Bespoke joinery in Crouch End

Start with the bespoke joinery brief

Start with what the furniture needs to hold and how you use the room. Record alcoves, ceiling heights, skirtings, sockets and radiator positions before setting cabinet depths or door swings. Keep the details worth retaining in the measured brief.

Agree internal layouts, lighting, ventilation, hardware and finish samples before manufacture. Drawings should show how new joinery meets uneven walls and existing cornices, and how access for installation will work.

The local building context

Crouch End was part of the Middlesex parish of Hornsey, and Haringey’s character appraisal records about 400 new houses built in the decade 1882–1892, many of them high-quality two and three storey terraces. Streets east of the centre and just west of it are mainly terraced, while further south and west detached and semi-detached houses set the character. Work out which pattern your home belongs to before planning changes.

For the Weston Park and Cecile Park sub-area, the appraisal describes two, three and four storey terraces in red brick or yellow London stock brick, originally roofed in slate, with lava brick boundary walls and timber sash windows that survive on most properties. Houses are set back from the pavement behind small front gardens and low walls. Record these elements and their condition before deciding what to repair, keep or replace.

Not every home here is a house. The appraisal notes that mansion blocks replaced large properties on Haringey Park in 1908, and that town-centre buildings most often use red brick with contrasting stone and stucco, while older ones are mostly yellow London stock brick. The Crouch End Clock Tower, dated 1895, has been listed Grade II since 10 May 1974. If you own a flat, the survey brief should also cover the lease, the common entrance and shared services.

• Crouch End Conservation Area character appraisal, 2010 (PDF)
• Historic England: Crouch End Clock Tower, list entry 1358845
• LEASE: alterations and home improvements

Local design and consent context

Haringey lists the Crouch End Conservation Area as No. 5. It was first designated on 25 October 1974 as the Crescent Road Conservation Area and extended on 26 March 1976, 31 July 1990 and 29 November 1994; the appraisal gives its area as about 94.5 hectares. The Highgate conservation area shares part of its west boundary, Stroud Green lies to the south east and Hillfield to the north.

The council’s conservation area list links a 2010 character appraisal for Crouch End, whose cover describes it as a Cabinet draft dated 14 September 2010. Use it for the area’s character and design guidance, including its concerns about front dormers and lost sashes and doors. Its legal references reflect the law in 2010, so rely on Haringey’s current planning pages for permission rules.

The appraisal records no Article 4 directions within the Crouch End Conservation Area, and Haringey’s Development Management document lists heritage directions only for Tower Gardens, Noel Park, Rookfield Estate and Peabody Cottages. A direction removes specified permitted development rights for specified properties; it is not a general rule. Haringey also publishes borough-wide directions, so check its current Article 4 page for the address.

• Haringey: list of conservation areas
• Crouch End Conservation Area character appraisal, 2010 (PDF)
• Haringey: works in conservation areas that need planning permission
• Haringey Development Management DPD, including Policy DM18
• Haringey: Article 4 directions

Access and site planning

Measure the route from the street to the room before ordering large items, and plan protection for any shared entrance. Haringey asks for skip licence applications at least 5 working days before the licence is needed, for a maximum of 28 days. Scaffolding or hoarding on a public road, pavement, path or footway needs its own licence. Apply for a parking bay suspension at least 2 weeks ahead; a skip placed in a bay needs both the suspension and a skip licence.

• Haringey: skip and building materials licence
• Haringey: scaffolding and hoarding licences
• Haringey: apply for a parking bay suspension
• LEASE: alterations and home improvements

Continue planning

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