Essex

The county most of our work is in.

Name: Mansouri Design & Build
Address: 5 Shut Lane, Earls Colne, Colchester, Essex, CO6 2RE, GB
Telephone: 01787 727158
Rating: 5.0

Extensions, landscaping, internal remodelling and heritage work across Essex — with the majority of our completed projects in and around the Braintree and Colchester districts.

Where we work

17 completed projects, in 8 Essex towns and villages.

We are based in Essex and the great majority of our work is here. That is worth saying plainly, because a builder's useful local knowledge is not a list of postcodes — it is knowing which conservation officer wants what, which streets have had Permitted Development rights withdrawn, where the clay is bad enough to change a foundation, and which merchants can actually supply a matching handmade brick.

Everything on this page is drawn from projects we have finished and photographed. We also work in Suffolk and London, but our portfolio there is small and we would rather say so than pretend to a presence we have not earned.

Towns and villages we have worked in

Coggeshall
Colchester
Colne Engaine
Earls Colne
Gestingthorpe
Great Holland
Hatfield Peverel
Wickham St Paul

Generated from the project record, so it lists only places we have actually completed work.

Building in Essex

What is particular about the buildings here.

Some of this applies anywhere in the country. Some of it is specific enough that getting it wrong in Essex produces a problem you would not have had elsewhere.

Timber frame, and a lot more of it than people expect

Essex has one of the largest surviving stocks of medieval and post-medieval timber-framed buildings in England, much of it behind later brick, render or weatherboarding. A building that presents as Georgian brick is quite often an earlier frame refronted. That changes everything about how you approach an alteration: you cannot assume the wall you are opening up is load-bearing masonry, and you cannot assume the frame is where the drawing says it is until it has been exposed.

Shrinkable clay, and what it does to foundations

Much of the county sits on clay — London Clay in the south, boulder clay across the centre and north. Clay shrinks as it dries and swells as it wets, and mature trees make the effect far more pronounced. In practice that means foundation depths on an extension are frequently driven by the soil and the trees rather than by the loads, and a trial hole answers the question that a standard detail only guesses at.

Weatherboarding and pargeting

Painted weatherboarding, usually white or black, and decorative lime pargeting are both characteristically Essex and both regularly specified as planning conditions in conservation areas. Neither survives being replaced with a modern equivalent: plastic boarding reads wrong at any distance, and pargeting is a lime craft that cannot be done in a cement render.

Handmade red brick, and flint in the north

Essex produced its own soft red brick for centuries, and matching it is the most common material problem on a repair or an extension — modern brick is too consistent and too hard. Towards the north and west of the county, flint appears in boundary walls and church fabric, knapped and laid in panels between brick piers. We have built new flintwork to match existing at Colne Engaine.

Planning authorities

The councils our Essex projects fall under.

Naming these is a statement about geography, not a claim of any standing with them. We have no approved-contractor status with any council and we do not imply one.

Braintree District Council

Coggeshall · Earls Colne · Colne Engaine · Hatfield Peverel · Gestingthorpe · Wickham St Paul

Covers most of the villages we work in, and a large concentration of listed buildings and conservation areas — Coggeshall alone has one of the highest counts of listed buildings of any village in the country. Conservation area status and Article 4 directions vary street by street here, so they have to be checked for the specific address.

Colchester City Council

Colchester

Britain's oldest recorded town, with a correspondingly dense historic core and numerous conservation areas. Work in the centre and the older suburbs usually has a heritage dimension even where the building itself is not listed.

Tendring District Council

Great Holland

The coastal district. Exposure matters here in a way it does not inland — salt-laden wind drives rain into elevations and shortens the life of the wrong material choice on a roof, a render or an external joinery detail.

Our Essex work

Coggeshall, Essex · 2024

Internal Remodelling

Reclaimed Brick Fireplace & Oak Bressummer

Wickham St Paul, Essex · 2023

What we do in Essex

The same three services, and the heritage work that runs through them.

Planning something in Essex?

Tell us where the property is and what you are thinking. We respond within 24 hours.

Tell Us About Your Project 01787 727158

We carry £10M Employers Liability · £3M Public Liability · £1M Professional Indemnity

The county most of our work is in.

17 completed projects, in 8 Essex towns and villages.

Towns and villages we have worked in

What is particular about the buildings here.

Timber frame, and a lot more of it than people expect

Shrinkable clay, and what it does to foundations

Weatherboarding and pargeting

Handmade red brick, and flint in the north

The councils our Essex projects fall under.

Braintree District Council

Colchester City Council

Tendring District Council

Every Essex project, photographed.

Holland House Renovation

Heritage Flint Wall

Insulated Garden Room / Office

Porcelain Terrace, Raised Planters & Deck

Raised Timber Deck & Garden Refresh

Family Garden & Play Area

Oak & Steel Covered Pavilion

Family Bathroom Renovation

Period Drawing Room Restoration

Bespoke Fitted Pantry

Fitted Wardrobe & Oak Dressing Table

Commercial Steel Framed Building

Chic Marble Bathroom

Single-Storey Rear Extension & Garden

The Old Rectory

Village Projects

Reclaimed Brick Fireplace & Oak Bressummer

The same three services, and the heritage work that runs through them.

Extensions & New Builds

Landscaping & Outdoor Structures

Internal Remodelling & Design

Heritage & Listed Buildings

Planning something in Essex?