Kitchen renovation
for Knightsbridge flats and houses
Designers, Architects, Engineers & Builders Under One Roof.
One Studio. One Contract. One Team.
In a Knightsbridge mansion flat or terrace house on the Cadogan estate, the lease defines what a kitchen refit may alter, and a Licence to Alter is needed where Cadogan's consent is. In a listed building, RBKC counts new openings, recessed lighting, air conditioning and vents among the changes that need consent, so the extract and lighting are planned around the list entry.
What a Knightsbridge kitchen needs consent for
In a leasehold flat or house, start with the lease. On Cadogan's estate its terms set what may be altered, and in some cases a lease may rule alterations out altogether; where the lease makes Cadogan's consent necessary, that consent comes as a Licence to Alter that the leaseholder applies for. LEASE notes that a landlord's permission can be needed on top of planning permission or building regulations approval.
Listing reaches the kitchen too. RBKC says the whole of a listed building is protected, including the inside, and among the smaller changes it says need consent are new openings, suspended ceilings, recessed lighting, air conditioning, vents and taking up floorboards. Local Plan Policy CD5 resists removing or modifying internal or external features of architectural importance unless clearly and convincingly justified.
On the Westminster side, the Knightsbridge Conservation Area, designated in February 1968, contains over 275 listed buildings, and City Plan Policy 44 sets out to preserve a listed building's special interest, protecting original or significant detail and historic fabric.
Gov.uk lists most repairs and replacements, and new power or lighting points or circuit changes away from baths and showers, among works that do not need building regulations approval; work on heating systems, fuse boxes or glazing units is not exempt.
Sources: Cadogan: residential customer welcome, LEASE: alterations and home improvements, Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea: listed buildings explained, Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea: Local Plan (adopted July 2024), Westminster City Council: Knightsbridge conservation area mini guide, Westminster City Plan 2019-2040 (2026, adopted January 2026), GOV.UK: when you don't need building regulations approval
Extracts, flues and the back of the house
Where an extract or flue must leave the building, the Hans Town statement is specific: fanlights should never be panelled over or used for services such as flues, air conditioning units or security cameras. For cooling, RBKC's Local Plan asks applicants proposing even a single air conditioning unit to consider its environmental impact and fully explore passive cooling and ventilation first.
In Hans Town, a kitchen that grows into an extension meets two more tests: the statement says that, with Hans Town's modest rear gardens, no rear extension should significantly infill a garden, and Policy CD13 resists extensions that go beyond the general rear building line of neighbouring extensions.
Before cabinetry is drawn, we trace the waste and extract runs, confirm what the floor can carry for stone worktops or an island, and decide whether the kitchen remains where it is, because moving it can change the consents it needs.
Sources: Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea: Hans Town Conservation Area Proposals Statement (adopted January 2000), Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea: Local Plan (adopted July 2024)
Bringing stone and cabinets into Knightsbridge
For RBKC, mainly decorative internal work that leaves the structure and envelope alone is a Category 3 site. Cabinetry and stone can be delivered on weekdays from 9.30am, finishing by 4.30pm, or by 3pm if a school or similar traffic-sensitive use is on the route, and treats concrete deliveries and the collection of construction waste as noisy activities allowed only within permitted hours.
Nothing may be placed on an RBKC street without a licence, whether plant, materials or a skip, and parking suspensions are not issued at weekends or on bank holidays unless a CTMP specifies an exception.
In Westminster, you can apply to suspend a parking bay for building works or skip delivery, giving 10 working days' notice; construction traffic keeps to the agreed site working hours, and building work is only allowed from 8am to 6pm on weekdays and 8am to 1pm on Saturdays.
Our joinery team designs and makes fitted kitchen cabinetry; see our bespoke joinery service.
Sources: Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea: Code of Construction Practice (April 2019), Westminster City Council: parking bay suspensions, Westminster City Council: Code of Construction Practice (May 2026), Westminster City Council: noise problems we can investigate
How we plan a Knightsbridge kitchen
The first step is a feasibility visit. We then measure the room, follow the existing water, waste, gas and extract routes, and confirm which council covers the address, whether the building is listed and what the lease allows. Layouts are drawn by our in-house designers and architects, and where a wall or beam is involved our in-house structural engineers design it.
A written quotation follows once the scope and the approvals it needs are clear, and the fit-out is timed around stone templating and the delivery of joinery and appliances. No Deposit Required.
Kitchens in Knightsbridge: questions
Will Cadogan need to approve my new kitchen?
That depends on your lease. Cadogan says the terms of the lease define how a home on its estate can be altered, and where its consent is needed you apply for a Licence to Alter.
Can a kitchen extract run through a fanlight in Hans Town?
The Hans Town statement says it should not: fanlights should never be panelled over or used for services such as flues or air conditioning units.
Does opening up a kitchen in a listed flat need consent?
It can. RBKC lists new openings and removing floorboards among the smaller works that need listed building consent, and says carrying out works that affect a listed building's interest without consent is a criminal offence.
When can kitchen deliveries arrive in Knightsbridge?
In Kensington and Chelsea, between 9.30am and 4.30pm on weekdays under the Code of Construction Practice. In Westminster, construction traffic keeps to the agreed site working hours, and a parking bay suspension needs 10 working days' notice.
What does a kitchen renovation cost in Knightsbridge?
Four things set the cost of a Knightsbridge kitchen: whether walls can be opened under the listing or the lease, where an extract duct can reach outside, how far gas, water and power have to move, and whether stone worktops and tall units can get up the stairs or into the lift. The cabinetry specification comes after those. We look at each on a feasibility visit, agree the scope and specification, and quote in writing.
Sources: Cadogan: residential customer welcome, Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea: Hans Town Conservation Area Proposals Statement (adopted January 2000), Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea: listed buildings explained, Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea: Code of Construction Practice (April 2019), Westminster City Council: Code of Construction Practice (May 2026), Westminster City Council: parking bay suspensions
Rooms and elevations typical of Knightsbridge
Design, joinery and the build, under one contract in Knightsbridge
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
What clients have said about the work
I would like to thank Ross and his team for their consistent commitment to quality and their unerring reliability.
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.
Verified Planning, Estate & Conservation Sources
- Cadogan: residential customer welcome
- LEASE: alterations and home improvements
- Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea: listed buildings explained
- Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea: Local Plan (adopted July 2024)
- Westminster City Council: Knightsbridge conservation area mini guide
- Westminster City Plan 2019-2040 (2026, adopted January 2026)
- GOV.UK: when you don't need building regulations approval
- Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea: Hans Town Conservation Area Proposals Statement (adopted January 2000)
Related pages
The local building context
On the Westminster side, the audit for the Knightsbridge, Knightsbridge Green and Albert Gate conservation areas describes a central network of domestic terraces and squares, mainly of yellow stock brick, stucco or half stucco, with institutional buildings and Victorian mansion blocks to the west. It calls the garden squares of central importance, and notes that residents of Albert Gate and Knightsbridge Green live in large mansion blocks along Knightsbridge, most above retail frontages.
On the Kensington and Chelsea side, the Hans Town statement finds the Queen Anne Revival style most characteristic of its area, inspiring the phrase “Pont Street Dutch”. The Brompton appraisal sets the grand three- to five-storey houses of Brompton Square against smaller two-storey cottages and former mews. RBKC’s Local Plan calls Knightsbridge its largest town centre and an important residential quarter, while Westminster’s City Plan names parts of it among streets wholly or predominantly residential in character.
Historic England lists 1–7 Montpelier Square, mid-19th-century stock brick over a channelled stucco ground floor, and the early 19th-century houses at 4–16 Trevor Square, several with Gothick balconies, at Grade II on the Westminster side. On the RBKC side, Cadogan Square of 1886–87 by Sir Ernest George is Grade II*, while 3–9 Brompton Square, with slated mansards, and the red-brick 14 Hans Place are Grade II. Check every address individually.
- Westminster: Knightsbridge, Knightsbridge Green and Albert Gate conservation area audit, SPD 20 April 2009
- RBKC: Hans Town Conservation Area Proposals Statement, adopted 17 January 2000
- RBKC: Brompton conservation area appraisal, adopted 25 October 2016
- RBKC Local Plan 2024: policy document
- City Plan 2019–2040 (2026), adopted 21 January 2026
- Historic England: 1–7 Montpelier Square, Grade II
- Historic England: 4–16 Trevor Square, Grade II
- Historic England: Cadogan Square, Grade II*
- Historic England: 3–9 Brompton Square, Grade II
- Historic England: 14 Hans Place, Grade II
- Historic England: listed-building consent
Local design and consent context
Westminster adopted a single audit for its Knightsbridge, Knightsbridge Green and Albert Gate conservation areas as a Supplementary Planning Document on 20 April 2009. Knightsbridge was designated on 4 January 1968 and extended on 9 February 1978; the other two were designated in January 1989, and the Royal Parks area adjoins to the north. The audit cites policies since replaced, so weigh it against the City Plan 2026.
RBKC has no conservation area called Knightsbridge. Its Hans Town area, designated in 1971 and extended several times up to 1995, takes in Cadogan Square, Pont Street, Lennox Gardens and Pavilion Road; its proposals statement of 17 January 2000 remains in place, and the draft appraisal consulted on in 2018 is not among the adopted documents. The Brompton appraisal, covering Brompton Square and Rutland Street, was adopted on 25 October 2016.
In Kensington and Chelsea, Policy CD11 allows one storey under no more than half of each garden, rules out adding a floor where a basement exists and any excavation beneath a listed building, and requires a pumped device against sewer flooding. The Basements SPD asks for a construction method statement from a qualified civil or structural engineer, and the council’s construction code requires a Site Construction Management Plan approved before work starts, and a construction bond.
- Westminster: Knightsbridge, Knightsbridge Green and Albert Gate conservation area audit, SPD 20 April 2009
- Westminster’s conservation areas: character summaries and overview
- Westminster: conservation area audits, maps and guidance A–K
- City Plan 2019–2040 (2026), adopted 21 January 2026
- RBKC: conservation area appraisals and proposals statements
- RBKC: conservation area maps
- RBKC: Hans Town Conservation Area Proposals Statement, adopted 17 January 2000
- RBKC: Hans Town draft conservation area appraisal consultation, 2018
- RBKC: Brompton conservation area appraisal, adopted 25 October 2016
- RBKC Local Plan 2024: policy document
- RBKC: Basements Supplementary Planning Document, April 2016
- RBKC: Code of Construction Practice and permitted working hours
- RBKC Code of Construction Practice, revised April 2019
Access and site planning
Walk the route from kerb to room, entrance and lift included. On a reading of TfL’s data, Brompton Road and Knightsbridge from Hyde Park Corner to the Brompton Road junction are TfL roads, where TfL issues the licences; check its map for your frontage. Westminster skip licences run for one month, its bay suspensions need 10 working days’ notice and scaffolding needs a temporary structure licence. In RBKC, book the suspension first, 10 full working days ahead for a resident bay, quote it on the skip licence and get a structures licence for scaffolding.
- TfL: red routes and the TLRN map
- TfL: highway licences on red routes
- Westminster: skip licences
- Westminster: parking bay suspensions
- Westminster: temporary structure, road closure and crane licences
- RBKC: working in the borough and highway licences
- RBKC: parking suspensions and highway licences
- RBKC: advice for scaffolders
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