Mayfair W1 · Houses, apartments & bathrooms
Thoughtful interiors. A carefully planned renovation.
Our Hampstead studio plans flat, house, kitchen and bathroom work in Mayfair. Almost 700 of the conservation area's buildings are listed and, where Grosvenor's estate scheme applies, its consent comes alongside the council's, so each brief starts from what the building and its title allow.
Serving Mayfair from our Hampstead studio · NW3 6DN
020 7101 3168
Our services
01 Flats and apartment blocks
Large blocks of flats in Mayfair sit mainly on Park Lane, Piccadilly, Berkeley Square and Hanover Square, and in any flat, LEASE advises, alterations may need the landlord's permission.
Sources: Westminster City Council: Mayfair conservation area mini guide, LEASE: alterations and home improvements
Explore flat renovation02 Town-houses and mews
Many Mayfair town-houses were redeveloped as their original 99-year leases expired, and where Grosvenor's scheme applies, extensions, basements, windows and roof works need its consent.
Sources: Westminster City Council: Mayfair conservation area mini guide, Grosvenor: Belgravia and Mayfair management schemes
Explore house renovation03 Kitchens in period rooms
A kitchen fitted to the services already in place needs no Grosvenor consent; outside extract ducts, pipework or cooling units do.
Source: Grosvenor: Belgravia and Mayfair management schemes
Explore kitchen renovation04 Bathrooms, en-suites and cloakrooms
Inside a listed building, consent may reach repairs and renewals, and almost 700 Mayfair buildings are listed; replacing a bath, toilet, basin or sink needs no building regulations approval.
Sources: Grosvenor: Belgravia and Mayfair management schemes, Westminster City Council: Mayfair conservation area mini guide, GOV.UK: when you don't need building regulations approval
Explore bathroom renovation05 Joinery and panelling
Our joinery team designs and builds panelled rooms, libraries, dressing rooms and fitted storage.
Explore bespoke joineryThe buildings
Westminster's Mayfair guide describes an area dominated by fashionable town-houses and their mews, reflecting English domestic architecture from the early 18th to the early 20th century. Some houses survive from the first phase of building, but many were redeveloped as their original 99-year leases ran out, and on the Grosvenor Estate mid-19th-century houses were reclad or rebuilt in the stuccoed Italianate style.
Large blocks of flats, hotels and offices have largely been kept to Park Lane, Piccadilly, Berkeley Square and Hanover Square.
Designated in 1969, the conservation area was extended in 1974 to take in areas south and east of Berkeley Square and east of Savile Row. It now contains almost 700 listed buildings, 44 of them Grade II* and 14 Grade I, and Grosvenor Square and Berkeley Square are registered historic parks and gardens.
Source: Westminster City Council: Mayfair conservation area mini guide
Consents
Where a property falls under the scheme, Grosvenor's consent is needed alongside the statutory permissions for certain changes. Grosvenor says the schemes largely govern external load-bearing structures and the decoration of external surfaces, with control of internal load-bearing structures applying in Belgravia only, and it addresses its alterations guide to freeholders.
Source: Grosvenor: Belgravia and Mayfair management schemes
City Plan Policy 44 expects works to listed buildings to protect, or where appropriate restore, original or significant detail and historic fabric, and Grosvenor notes that interior repairs, renewals or redecoration may need consent in a listed building. Across Westminster, 56 conservation areas cover 78% of the city.
Sources: Westminster City Plan 2019-2040 (2026, adopted January 2026), Grosvenor: Belgravia and Mayfair management schemes
Westminster's Article 4 direction has applied city-wide since 31 July 2016, so a new basement needs planning permission, and Policy 50 looks for basements that take up no more than half of the garden land and, as a rule, a single storey. Grosvenor's consent is required where its scheme applies, and it generally discourages basements in mews houses. Near Oxford Street, the Tyburn Settlement area of special archaeological priority runs 100m south from Binney Street to Woodstock Street.
Sources: Westminster City Council: Article 4 Directions in Westminster, Westminster City Plan 2019-2040 (2026, adopted January 2026), Grosvenor: Belgravia and Mayfair management schemes, Westminster City Council: Mayfair conservation area mini guide
A Regulation 7 direction covers the whole of Mayfair, so an estate agent's board, or any other advertisement for selling or letting, needs the council's consent. Policy 45 backs roof extensions in principle when they do not adversely affect heritage assets, and asks for one design repeated along any terrace whose roofline is still intact.
Sources: Westminster City Council: Mayfair conservation area mini guide, Westminster City Plan 2019-2040 (2026, adopted January 2026)
Site rules
A Mayfair site may be worked from 8am to 6pm on weekdays and from 8am to 1pm on a Saturday, under the Code's lower Saturday noise thresholds. Noisy work on a Sunday or bank holiday needs special permission, and outside the set hours a Section 61 consent obtained in advance.
Sources: Westminster City Council: noise problems we can investigate, Westminster City Council: Code of Construction Practice (May 2026)
Westminster takes requests to suspend bays for skips, building works and removal vans with 10 working days' notice; requests arriving under 10 calendar days before the start pay a short-notice fee. Scaffolding, hoardings, fencing and skips on the public highway each need a council licence before work begins, and vaults under the pavement are considered before a skip or heavy plant goes over them.
Sources: Westminster City Council: parking bay suspensions, Westminster City Council: Code of Construction Practice (May 2026)
Westminster expects every developer and contractor to follow the spirit of its Code, from working hours and limiting disturbance to informing neighbours.
Source: Westminster City Council: Code of Construction Practice (May 2026)
Questions before you begin
Yes. The Mayfair Conservation Area dates from 1969 and almost 700 of its buildings are listed. Grosvenor's scheme adds a consent for certain changes where it applies, and since July 2016 any new basement in Westminster needs planning permission.
Sources: Westminster City Council: Mayfair conservation area mini guide, Grosvenor: Belgravia and Mayfair management schemes, Westminster City Council: Article 4 Directions in Westminster
Only with the council's consent. A Regulation 7 direction covers the whole of Mayfair, so any board or other advertisement for the sale or letting of property needs consent first.
Source: Westminster City Council: Mayfair conservation area mini guide
Its schemes are mostly concerned with the outside: Grosvenor says they largely govern external load-bearing structures and the decoration of external surfaces, and the control of internal load-bearing structures applies in Belgravia only. A new kitchen, bathroom or cupboards on existing connections needs no Grosvenor consent, though in a listed building interior work may still need consent.
Source: Grosvenor: Belgravia and Mayfair management schemes
The programme depends on the agreed scope, approvals, site conditions and procurement. Discuss the sequence of work at a feasibility visit.
Source: Westminster City Council: Code of Construction Practice (May 2026)
Mayfair projects are priced individually since the listing, the lease and the street all bear on the work. A Grosvenor licence, Westminster's controls on listed interiors and roofs, structural work in a mews or town house, and the hours and parking suspensions allowed by its Code of Construction Practice each change the scope. A feasibility visit gives us the facts; you then agree a scope and specification with us and receive 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
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.
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Describe the property and the work in our project planner. A quotation follows a review of the property and the specification.
