---
title: "Tenement Rewiring During Refurbishment | Sweet Homes Edinburgh"
description: "What changes when rewiring an Edinburgh tenement during a refurbishment. Routes, consumer units, regulations, and how to minimise disruption."
canonical: "https://mysweethomes.co.uk/edinburgh-tenement-rewiring-during-refurbishments-what-changes/"
published: 2026-02-01
updated: 2026-09-09
---

# Edinburgh Tenement Rewiring During Refurbishments: What Changes

Rewiring is one of those jobs people put off until a renovation forces the question. In Edinburgh tenements, it often comes up at the exact moment you are already tired of decisions.

I would settle the kitchen layout before asking the electrician to set the rewire scope. An oven shown in roughly the right corner is not enough when the extractor, lighting and socket positions are still moving.

A late appliance decision can send a new cable through plaster finished the week before.

#### Use the access that is already open

Edinburgh flats often carry wiring from several different jobs. A newer consumer unit may sit ahead of older circuits, with a later shower or kitchen cable threaded through another route. The electrician establishes the condition and decides whether the work is a full rewire or something narrower.

From the contractor’s side, I look at the floorboards and ceilings already being opened for the wider refurbishment. Necessary cable work can use that access before the surfaces close. A route beside old pipes or through repaired floorboards may still need local opening and making good.

Sweet Homes coordinates that construction work. The electrician installs, tests and certifies the electrical scope.

#### Mark the isolation days

Clients often stay through a single kitchen or bathroom project. Rewiring alongside extensive plumbing or heating work can leave several services off together.

The contract needs to identify when power is isolated and which safe supply remains for the fridge or basic cooking. Water and heating may be affected on the same dates. Sweet Homes does not promise that every occupied flat remains usable throughout; we may suggest a holiday or another stay over the overlapping work.

The warrant position depends on the work. The [Scottish Building Standards Hub domestic electrical matrix](https://www.sbsh.scot/sites/default/files/2024-12/electrical_matrix_-_domestic.pdf) distinguishes work in flats and includes an exemption for rewiring that is repair or replacement to an equal level. Wider alterations can change the route. Where a professional is needed, the homeowner appoints the architect, engineer or warrant professional and Sweet Homes remains the contractor.

For a wider refurbishment, see **[Tenement Renovations Edinburgh](/tenement-renovations-edinburgh/)**. To discuss the contractor scope, [email Sweet Homes and request a call](mailto:hello@mysweethomes.co.uk) with the flat type, rooms being altered and whether you plan to stay.