Liverpool City Council area · checked 3 November 2026
A heat pump in Liverpool meets local facts before it meets a price: a city of terraces and flats, 36 conservation areas, 1,569 listed-building records and a council grant with its own rules. This guide sets them out, with the source for every figure.
Independent guide by SEO-DONS LTD. We are not installers and we do not refer you to any.
A city of terraces
On census day in 2021, 37.9% of Liverpool households lived in a terraced house, against 23.2% across England and Wales. Only 8.2% lived in a detached house, where the national figure is 23.2%. Add the flats, and 23.2% of households lived in a flat of some kind, including 8,162 in converted or shared houses.
That shape matters more than any brochure. A terraced house can have one outdoor unit under Class G, not two. The back yard is usually the easiest place for it, and the flat roof of a back extension can work if the unit sits at least 1 metre from every edge. A front wall above the ground floor is ruled out everywhere, and inside a conservation area nothing may face the road at all. The diagram shows the six usual positions.
Inside the house, the question is space for a hot water cylinder, which most heat pump systems need and many combi-boiler terraces no longer have. The terraces and flats guide goes through yards, extensions, cylinders and the limits for blocks of flats.
Planning in this city
The council says its conservation areas cover 9% of the city and protect about 19,000 properties, from Albert Dock and Rodney Street to Woolton Village and Wavertree Garden Suburb. Inside them, Class G still applies, but the unit may not go on a wall or roof that fronts a road, or sit nearer the road than the house. The council also warns that some works there are covered by Article 4 directions.
Conservation areas and planningPlanning data records 1,569 listed buildings inside the city boundary: 30 at Grade I, 104 at Grade II* and 1,394 at Grade II. Class G does not apply to a listed building or its grounds, so a heat pump there needs planning permission, and listed building consent where the work affects the building's character.
Listed buildingsClass G treats World Heritage Sites like conservation areas. Liverpool's waterfront was removed from the World Heritage List on 21 July 2021, so that limb of the rule no longer applies anywhere in the city. The conservation areas around the waterfront, such as Albert Dock, Stanley Dock and Castle Street, still do.
Check a homeThe rule itself changed on 29 May 2025: larger units are allowed, and detached houses may have two. Rules read at legislation.gov.uk; conservation figures from Liverpool City Council.
How the city was heated
The 2021 census asked every household how it was heated. In Liverpool, 77.8% relied on mains gas alone, above the 73.8% for England and Wales. Electric heating on its own came second, at 9.8% of households (20,288), a little above the national 8.5%.
Renewable heating, the census heading that covers heat pumps, reached 0.27% of the city's households, alone or alongside another system. Across England and Wales it was 0.94%. Oil, the fuel most often replaced by a heat pump elsewhere, heated only 111 Liverpool households, where nationally it was 3.5%. The full table and what it means for each group are in how the city heats its homes.
| Main heating | Liverpool households | Liverpool | England and Wales |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mains gas only | 161,443 | 77.8% | 73.8% |
| Electric only | 20,288 | 9.8% | 8.5% |
| Two or more types, no renewable | 15,212 | 7.3% | 8.5% |
| No central heating | 4,822 | 2.3% | 1.5% |
| Other central heating only | 2,894 | 1.4% | 0.9% |
| District or communal heat network only | 1,107 | 0.5% | 0.9% |
| Tank or bottled gas only | 986 | 0.5% | 1.0% |
Two routes to help with the cost
Liverpool City Council was awarded £5,800,000 to improve around 450 properties over 3 years. It covers homes rated EPC D to G whose households meet an income, benefits or postcode test, and the council does not ask qualifying households for a contribution. The measures it lists include hybrid and ground source heat pumps. Year two, to 31 March 2027, is oversubscribed.
How the council's scheme worksThe national grant takes a fixed amount off an installer's quote for an owner replacing fossil fuel or electric heating; the installer applies. Between May 2022 and September 2026 it paid for 184 heat pumps in Liverpool, a small number for a city of 207,491 households. Eligibility is set out on GOV.UK.
The scheme's figures for the cityRenting
Only 46.8% of Liverpool households owned their home in 2021, against 61.6% nationally. 26.4% rented from a council or housing association and 26.1% from a private landlord. For a tenant the first question is not the rule but the landlord: the heating belongs to the building, and the Boiler Upgrade Scheme is for property owners. Private renters can apply to the council's scheme, as the council's page says. The renters and landlords guide covers both sides.
The electricity side
Liverpool's local electricity network is run by SP Energy Networks, which holds the SP Manweb licence for Merseyside, Cheshire, North Wales and North Shropshire. Every heat pump connection has to be reported to the network operator. Under the process MCS describes, the installer can connect and then notify within 28 days where the property's maximum demand stays within 60A, but must apply first where it would be between 60A to 100A. The electricity network guide explains fuses, older supplies and who does what.
Common worries
Class G sets no minimum yard size. What decides it is the MCS 020 a) sound calculation, measured to the nearest neighbouring door or window, and room for air to flow around the unit. A wall bracket or the back extension roof are the usual answers.
If the home and the spot meet Class G, there is no application to object to. In a conservation area the test is whether the unit is on a wall or roof facing the road, or nearer the road than the house.
The sound calculation exists for exactly this. If a spot fails it, Class G does not cover that spot, and a quieter unit, an acoustic enclosure or another position is the fix.
A building made up only of flats can have one unit up to 0.6 cubic metres under Class G, and you will need the agreement of whoever owns the building. A flat above a shop is less clear: ask the council.
Every page in this guide
Often, yes. England's permitted development rule for air source heat pumps (Class G) allows one unit on a terraced or semi-detached house, up to 1.5 cubic metres, if it passes the MCS 020 a) sound calculation and is not on a pitched roof. Inside one of the city's 36 conservation areas it must not face the road, and Class G does not apply to listed buildings.
The census does not count heat pumps on their own. In 2021, 0.27% of Liverpool households (561) used renewable energy for heating, alone or with another system, against 0.94% across England and Wales. Separately, the Boiler Upgrade Scheme had paid for 184 heat pumps in the city between May 2022 and September 2026.
Liverpool City Council, as the local planning authority. This guide and its street check explain how the national rule reads against a home, but only the council can decide. A lawful development certificate is how you get its answer in writing.
Liverpool City Council runs a Warm Homes: Local Grant scheme with £5,800,000 from the government for around 450 properties over 3 years. The measures it lists include hybrid and ground source heat pumps. Year two is oversubscribed; interest for year three, from 1 April 2027, is registered through GOV.UK. The national Boiler Upgrade Scheme is separate.
Who publishes this
Published by SEO-DONS LTD (company no. 16766013), 71-75 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London WC2H 9JQ. The company's record is on Companies House. We do not survey, quote for or fit anything, and we are not part of Liverpool City Council or any scheme.
If your question is not answered here, use the form below. It reaches the publisher, who replies by email with the rule, dataset or council page that answers it. Your details are not passed to any installer, and asking commits you to nothing.
Where the figures come from
Tell us about the home and what you are trying to work out: planning, a grant, room for the outdoor unit or the electricity supply. SEO-DONS LTD, the publisher of this guide, replies by email. We are not installers and we do not pass your details to any firm.