House
extensions
in Soho, W1
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Hampstead Chartered Surveyors & Building ConsultancySoho's buildings share a similar small scale with few above four storeys, the 2005 audit says, and many houses were only two windows wide. An addition behind one is sized to that scale, not to the commercial blocks around it.
Soho's residential life sits above its streets, and that intensely mixed grain drives the work. The area is in the City of Westminster, inside the Soho Conservation Area, on one of the densest and most historic street grids in London. Westminster's Soho guide records many listed 17th and 18th century buildings, listed Victorian theatres, protected squares and an archaeological-priority area around Gerrard Street and Cambridge Circus, so listed fabric and heritage justification frame nearly every project.
The logistics are exacting. Cost is driven by W1 restricted loading, the evening economy and theatre servicing, archaeology where the Lundenwic and Thorney Island area applies, party walls between narrow plots, waterproofing, flood and drainage evidence, lightwell design, and listed fabric. Dean Street, Frith Street and Greek Street keep fine Georgian townhouses, many now characterful flats and maisonettes, while Wardour Street adds upper-floor conversions over shops, bars and studios.
So a Soho scheme is planned around consents and access first, and priced accordingly. A rear extension or side return is priced after a feasibility visit, with restricted loading adding to both.
Extending a Soho building: back yards, lightwells and narrow plots
Many Soho buildings stand right on the street with no boundary wall or railings, and the 2005 audit notes that the narrower streets often leave no room for a front area or basement area. Any extension therefore looks to the back of the plot.
Plot sizes follow the history of each street. The audit records that the grander houses stood on the two squares, the streets off Soho Square, Great Marlborough Street and Great Pulteney Street, while elsewhere houses were often two windows wide and three storeys high. On a narrow plot, a rear addition has to leave light and air for the rooms behind the street front and for the neighbours' windows.
Georgian Soho was built almost entirely in brick, the audit says, either red or yellow stock, with some fronts stuccoed and painted, so a new rear wall is matched in brick and bond rather than rendered by default.
Many terrace houses were divided during the nineteenth century, the audit notes, so the back of a building may serve several flats or a shop below. Whose yard it is, and who has a right of way across it, are settled before a design is drawn.
Soho's narrow streets and alleys make deliveries tight, and Westminster bars demolition, excavation and piling on Saturdays unless it has granted special permission, so foundation work is planned for weekdays from the start.
Soho has been a conservation area since 1969, and we treat the back of a building as part of what is being looked after: original windows and doors at the rear are recorded alongside those on the street.
One related project, though not in Soho, is Fitzjohns Avenue, NW3, the construction of a basement and a rear extension at an NW3 house.
We check how much daylight reaches the windows facing the yard before and after a proposed addition, and adjust its depth or glazing if a neighbour's room would lose too much. Materials for the rear arrive through the house, so the hall and stair are protected before anything is carried through.
Sources: Westminster City Council: Soho and Chinatown conservation area audit (SPD, adopted 1 December 2005); Westminster City Council: noise problems we can investigate.
House Extensions in Soho: Questions
Why is extending in Soho as much about consents and logistics as construction?
Because of the setting. Soho's surviving Georgian townhouses, characterful conversions and upper-floor flats — many listed, above a famously busy mixed-use ground floor — make work here as much about consents and logistics as construction. Westminster examines external change closely, and access on the tight streets is demanding.
How much of Soho is listed or protected?
A great deal. Westminster's Soho guide records many listed 17th and 18th century buildings, listed Victorian theatres, protected squares and an archaeological-priority area around Gerrard Street and Cambridge Circus. Soho sits within the Soho Conservation Area, on one of the densest and most historic street grids in London.
What does an extension cost in Soho?
A Soho rear extension, side return or wraparound is priced after a feasibility visit. In W1 the restricted loading, listed fabric and mixed-use neighbours usually push a scheme above what the plan area alone implies.
What construction constraints are specific to Soho?
Cost is driven by W1 logistics, restricted loading, the evening economy and theatre servicing, archaeology where the Lundenwic and Thorney Island area applies, party walls between narrow plots, waterproofing, flood and drainage evidence, lightwell design, and listed or conservation fabric. That intensely mixed grain drives every Soho project.
What kind of buildings will I be working on in Soho?
W1 here holds small-scale 17th and 18th century houses around Soho Square, Golden Square, Gerrard Street, Old Compton Street, Dean Street and Meard Street, alongside larger Victorian theatre, retail and media buildings on Shaftesbury Avenue and Wardour Street. Dean Street, Frith Street and Greek Street keep fine Georgian townhouses, many now characterful flats and maisonettes.
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