provided the job meets all of the conditions.

For air source heat pumps in Scotland, the relevant rules are under Class 6H of the General Permitted Development Order, as amended.

That means a homeowner may be able to install an air source heat pump without submitting a full planning application.

But only if the installation stays within the rules.

The main ones are worth knowing before anybody looks at your house:

• the work must not result in more than one air source heat pump on the same building or within the curtilage of a building
• for a unit attached to the dwelling, no part of the development may protrude more than one metre from the outer surface of an external wall, roof plane, roof ridge or chimney
• a unit within the curtilage must be no more than three metres high, including its housing, and no part may sit forward of the principal elevation or a side elevation where that elevation fronts a road
• in a conservation area, a unit attached to the dwelling must be at ground-floor level and on the rear elevation
• the class does not apply within a World Heritage Site or within the curtilage of a listed building
• the installation must comply with the current MCS planning standard for air source heat pumps — MCS 020(a) — or an equivalent standard
• the unit is for domestic heating or hot water only, and has to be removed when it is no longer needed

If one of those limitations or conditions is not met, Class 6H cannot be used. That does not necessarily mean the heat pump is banned.

Unless another express planning permission applies, it will normally mean making a planning application instead.

That distinction is important, and it is the one most people get wrong.

If you only want the short, Scotland-wide version of the answer, we keep one on the heat pump planning permission FAQ. The rest of this guide is about why Edinburgh is the awkward case.

Can a heat pump be permitted development on an Edinburgh flat?

Potentially, yes.

The Scottish rules specifically cover dwellinghouses, buildings containing flats and individual flats.

So flats are not automatically excluded.

The trouble is that the conditions can become much harder to satisfy once you are dealing with an Edinburgh tenement.

You might have:

• a shared rear wall
• no private garden
• another heat pump already on the building
• a conservation-area restriction
• a listed building
• a World Heritage Site location
• neighbouring windows very close to the proposed unit

That is why the planning check should happen early.

Before the unit is ordered.

Before somebody starts drilling holes.

And definitely before anybody assumes the job is straightforward because their mate fitted one in a detached house in Livingston.

The one heat pump per building rule

This is one of the stranger parts of the current Scottish rules.

Under Class 6H, permitted development does not apply if the installation would result in more than one air source heat pump on the same building or within its curtilage.

In plain English:

the permitted-development route only allows one air source heat pump per building.

Not one per flat.

The whole building.

That matters a lot in Edinburgh tenements.

If one flat already has a heat pump, another flat is not automatically banned from installing one.

But the second installation would not qualify under Class 6H.

A planning application, or another express planning permission, would normally be needed.

So if you are in a tenement, one of the first things worth checking is whether another air source heat pump is already installed on the building.

It is a small question that can save a lot of wasted time.

What about conservation areas?

This is where Edinburgh gets more complicated.

The city has 50 conservation areas, which is not a small number for one local authority. They cover a lot of the housing stock people actually live in, including areas such as:

• Marchmont, the Meadows and Bruntsfield
• Morningside
• Merchiston and Greenhill
• Stockbridge
• Plewlands
• the Old Town, New Town and West End
• Leith
• Duddingston

Being in a conservation area does not mean a heat pump is automatically refused.

But the permitted-development rules are tighter.

For a heat pump attached to a building in a conservation area, Class 6H requires it to be at ground-floor level and on the rear elevation, along with the other conditions being met.

That particular restriction is for a unit attached to the dwelling. A freestanding unit within the curtilage is dealt with under the separate Class 6H rules on position and height. It still has to meet every other condition, and shared-property rights are a separate problem.

That is obviously much easier for some properties than others.

A ground-floor main-door flat with a suitable rear wall might be straightforward enough.

A third-floor flat in Marchmont is a different story.

Again, that does not mean:

"No heat pump."

It means the proposal may need planning permission instead of relying on permitted development.

What if the property is listed?

Listed buildings need more care.

The normal Class 6H permitted-development route does not apply within the curtilage of a listed building.

So you should expect to need planning permission rather than treating Class 6H as the starting point.

And even where planning permission is dealt with, there can be a separate question around listed building consent.

That matters because the issue is not only the outdoor unit.

The council may also care about:

• drilling through historic stonework
• pipe runs across external walls
• visible trunking
• changes to the character of the building
• where the unit sits in relation to the main elevation

Nobody is saying heat pumps are impossible on listed buildings.

It is more about where the equipment goes and how much impact it has on the building.

A unit tucked away at the rear or screened in a courtyard is a different proposition from bolting one onto the front of a Georgian terrace.

So listed does not mean impossible.

It means do not make assumptions.

What about Edinburgh's Old and New Towns World Heritage Site?

This is another important one.

Class 6H does not apply within a World Heritage Site at all.

That matters in central Edinburgh because the Old and New Towns World Heritage Site covers a large and important part of the city.

So if the property is in that area, the standard Class 6H permitted-development right will not cover the installation.

A planning application will normally be required unless another express permission already covers the work.

And if the building is also listed, there can be another layer of consent on top of that.

This is exactly why a postcode alone is not enough to tell somebody whether a heat pump will be straightforward.

Where the outdoor unit sits matters

The planning rules are not just about the building itself.

The position of the unit matters too.

A heat pump in a sensible rear location is generally easier to deal with than one proposed on a prominent front elevation.

In a lot of Edinburgh properties, especially older ones, the visual impact becomes part of the planning question.

That means things like:

• rear rather than front
• ground rather than high-level mounting
• screened rather than exposed
• hidden pipework rather than pipes dragged across stonework

can all make a proposal easier to justify.

There is no point pretending every heat pump can just go wherever the shortest pipe run happens to be.

Sometimes the best technical location and the best planning location are not the same place.

That is part of the design job.

Does noise affect planning permission?

Yes, it can.

For an installation relying on Class 6H, the current sound calculation is MCS 020(a), Issue 1.1. It replaced the old combined MCS 020 document for air source heat pumps.

The standard checks calculated sound at assessment positions one metre outside the centre of a door or window to a habitable room in a neighbouring property. In a block of flats, other flats in the same block count as neighbouring property; the heat-pump owner's own flat does not.

The current limit is 37 dB LAeq,5mins at those assessment positions, ignoring the effect of the facade. That is not a universal 37 dB rating for the unit and it is not a boundary limit.

The calculation looks at things such as:

• the sound output of the unit
• distance to neighbouring properties
• nearby windows
• walls and reflections
• where the unit is positioned

This matters more in tenements and dense parts of Edinburgh because assessment positions can be close and sound can reflect from surrounding walls.

A unit that is perfectly acceptable in a side garden in Corstorphine might be a different proposition in a narrow shared back court in Marchmont.

That does not mean heat pumps are noisy.

Modern units are generally pretty quiet.

It means siting still matters, and it means the calculation decides it rather than the manufacturer's headline decibel figure. Passing MCS 020(a) alone does not grant permitted-development rights; the rest of Class 6H still has to be met.

Is there a one metre boundary rule in Scotland?

This is one I would be careful with, because a lot of online heat-pump advice mixes English and Scottish planning rules.

You will often see articles saying a heat pump has to be at least one metre from a property boundary.

That is not the Scottish Class 6H rule.

For a heat pump attached to the dwelling, the one metre limit is a projection limit. No part of the development may protrude more than one metre from the outer surface of an external wall, roof plane, roof ridge or chimney of the dwelling.

That is a completely different measurement from a distance to your neighbour's fence.

So if you are reading advice online, make sure it actually applies to Scotland.

There is a lot of UK-wide content that quietly means England.

What about a freestanding heat pump?

A freestanding air source heat pump in the garden can also qualify as permitted development.

But there are still restrictions.

The resulting structure cannot exceed three metres in height, including any housing, and no part can be forward of the principal elevation or a side elevation where that elevation fronts a road.

So it cannot simply go anywhere on the property and be assumed to qualify.

The exact siting matters, which is another reason the outdoor-unit location should be settled before somebody gets too far into the job.

Planning permission and property ownership are not the same thing

This is especially important in Edinburgh tenements.

You might get planning permission for a heat pump.

That does not automatically give you the legal right to use a shared wall, shared garden or other common part of the building.

The title deeds and ownership arrangements still matter.

The default Tenement Management Scheme is mainly about maintenance. Its majority-vote rule does not mean a majority can automatically approve new equipment fixed to common property. A heat pump may be an alteration or improvement, and consent from the co-owners of the wall, roof or ground may be needed depending on the titles and ownership.

It is not safe to assume that a simple majority is always enough. It is not safe to assume that every owner in the stair must always consent either. Check the deeds and, where the position is not clear, ask the factor or a Scottish property solicitor before equipment is ordered.

So there are really two separate questions:

1. Will the planning rules allow it?
2. Do you have the right to use that part of the building?

Both need answered.

The council can approve the planning side and you can still have a problem with the property side.

That catches people out.

What if the obvious position fails the planning test?

That does not necessarily kill the job.

Sometimes there is another location that works.

Maybe the rear wall is better than the side.

Maybe a ground-mounted unit works better than a wall-mounted one.

Maybe the pipe run gets slightly longer but the planning position becomes much easier.

This is where a proper site survey matters.

You are not just checking whether a heat pump will physically fit.

You are checking whether the whole job works:

• technically
• legally
• practically

A heat pump that fits on paper but causes a planning problem is not a finished design.

And if no position works, that is worth knowing early rather than late. It does not leave you without options — we have gone through the alternatives in What Heating Options Are Best for Edinburgh Flats and Tenements?.

Should you contact City of Edinburgh Council before installing?

If the position is unclear, yes.

Especially if the property is:

• listed
• in a conservation area
• inside the World Heritage Site
• part of a tenement
• already home to another heat pump somewhere on the building
• likely to need a prominent or unusual outdoor-unit position

It is much better to get the planning position clear before work starts.

If you need formal confirmation that a proposal is lawful, you can apply to the council for a certificate of lawfulness. That is a written decision on whether planning permission is needed, rather than an opinion from somebody on a forum.

It only deals with the planning position. It does not give listed building consent, a building warrant or a right to use somebody else's property.

Do not rely on:

"My neighbour did it, so it must be fine."

Your neighbour's property may be completely different. Different elevation, different conservation area boundary, different listing status, and possibly the one heat pump the building was allowed.

What happens if planning permission is needed?

Then the job becomes a planning application rather than a permitted-development installation.

That does not mean it is doomed.

The council will look at the actual proposal.

Things such as:

• visual impact
• location
• heritage impact
• noise
• building character
• neighbouring properties
• the World Heritage Site's Outstanding Universal Value, where relevant

can all matter depending on the site.

Heat-pump applications in Edinburgh conservation areas are not some untested novelty. They go through the system.

So the correct question is not:

"Does needing planning permission mean I can't have a heat pump?"

It does not.

The question is:

"Can we design the installation in a way that has a reasonable chance of being accepted?"

That is a much more useful conversation.

What if you live in an Edinburgh tenement?

Then I would check the planning side before spending much money on the rest of the system.

In particular:

• is the property listed?
• is it in a conservation area?
• is it in the World Heritage Site?
• is another air source heat pump already on the building?
• where could the outdoor unit realistically go?
• is that wall or garden shared?
• are neighbouring windows close to the proposed unit?

Those questions normally tell us pretty quickly whether the planning side looks straightforward or whether more work is needed.

We have a separate guide on heat pumps in Edinburgh tenements that covers the heating-system side — shared property, hot-water cylinders, radiators and whether the flat itself is a good candidate.

Do not let planning become an afterthought

This is probably the main point.

A heat pump is not just a box that gets bolted onto the outside wall after the heating design is done.

The outside location is part of the design.

Planning is part of the design.

Noise is part of the design.

Ownership is part of the design.

If those things are checked early, the job is much cleaner.

If they are ignored until the end, they can wreck a perfectly good heating design — and if you are relying on Home Energy Scotland funding, a planning problem discovered late can hold up the whole thing.

So, do you need planning permission for a heat pump in Edinburgh?

Maybe.

Some installations can go ahead under Scottish permitted-development rights.

Others will need a planning application because of the property, the location of the unit, heritage restrictions or the fact that another heat pump is already on the same building.

In Edinburgh, I would always be especially careful with:

• tenements
• conservation areas
• listed buildings
• the Old and New Towns World Heritage Site
• shared property
• unusual outdoor-unit positions

The important thing is to check first.

Not after the unit is sitting in the merchant's warehouse with your name on it.

Thinking about a heat pump in Edinburgh?

If you are in Edinburgh or the Lothians and you are not sure whether planning will be an issue, get in touch.

We can look at the property, the proposed outdoor-unit location and the heating system before recommending what makes sense.

If the job looks straightforward, great.

If planning or the building itself is likely to be the problem, it is better to know that at the start.

Book a free home survey or call us on 0131 644 0045.