Basement conversion in Woodford Green

Investigate the structure and ground before design.

Start with the basement conversion brief

Distinguish an existing cellar conversion from excavation for a new basement. Record levels, drainage, access and the adjoining structures, and obtain project-specific ground and structural investigations before relying on a design or budget.

Plan temporary works, waterproofing, ventilation, escape and spoil removal as part of the same brief. Ask Hampstead Chartered Surveyors to assess party-wall matters and Hampstead Architecture & Planning to coordinate the design requirements. An area name alone does not establish ground conditions.

The local building context

Woodford Green and Woodford Wells conservation areas were designated in October 1970, and Woodford Green was extended in December 1981 to take in Sunset Avenue and Mornington Road, west of the High Road. Woodford Wells lies to the north along the High Road, and the 1993 scheme treats it as a continuation of Woodford Green. The 2007 appraisal places both on a ridge 60 metres above sea level, mainly on London clay, and finds their special quality in long, semi-natural open spaces, mature trees, ponds and narrow, hedged roads.

The 2007 appraisal describes tall, narrow, three-storey brick houses of the late eighteenth century on Inmans Row and the adjoining High Road; late Victorian and Edwardian houses on Broomhill Road between Grange Avenue and Fairfield Avenue, detached, semi-detached and terraced, with some flat conversions; and Mornington Road, which it singles out for its Arts and Crafts houses. In Woodford Wells the stock is more ordinary, mostly detached or semi-detached family houses in their own gardens. Yellow stock brick is common, and older roofs are natural slate or clay tile.

Monkhams was laid out from the early 1900s to the 1930s and recognised as a Residential Precinct in 1971. Since 18 November 2013 its southern, earlier part, including Monkham’s Drive, Monkham’s Avenue and Queen’s Avenue, has been in Woodford Broadway Conservation Area, east of Woodford Green Conservation Area. The northern part, including Malvern Drive, Princes Avenue, Woodland Way and the northern part of Kings Avenue, is the Monkhams Local Character Area on the 2023 Local Heritage List: large single houses on spacious plots with generous gaps between them.

Local design and consent context

Redbridge has 16 conservation areas. For Woodford Green and Woodford Wells its web page links two documents: the March 2007 Special Character Appraisal, which the council’s 2013 Woodford Broadway appraisal describes as a joint draft, and the Conservation Area Enhancement Scheme, adopted on 22 April 1993. Read both with their dates in mind, since what the 1993 scheme says about the borough boundary is older than the 2007 appraisal’s account.

Woodford Broadway Conservation Area, first designated in 1981 around The Broadway, has its own appraisal of November 2013. When the area was extended on 18 November 2013 to add the southern Monkhams estate, some properties on the eastern edge of Woodford Green Conservation Area, including the Woodford Wells Sports Club, moved into it. The council’s page links management proposals for Woodford Broadway, but none for Woodford Green or Woodford Wells.

Redbridge’s former Residential Precincts are now called Local Character Areas, and the council says they should be considered in planning decisions even though they are not designated heritage assets. The August 2023 list includes Monkhams, whose entry names inappropriate hip-to-gable roof extensions and the use of uPVC among harmful alterations, and two more next to Woodford Green Conservation Area: Empress Avenue, laid out between Woodford New Road and the High Road, and the Laing Estate of the 1930s. Local Plan policy LP33 supports development in these areas that respects their intrinsic character.

Access and site planning

On the Redbridge side, a skip needs a council licence unless it stands on your own property, such as a driveway; scaffolding or a hoarding on the public highway needs its own licence, and the scaffold application must be backed by a risk assessment, method statement and the company’s public liability insurance. Materials stored on the road need a licence as well, and all these licences are charged by the complete month. A skip on parking spaces also needs a bay suspension, which the council decides within seven working days. For a Waltham Forest address, ask that council.

Continue planning

The Woodford Green area guide · Basement conversion across London · Hampstead Architecture & Planning · Hampstead Chartered Surveyors

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