The Magna Carta Memorial at Runnymede, set among meadows below Cooper's Hill. Photo: Mark, CC BY 2.0Historic houses around the Green
The Green itself survives because it was exempted from enclosure in 1814, and Runnymede Borough Council first made Englefield Green a conservation area in 1970, extended it in 1978, and adopted revised boundaries and a new appraisal from December 2023. In 2025 the council added 77 local heritage assets in Englefield Green to its Local List.
For our work, that history means large period rooms, high ceilings and original details that should stay untouched. Technology has to fit around the house, so we use:
- Discreet in-ceiling speakers and hidden equipment racks rather than boxes on show.
- Lighting and blinds on scenes, through our lighting and shading work, so a drawing room can go from daylight to evening with one press.
- A media room where a dedicated cinema would mean altering a fine room: a large screen and immersive sound in a space that stays a sitting room.
Anything on the outside of the house, such as cameras, speakers or a satellite dish on a front elevation, may need consent in a conservation area, and locally listed buildings are a planning consideration too. Check with Runnymede's planning team before external work.
From our Weybridge projectPlanning a cinema in Egham? Think about the river first
According to gov.uk, no other developed stretch of floodplain in England without defences is as large as the one along the Thames from Egham down to Teddington, and Egham was among the places hit in the floods of winter 2013 to 2014. A major flood relief project, the River Thames Scheme, is planned to lower that risk, but it does not change how you should plan a room today. We will not tell you what your own flood risk is; the government's long term flood risk service will, for your postcode. What we do is design with it in mind:
- Choosing a ground floor or first floor room, a loft or an extension for a cinema, rather than digging a basement where the risk is higher.
- Placing the main equipment rack and network hub above floor level, so the expensive electronics are not the first thing water reaches.
- Specifying equipment and cabling that can be isolated and replaced room by room.
Our demonstration cinema in Walton-on-ThamesWhat does a room like this cost?
A professionally designed small cinema room typically costs £15,000 to £25,000 fully installed. A media room built around a good TV wall can start below that, and one with a concealed projector and drop-down screen sits above it. Our small cinema room cost guide breaks the figures down line by line.
For a sense of the finished result, our published Walton-on-Thames media room renovation replaced a pile of remote controls with one Control4 system, Paradigm speakers in a 7.2.4 Dolby Atmos layout, a Sony 4K laser projector and Lutron HomeWorks lighting. Our nearest published cinema is the Weybridge basement cinema, about 6 miles away.
Englefield Green is about 9 miles from our Walton-on-Thames showroom and Egham about 8. Book a showroom visit to hear the demonstration cinema for yourself.
