Belgravia SW1X · Houses, apartments & bathrooms
A considered home, from the first room to the final detail.
Plan a house, flat, kitchen or bathroom renovation in Belgravia with our Hampstead team. Most of the area's properties are listed, Grosvenor's estate scheme adds its own consent and Westminster sets the site hours, so the brief starts with what the building allows.
Serving Belgravia from our Hampstead studio · NW3 6DN
020 7101 3168
Our services here
01 Apartments and mansion flats
For flats in Belgravia's terraces and apartment buildings, the lease comes first, and Grosvenor's alterations guide is written for freeholders, so landlord consent is the starting point.
Sources: LEASE: alterations and home improvements, Grosvenor: Belgravia and Mayfair management schemes
Explore flat renovation02 A coordinated whole house
Grosvenor's Belgravia scheme reaches internal load-bearing walls as well as the outside of the house, so structural changes are planned with its consent and listed building consent together.
Source: Grosvenor: Belgravia and Mayfair management schemes
Explore house renovation03 Kitchens in listed rooms
A kitchen on the existing plumbing, electrical and gas connections does not need Grosvenor's consent; new external extraction or plant does.
Source: Grosvenor: Belgravia and Mayfair management schemes
Explore kitchen renovation04 Bathrooms and en-suites
Bathrooms follow the same Grosvenor rule on existing connections, and gov.uk does not require building regulations approval for replacing a bath, toilet, basin or sink.
Sources: Grosvenor: Belgravia and Mayfair management schemes, GOV.UK: when you don't need building regulations approval
Explore bathroom renovation05 Fitted storage and libraries
Fitted storage, libraries and dressing rooms for listed rooms are drawn and made by our joinery team.
Explore bespoke joineryThe buildings
Westminster's conservation area guide says Belgravia was laid out in the 1820s by Thomas Cubitt and Thomas Cundy, with Cubitt leasing the land from the Grosvenor Estate. The grander streets are long stuccoed terraces of uniform height and classical detail, the short entrance streets to the squares are mainly brick houses with stuccoed ground floors, and around Bloomfield Terrace in the south there are simpler linked villas and small terraced houses of the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
The conservation area was first designated in 1968 and extended in 1990 to take in the streets between Ebury Street and Buckingham Palace Road. About 500 properties are listed Grade II, and every property around Belgrave Square is listed, most of them Grade I.
Southern Belgravia carries one more constraint: Westminster's guide places a wide strip of it within the strategic view cone from King Henry's Mound to St Paul's Cathedral.
Source: Westminster City Council: Belgravia conservation area mini guide
Consents
Grosvenor's consent is needed, alongside other statutory permissions, for certain changes. In Belgravia that covers external load-bearing structures, the decoration of external surfaces and internal load-bearing walls, and the guide is written for freehold owners.
Source: Grosvenor: Belgravia and Mayfair management schemes
Belgrave Square, Chesham Place, Chester Square, Eaton Square and Wilton Crescent are protected by the London Squares Act 1931, and Belgrave Square and Eaton Square are Grade II registered gardens. City Plan Policy 44 sets out to protect original detail and historic fabric in listed buildings.
Sources: Westminster City Council: Belgravia conservation area mini guide, Westminster City Plan 2019-2040 (2026, adopted January 2026)
Westminster's city-wide Article 4 direction of 31 July 2016 means a basement needs planning permission, and City Plan Policy 50 supports basements under no more than half the garden and generally one storey deep. Grosvenor generally discourages basements in mews houses.
Sources: Westminster City Council: Article 4 Directions in Westminster, Westminster City Plan 2019-2040 (2026, adopted January 2026), Grosvenor: Belgravia and Mayfair management schemes
A wide strip of southern Belgravia lies inside the strategic view from King Henry's Mound to St Paul's Cathedral. Where a terrace's roofline is unbroken, the City Plan expects any roof extension to follow one design across the terrace.
Sources: Westminster City Council: Belgravia conservation area mini guide, Westminster City Plan 2019-2040 (2026, adopted January 2026)
Building work
Westminster allows building work from 8am to 6pm on weekdays and 8am to 1pm on Saturdays. Demolition, excavation and piling are not permitted on Saturdays, and noisy work on Sundays or bank holidays needs special permission.
Source: Westminster City Council: noise problems we can investigate
A parking bay suspension for building works or a skip needs 10 working days' notice, with a short-notice fee inside 10 calendar days. Scaffolding, hoardings and skips on the highway need their own council licences.
Sources: Westminster City Council: parking bay suspensions, Westminster City Council: Code of Construction Practice (May 2026)
Smaller projects are still expected to follow the Code's principles.
Source: Westminster City Council: Code of Construction Practice (May 2026)
Questions before you begin
Yes, several. Belgravia has been a conservation area since 1968 and about 500 of its properties are listed Grade II; Grosvenor's estate management scheme requires its consent for certain changes alongside the council's permissions; and Westminster's city-wide Article 4 direction means a new basement needs planning permission.
Sources: Westminster City Council: Belgravia conservation area mini guide, Grosvenor: Belgravia and Mayfair management schemes, Westminster City Council: Article 4 Directions in Westminster
No. A new kitchen, bathroom or cupboards on the existing plumbing, electrical and gas connections does not; extensions, basements, windows, roof work, external pipework and external plant do.
Source: Grosvenor: Belgravia and Mayfair management schemes
Its Code of Construction Practice asks for the plan and signed checklist at least 40 working days before work is due to start, and work cannot begin until the plan is approved and the planning condition discharged.
Source: Westminster City Council: Code of Construction Practice (May 2026)
Westminster supports roof extensions in principle where they do not harm heritage assets, but on a terrace with an unbroken roofline it expects a coordinated design across the terrace, and its Wilton Row and Old Barracks Yard policy restricts roof alterations there.
Sources: Westminster City Plan 2019-2040 (2026, adopted January 2026), Westminster City Council: Belgravia conservation area mini guide
It can. Grosvenor says that in its Belgravia properties, and only there, changes to internal load-bearing walls also need its consent. In a listed building, consent may be needed even for interior repairs, renewals or redecoration, and every property around Belgrave Square is listed, mostly Grade I.
Sources: Grosvenor: Belgravia and Mayfair management schemes, Westminster City Council: Belgravia conservation area mini guide
Belgravia work is priced project by project because the estate and the listing do as much to the cost as the rooms. Grosvenor's licence and its estate scheme, Westminster's conservation and listed building controls, repairs to original stucco, and the way a Code of Construction Practice governs deliveries and parking suspensions all vary by address. We assess yours on a feasibility visit, agree a scope and specification with you, and then provide a written quotation.
The same team stays with the project from the first visit to handover. Our in-house architects, designers and structural engineers draw and specify the work. Master joiners make the fitted furniture. Building Regulations approval comes from the building control body appointed for the project. Independent surveying is a separate appointment: Hampstead Chartered Surveyors & Building Consultancy, our RICS-regulated sister practice, is a separate firm that a homeowner instructs directly. One JCT contract covers the building work. Electrical and gas work is carried out by appropriately registered engineers. Completed structural work carries a 12-month aftercare/defects period. Cover is £5M public liability, £10M employers' liability and contractors' all risks cover. Main office: 250 Finchley Road, Hampstead, London NW3 6DN. Central London client consultation address: 2 Eaton Gate, Belgravia, London SW1W 9BJ. Telephone 020 7101 3168.
Licence to alter · Independent surveying by our sister practice
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We have worked with Ross and his company many times. They are extremely professional and hardworking individuals who can work under any circumstances. There was no variation to the works.
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