What is the meaning of renovation in English?

Renovation is a noun meaning the act of repairing and improving something, usually a building, so that it is in good condition again. The word comes from the Latin renovare, to make new again, and in its widest sense you can renovate almost anything: a chair, a boat, an old painting. Every English dictionary circles the same two ideas, repair and renewal.

In property, the meaning narrows. Say renovation in Britain and people picture work on an existing building: fixing what has failed and updating what is dated. A renovation might take in a rewire, new plumbing, replastering, a fresh kitchen and bathroom, decoration throughout. The walls and roof stay. That is the line between renovation and new build.

The narrowed sense is the one we live in. When a buyer in Dulwich or Sydenham picks up a Victorian terrace listed as 'in need of renovation', the agent's phrase means the fabric is sound but everything inside needs doing. On site the word carries both halves of the dictionary definition at once: repair covers the damp, the rot and the sixty-year-old wiring, improvement covers the layout, heating and finishes. Refurbishment and restoration sit close by, but how they differ from renovation is a separate question.