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Emerson Park RM11 · Houses, flats & bathrooms

Renovations in Emerson Park

Detached family houses in spacious, landscaped grounds

Emerson Park is not a conservation area. Havering’s Local Plan names it as one of the borough’s two special townscape or landscape character areas, typified by large and varied houses in spacious, mature, well landscaped grounds, and a 2009 planning document sets out rules for each of its sectors. Whether the job is a whole house, a flat or one bathroom, start from those rules and the exact address.

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Serving Emerson Park from our Hampstead studio · NW3 6DN
020 7101 3168

Hampstead Renovations design and build studio on Finchley Road
Our Hampstead studio · Finchley Road, NW3 6DN
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Start with your project

Choose the work your Emerson Park home needs

Choose a focused room renovation or a coordinated refurbishment. Each service page explains the scope in more detail and gives you a direct route to discuss the work.

01 Detached houses on generous plots

House refurbishment in Emerson Park

The Local Plan describes Emerson Park as typified by large, well maintained single family detached houses on spacious plots with mature landscaping. The 2009 Policy Area document allows a new building or extension only where its massing, architecture and the space left beside it suit the street, and it asks for a generous level of landscaping. In Sector 6 it sets side gaps of at least 1m at ground floor and 2m at first floor, minimums the council usually expects to be exceeded.

  • Sector and schedule entry confirmed for the address
  • Side gaps and massing tested early
  • Trees and landscaping recorded before design
Explore house refurbishment across London

02 Main-road flats

Flat renovation in Emerson Park

Most of the area is houses, but the 2009 document records that Sector 1, along Butts Green Road and Ardleigh Green Road between Berther Road and Woodlands Avenue, has been substantially developed for flats; it also rules out converting houses to flats in every sector. For a flat refit, read the lease first: the landlord’s permission may be needed. Householder permitted development rights do not extend to flats, and Havering’s 2011 guidance says a flat always needs planning permission for a new hard standing.

  • Lease alterations clause read
  • Soil stack and floor make-up traced
  • Hard standing or other outside work checked for permission
Explore flat refurbishment across London

03 House and flat bathrooms

Bathroom renovation in Emerson Park

We are glad to take on one bathroom as a standalone renovation, whether it is the family bathroom of a detached house, a bathroom in a Sector 1 flat or a small cloakroom. According to GOV.UK, fitting a bathroom that involves plumbing can need Building Regulations approval. If the new room is in the roof, Havering’s 2011 guidance says dormers should normally face the rear garden and sit well below the ridge.

  • Gradient from the new waste to the soil stack confirmed
  • Extract outlet agreed
  • Dormer position checked against the 2011 guidance
Explore bathroom renovation across London

Real projects, clearly located

Ideas for your Emerson Park refurbishment

Photographs of our work elsewhere in London

Explore a whole house in Belsize Park, an apartment on Chesterfield Street in Mayfair and a bathroom in Pimlico. Use these examples to discuss the scale of work and finishes you have in mind for your own home.

Completed exterior at Belsize Park Gardens after refurbishment

Whole-house refurbishment · Belsize Park, NW3

Belsize Park Gardens, NW3

Full-house refurbishment in Belsize Park with basement, extension and loft works.

Conservation Area · 5 Storeys · Documented programme: 12 months

Documentary programme, not verified elapsed construction time or a timetable for another project.

View the project

More London project records: Carlton Lodge, Belgravia · King’s Road, Chelsea.

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Completed Projects
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Structural
Engineering Calculations
Planning
Applications & Consents
Building Control
Compliance Support
Leasehold
Licence for Alteration
£10M
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Surveying via Hampstead Chartered Surveyors

Local knowledge with a purpose

Understand the building before changing it

Emerson Park is a Havering policy area rather than a conservation area: its detailed rules come from a supplementary planning document of February 2009, which the council kept when it adopted its Local Plan in 2021.

The 2009 document applies to the area between Butts Green Road and Wingletye Lane, north of the railway line and Emerson Park station. Havering has 11 conservation areas, and Emerson Park is not one of them; instead the Local Plan counts it as one of the borough’s two special townscape or landscape character areas, typified by large and varied dwellings in spacious, mature, well landscaped grounds, and asks development there to preserve that spacious character.

Havering Council: Emerson Park Policy Area Supplementary Planning Document, adopted February 2009 · Havering Council: heritage and the borough’s 11 conservation areas · Havering Local Plan 2016–2031, adopted November 2021

The document divides the area into sectors with their own criteria. Sector 1, on Butts Green and Ardleigh Green Roads, has been substantially developed for flats. Sectors 2, 3 and 4, including Nelmes Way, Nelmes Crescent, Great Nelmes Chase and Ayloffs Walk, contain mainly medium-sized family houses. Sector 5, including Curtis Road, Beverley Gardens and Woodhall Crescent, mixes medium and large detached houses with smaller, often semi-detached homes of the kind found in the other sectors. Sector 6, including Woodlands Avenue, Sylvan Avenue, Elm Grove and Parkstone Avenue, is typified by medium and large houses in spacious, well landscaped grounds.

Havering Council: Emerson Park Policy Area Supplementary Planning Document, adopted February 2009

Capel Nelmes is listed at Grade II, and the Sector 6 schedule names “Sylvan Avenue 1 (Capel Nelmes)”. Havering’s Local Heritage List of July 2024 has a section headed Emerson Park, whose entries lie near the Policy Area rather than in its schedule. They include the platform canopy of Emerson Park station, which opened in 1909 as Emerson Park Halt; seventeenth- to nineteenth-century timber-framed cottages at 264, 266, 268–270 and 274–276 Wingletye Lane; and the Cattle Bridge between Woodhall Crescent and Burnway.

Planning Data: Capel Nelmes, Grade II listed · Havering Council: Emerson Park Policy Area Supplementary Planning Document, adopted February 2009 · Havering Council: Local Heritage List, July 2024

The first local check

RM11 and the ward name are not enough: check the exact address

The 2009 schedule lists properties as they stood in February 2009, and it overlaps: Nelmes Way appears in Sectors 2, 3 and 6, and 2 Ardleigh Green Road in Sectors 1 and 6. Emerson Park is also the name of a council ward, which is not the same as the Policy Area, and an RM11 postcode says nothing about sector, listing or consents. Havering asks owners to make sure no Article 4 direction or planning condition applies before building. Check the council’s map and schedule for the exact property, then the title or lease and the planning history.

Find the council for the property · Havering Council: Emerson Park Policy Area Supplementary Planning Document, adopted February 2009 · legislation.gov.uk: London Borough of Havering (Electoral Changes) Order 2021, Schedule · Havering Council: Article 4 directions · LEASE: alterations and home improvements · Havering Council: Local Heritage List, July 2024

Separate checks, one coordinated brief

Planning, listed buildings, building control and leases

One approval does not settle every requirement. Identify the applicable routes before ordering work, and record who will prepare submissions, arrange inspections and provide the relevant completion information.

Planning permission and householder rights

Outside a conservation area, when does Emerson Park work still need planning permission?

Work that only affects the inside of a building is generally not development, so a refit seldom needs a planning application. Outside, a house usually has householder permitted development rights, within their limits and conditions, while a flat has none. Havering lists no Article 4 direction for Emerson Park, but one of its two HMO directions, covering the borough outside four named wards, removes the right to turn a flat, terraced or semi-detached house into a house in multiple occupation without planning permission, and the council asks owners to check that no direction or planning condition applies before building. The Local Plan leaves the criteria for applications here to the 2009 Policy Area document.

When planning permission is required · legislation.gov.uk: Town and Country Planning Act 1990, section 55, meaning of development · Householder permitted development technical guidance · GPDO 2015, Schedule 2 Part 1: householder permitted development · Havering Council: Article 4 directions · Havering Council: Article 4 directions for houses in multiple occupation · Havering Council: Emerson Park Policy Area Supplementary Planning Document, adopted February 2009 · Havering Local Plan 2016–2031, adopted November 2021

Listed buildings and the Policy Area

How do listing and the Policy Area differ?

Listing protects a particular building, and listed building consent is needed for works that would affect its character as a building of special interest, inside as well as out; Capel Nelmes is listed at Grade II. The Policy Area is a different, local control. It is not a conservation area, but Local Plan Policy 28 supports well-designed development in an Area of Special Townscape or Landscape Character that sustains or enhances its special character, and the 2009 document adds rules for every sector.

legislation.gov.uk: Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990, section 7 · Historic England: listed-building consent · Planning Data: Capel Nelmes, Grade II listed · Havering Council: heritage and the borough’s 11 conservation areas · Havering Local Plan 2016–2031, adopted November 2021 · Havering Council: Emerson Park Policy Area Supplementary Planning Document, adopted February 2009

Building Regulations

How does building control work for an Emerson Park job?

Building Regulations are a separate approval from planning and from any landlord’s consent, and one never stands in for another. Havering’s building control service offers a full plans application, its most detailed route, suited to larger and more complex projects, alongside building notice and regularisation routes. GOV.UK names a bathroom that involves plumbing as one of the jobs that can need Building Regulations approval. Agree who will apply before work begins, and expect the completion certificate at handover.

Havering Council: building control applications · When Building Regulations approval is needed

Landlord’s consent and Party Wall notice

Who else might need to consent or be notified?

In a flat, the landlord’s consent under the lease is a private matter, and the Leasehold Advisory Service (LEASE) explains that it can still be needed after planning permission or Building Regulations approval. The Party Wall Act is separate again: Havering’s 2011 guidance reminds owners that anyone intending work of the kinds the Act describes must give adjoining owners notice. That can arise where houses share a wall, as semi-detached houses do; the 2009 document notes smaller, often semi-detached homes in Sector 5 and in the other sectors.

LEASE: alterations and home improvements · Havering Council: Residential Extensions and Alterations SPD, adopted 2011 · Party-wall work requiring notice · Havering Council: Emerson Park Policy Area Supplementary Planning Document, adopted February 2009

Local facts that affect the brief

Apply the controls to the work you actually need

Policy Area SPD, February 2009

The Emerson Park Policy Area document

The Emerson Park Policy Area supplementary planning document was adopted in February 2009 to give further detail on policy DC69, on other areas of special townscape or landscape character, in the 2008 Core Strategy and Development Control Policies document. When the Local Plan replaced that document in November 2021, the council retained the 2009 document, and its list of adopted supplementary planning documents still includes it. Its boundary is mapped in Appendix 1, and Appendix 2 schedules the properties as at February 2009.

Havering Council: Emerson Park Policy Area Supplementary Planning Document, adopted February 2009 · Havering Council: adopted Local Development Plan documents · Havering Council: Local Development Scheme

Rules for every sector: houses may not be converted to flats or communal uses; no development may cause a significant loss of landscape features that contribute to the area’s character; a new building or extension must suit the street scene in massing, architectural character and the space left between buildings; every development must include a generous level of landscaping; and where land is assembled for new houses, existing plots may not be cut below a size consistent with the surrounding properties.

Havering Council: Emerson Park Policy Area Supplementary Planning Document, adopted February 2009

Sector 6 criteria, 2009

Further rules for Sector 6

In Sector 6, no part of a new building or extension may come within 1m of a boundary shared with a neighbour at ground floor or 2m at first floor, and the document stresses that in most cases the council will expect more. The space kept between buildings should reflect the street scene around it. The document says that redeveloping several plots, or building on back land, generally brings higher density and shorter rear gardens, both harmful to the sector’s character, and that such proposals will not normally be permitted.

Havering Council: Emerson Park Policy Area Supplementary Planning Document, adopted February 2009

New houses in Sector 6 must be detached, single-family, large and architecturally varied, with a plot width of at least 23m at both the road frontage and the building line, and are limited to infill of existing frontages at plot sizes equal to those immediately around them.

Havering Council: Emerson Park Policy Area Supplementary Planning Document, adopted February 2009

Local Plan, November 2021

The Havering Local Plan 2016–2031

The Havering Local Plan was adopted at full council on 17 November 2021. It describes Emerson Park as one of the borough’s two special townscape or landscape character areas and asks development there to preserve its spacious character. Policy 10, on new homes on garden and backland sites, does not support plot subdivision or garden development in the Emerson Park Character Area unless it is robustly shown not to harm the area’s character and the plot sizes match those around them; Policy 28 supports well-designed development that sustains or enhances such an area’s special character; and Policy 27 asks how existing landscape features will be protected during construction.

Havering Council: adopted Local Development Plan documents · Havering Local Plan 2016–2031, adopted November 2021

Policy 9 generally requires at least 120 square metres of original floor space before a house is subdivided, a test the Emerson Park document goes beyond by ruling out conversions to flats. The council’s Local Development Scheme notes that the Policy Area was looked at in a borough Character Study, and that recommendations were made to gather further evidence on how it operates; the study is part of the evidence for the next Local Plan, not policy.

Havering Local Plan 2016–2031, adopted November 2021 · Havering Council: Emerson Park Policy Area Supplementary Planning Document, adopted February 2009 · Havering Council: Local Development Scheme

Extensions SPD 2011; Article 4

Extensions guidance and Article 4 directions

Havering’s Residential Extensions and Alterations document of 2011, also retained, lists the Emerson Park document first among those to read alongside it. It says dormers should normally face the rear garden and stay well below the ridge; that where hipped roofs are characteristic of the house or street and the council has control, a gable end will not be acceptable; and that flat roofs are generally acceptable for single-storey rear extensions except where easily seen from the street or where an adjoining property already has a rear extension with a pitched roof.

Havering Council: Residential Extensions and Alterations SPD, adopted 2011 · Havering Council: Local Development Scheme

The council’s Article 4 page lists directions for houses in multiple occupation, Gidea Park and Upminster, none of them specific to Emerson Park. HMO Direction 2 was confirmed on 3 November 2015 and came into force on 13 July 2016. Across the borough except four wards, which do not include Emerson Park, it means that turning a flat, terraced or semi-detached house into a house in multiple occupation needs planning permission. Detached houses are not covered, and the 2022 ward changes left its boundaries unchanged.

Havering Council: Article 4 directions · Havering Council: Article 4 directions for houses in multiple occupation

The steps that are hardest to reverse are ordering new windows, opening up a roof and digging. Before any of them, confirm for the exact address which approvals the work needs and keep them separate: planning permission, judged against the Policy Area rules and remembering that flats have no householder permitted development rights; any condition on an earlier permission; listed building consent if the building is listed; Building Regulations approval; the landlord’s consent under a lease; Party Wall notice for notifiable work; and the council’s consent for any work to a tree protected by a preservation order.

Havering Council: Emerson Park Policy Area Supplementary Planning Document, adopted February 2009 · Householder permitted development technical guidance · Havering Council: Article 4 directions · legislation.gov.uk: Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990, section 7 · Havering Council: building control applications · LEASE: alterations and home improvements · Party-wall work requiring notice · Havering Council: tree preservation orders

Local guidance checked . The linked sources help you prepare a brief; requirements depend on the address, building and complete proposal.

From retained details to shared services

Windows, roofs, side gaps, landscaping, trees and insulation

Windows, doors and the street scene

Emerson Park has no Article 4 direction of its own, so for a house the position on new windows and doors turns on the householder permitted development rules and on any condition attached to an earlier permission, which the council asks owners to check before building. A flat has no such rights to fall back on, and its lease may also require the landlord’s consent. Capel Nelmes, listed at Grade II, would need listed building consent for changes affecting its character. Record the existing windows and doors before choosing what replaces them.

Havering Council: Article 4 directions · Householder permitted development technical guidance · LEASE: alterations and home improvements · Planning Data: Capel Nelmes, Grade II listed · legislation.gov.uk: Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990, section 7

Bathrooms, stacks and loft rooms

Sector 1’s flats on Butts Green Road and Ardleigh Green Road raise the usual questions for a moved bathroom: which stack it can reach, who else that stack serves and what the lease says. In a house, a new bathroom in the roof raises the dormer question: Havering’s 2011 guidance says dormers should normally face the rear garden, out of sight of the street, and must never rise above the ridge. The plumbing may also need Building Regulations approval.

Havering Council: Emerson Park Policy Area Supplementary Planning Document, adopted February 2009 · LEASE: alterations and home improvements · Havering Council: Residential Extensions and Alterations SPD, adopted 2011 · When Building Regulations approval is needed

Walls, extensions and side gaps

No wall comes out until our structural engineers have calculated its load. Havering’s building control describes a full plans application as its most detailed route, suited to larger, more complex projects. An extension must suit the street in massing and leave space between buildings in keeping with it; in Sector 6 the side gaps start at 1m at ground floor and 2m at first floor. Havering’s 2011 guidance usually accepts a flat roof on a single-storey rear extension, unless it is easily seen from the street or next door has a pitched-roof rear extension.

Havering Council: building control applications · Havering Council: Emerson Park Policy Area Supplementary Planning Document, adopted February 2009 · Havering Council: Residential Extensions and Alterations SPD, adopted 2011

Front gardens, landscaping and hard standing

Landscaping carries real weight here. The 2009 document does not permit development that would significantly reduce landscape features contributing to the area’s character and asks every scheme for a generous level of landscaping, while Local Plan Policy 27 asks how existing features will be protected during construction. For a flat, Havering’s 2011 guidance says a new hard standing always needs planning permission. Plan any new drive, wall or parking area with the planting kept in view.

Havering Council: Emerson Park Policy Area Supplementary Planning Document, adopted February 2009 · Havering Local Plan 2016–2031, adopted November 2021 · Havering Council: Residential Extensions and Alterations SPD, adopted 2011

Lower floors, gardens and trees

Before planning a lower floor, check the trees: Havering’s consent is needed for any work to a tree protected by a preservation order, and the council asks for at least five days’ notice before felling a dead or dangerous one, except in an emergency. Building a new home in the garden is a separate matter, which Local Plan Policy 10 restricts in the Emerson Park Character Area. Digging close to a neighbour’s foundations may need Party Wall notice; ask the council early how it would assess a basement.

Havering Council: tree preservation orders · Havering Local Plan 2016–2031, adopted November 2021 · Party-wall work requiring notice

Insulation, heating and roof changes

Insulation changes how a house heats and breathes, so design the fabric, heating and ventilation together, and test any outside change against the local guidance. Where hipped roofs are characteristic of the house or the street and the council has control, its 2011 guidance says a gable end will not be acceptable, so roof insulation and loft work should respect the roof shape. For a listed building such as Capel Nelmes, follow Historic England’s whole-building approach and check each measure for listed building consent.

Havering Council: Residential Extensions and Alterations SPD, adopted 2011 · Planning Data: Capel Nelmes, Grade II listed · Historic England: a whole-building approach · legislation.gov.uk: Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990, section 7

A practical plan for the street and building

Working hours, deliveries and shared access

Highway licences, scaffolding and parking

Havering reminds owners that placing anything on the highway without a written licence is an offence: a skip or materials on the road need a licence and must be signed, guarded and lit after dark. Skip licences are sent to the skip hire company, while a resident or the contractor may apply for a building materials licence. Scaffolding, hoarding or fencing on the highway needs its own licence, with 10 working days’ notice and proof of public liability insurance. Parking bay suspensions are open only to utility and street-work companies; tradespeople are pointed to the council’s parking dispensation page.

Havering Council: skip and building materials licences · Havering Council: scaffolding, hoarding and fencing licences · Havering Council: parking bay suspensions

Hours for noisy work, and keeping neighbours informed

Havering’s nuisance advice pack of May 2015 gives reasonable working hours for ongoing construction and DIY as Monday to Friday, 8am–6pm, and Saturday, 8am–1pm; it is advice rather than a formal limit. Neighbours on either side, and any managing agent, appreciate a note with the start date and the noisiest weeks; it also helps to decide early whether the family moves out for the heaviest part.

Havering Council: nuisance information pack (May 2015), with reasonable working hours

A clear scope before a price

Plan your renovation budget and quotation

Quotations for an Emerson Park house or flat can only be compared if every builder works from the same survey and the same written scope. Keep the outside items, such as extensions, roof changes, landscaping and trees, in their own list, and mark any that depend on a planning decision, a landlord’s reply, a tree consent or a Party Wall notice.

Existing condition

Base every price on one measured survey of the house or flat, with photographs, shared with all the builders invited to quote.

  • Plans and sections of the existing home
  • Roof form, walls and garden recorded
  • Areas to open up before pricing noted

Rooms, finishes and services

Give every room a short specification covering strip-out, new fittings and finishes, so no builder has to guess.

  • Fittings schedule per room
  • Waste, water and ventilation routes marked
  • Items you will supply listed

Approvals and site arrangements

List the approvals and highway licences the job depends on, who will obtain each and how much notice each one needs.

  • Sector rules and listing checked
  • Landlord’s reply and Party Wall notices timed
  • Skip, materials and scaffold licences planned

Written allowances and sequence

Before signing, settle on paper how hidden work will be allowed for, what is left out and how the trades will follow one another.

  • Provisional sums named individually
  • VAT treatment stated
  • Building control completion included

Building in Emerson Park carries no location surcharge and no standard timescale: those follow from the house or flat and from the scope. Ask each builder to set out how VAT is applied and which professional fees, such as those for structural engineering or drawings, are not included. For a standalone bathroom we quote separately, working from that room’s own survey and list of fittings.

From an idea to a workable scope

Prepare your brief and renovation budget

  1. The property

    Send the full address and house or flat number: the 2009 schedule is property by property and overlaps between sectors. Say whether it is a detached, semi-detached or terraced house, or a flat, and which floor; photographs of the front, the garden and the rooms involved are a good start.

  2. Papers already in hand

    Gather any earlier planning permissions, especially their conditions, building control completion certificates, the lease or title register and drawings from previous work. If yours is a flat, also send the managing agent’s contact details and a copy of any rules the block sets for building work. Mention any tree preservation order you know about.

  3. Decided and undecided items

    Split your list in two: choices already made, such as tiles, a suite or rooms to repaint, and questions waiting on the survey, an engineer or a planning decision, such as an extension or a dormer. Builders can then price the undecided items as named allowances on the same basis.

  4. Timing and who arranges what

    Let us know your target date, which rooms you cannot do without and whether the household will stay put. We then agree in writing who applies for each highway licence, any planning permission, any tree consent, the Party Wall notices and Building Regulations approval.

Ready to take the next step? Send the property address and a short outline of what you want to change.

Discuss your Emerson Park project

Our Hampstead base, serving Emerson Park

Talk to our Finchley Road studio

Our studio is in Hampstead on Finchley Road, at NW3 6DN. We serve Emerson Park from this office. Bring us the practical questions about your house, flat or bathroom and the result you want to achieve.

Contact the studio to discuss your brief and arrange the next step. If you already have drawings, a lease or planning correspondence, tell us what is available.

Book a free feasibility visit
Hampstead Renovations
Unit 3, Palace Court
250 Finchley Road
London NW3 6DN

020 7101 3168
contact@hampsteadrenovations.co.uk

Find our studio on Google Maps

Questions before you begin

Renovating in Emerson Park: practical answers

Is one bathroom enough of a job for you in Emerson Park?

Yes. One room is enough: we treat a bathroom as a standalone renovation, whether it is the family bathroom in a detached house, one in a flat or a downstairs cloakroom. To get started, tell us the floor, what lies below the room, how it is ventilated now and where the waste seems to run, with rough sizes and photographs. If the plan puts a bathroom in the roof with a new dormer, Havering’s 2011 guidance says dormers should normally face the rear garden.

Havering Council: Residential Extensions and Alterations SPD, adopted 2011

Is Emerson Park one of Havering’s conservation areas?

No. Havering has 11 conservation areas and Emerson Park is not among them. The Local Plan treats it instead as one of two special townscape or landscape character areas, and the 2009 Policy Area document sets rules for each sector. Whether a property falls within the Policy Area, and in which sector, depends on the exact address: the schedule dates from February 2009 and overlaps between sectors, so check the council’s map for your house or flat.

Havering Council: heritage and the borough’s 11 conservation areas · Havering Local Plan 2016–2031, adopted November 2021 · Havering Council: Emerson Park Policy Area Supplementary Planning Document, adopted February 2009

Are there Article 4 directions or listed buildings in Emerson Park?

No Article 4 direction is specific to Emerson Park, but one of Havering’s two directions on houses in multiple occupation applies: turning a flat, terraced or semi-detached house, though not a detached one, into a house in multiple occupation needs planning permission. The council asks owners to check that no direction or planning condition applies before building. Capel Nelmes is listed at Grade II, and listed building consent covers works that affect a listed building’s character, inside as well as out. Several nearby buildings and structures are on Havering’s July 2024 Local Heritage List.

Havering Council: Article 4 directions · Havering Council: Article 4 directions for houses in multiple occupation · Planning Data: Capel Nelmes, Grade II listed · legislation.gov.uk: Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990, section 7 · Havering Council: Local Heritage List, July 2024

Can I change the windows on my Emerson Park home?

For most houses the answer depends on the householder permitted development rules and on any condition attached to an earlier permission, because Emerson Park has no Article 4 direction of its own; check those before ordering. A flat does not benefit from those rules, so an outside change needs checking for planning permission, and the lease may require the landlord’s consent. Capel Nelmes, being listed, would need listed building consent for changes affecting its character.

Householder permitted development technical guidance · Havering Council: Article 4 directions · LEASE: alterations and home improvements · Planning Data: Capel Nelmes, Grade II listed · legislation.gov.uk: Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990, section 7

What permission does an Emerson Park flat refit need?

The lease comes first. Depending on its terms, alterations may need the landlord’s permission, and the Leasehold Advisory Service (LEASE) points out that this holds even where planning permission or Building Regulations approval is already in place. Planning rarely features, since internal work is generally not development. New bathroom plumbing can still need Building Regulations approval, which Havering’s building control service handles through several application routes.

LEASE: alterations and home improvements · When planning permission is required · When Building Regulations approval is needed · Havering Council: building control applications

Will a wall removal or bathroom move work in an Emerson Park house?

Usually, once checked. Our structural engineers confirm what the wall carries before anything is removed, and we check with Havering’s building control which application route suits the work. In a semi-detached house, work to the shared wall can call for notice to the neighbour under the Party Wall Act, which Havering’s 2011 guidance reminds owners about. Relocating a bathroom depends on getting the waste to the stack at a proper gradient; in a flat the stack may also carry other homes’ waste, so read the lease.

Havering Council: building control applications · Havering Council: Residential Extensions and Alterations SPD, adopted 2011 · Party-wall work requiring notice · LEASE: alterations and home improvements

Can I add a basement beneath an Emerson Park house, and what would the council weigh?

Ask the council early how it would judge a basement at your address, and expect the Policy Area rules to form part of the assessment. The 2009 document does not permit development that significantly reduces landscape features contributing to the area’s character, Local Plan Policy 27 asks how features will be protected during construction, and any work to a tree under a preservation order needs Havering’s consent. Excavation within reach of next door’s foundations can also call for a Party Wall notice.

Havering Council: Emerson Park Policy Area Supplementary Planning Document, adopted February 2009 · Havering Local Plan 2016–2031, adopted November 2021 · Havering Council: tree preservation orders · Party-wall work requiring notice

What does Havering advise on building hours in Emerson Park?

Havering’s May 2015 nuisance advice pack gives reasonable working hours for ongoing construction and DIY as Monday to Friday, 8am–6pm, and Saturday, 8am–1pm. It is advice rather than a formal limit, but it is a sensible frame for the noisy stages. Flats may have their own rules on working times in the lease, and neighbours deserve warning of the loudest days.

Havering Council: nuisance information pack (May 2015), with reasonable working hours · LEASE: alterations and home improvements

Which items should line up across quotations for an Emerson Park job?

First, that every builder has priced the same written scope. Then look for the highway items: the skip licence, which goes to the skip hire company; any building materials licence; the scaffolding or hoarding licence, which needs 10 working days’ notice and proof of public liability insurance; and how parking will be handled, since bay suspensions are only for utility and street-work companies. Check that VAT, professional fees and allowances for hidden work are shown on the same basis.

Havering Council: skip and building materials licences · Havering Council: scaffolding, hoarding and fencing licences · Havering Council: parking bay suspensions

Where is your studio, and what will you ask me first about an Emerson Park home?

Our studio is the one office we have, at Unit 3, Palace Court, 250 Finchley Road, London NW3 6DN, and we serve Emerson Park from this office. To start, send the full address, a few lines on the work you have in mind and some photographs. The lease, earlier permissions and drawings can follow once the scope is taking shape.

Go deeper where it matters

Guides for your property and project

Explore the relevant property guide, then check the current official sources above for your address and proposed work.

More help with your renovation brief

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East London areas
Areas we serve in East London →

Emerson Park is one of the East London areas we now serve from our Hampstead studio. For the wider service, see our London refurbishment company page.

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