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East Finchley N2 · House refurbishment

House refurbishment in East Finchley

Suburb houses road by road, and Fortis Green across the boundary

A house refurbishment in East Finchley is shaped by the road the house stands on. For the Suburb’s N2 roads, Barnet’s 2010 character appraisals record which details each group of houses has kept and which it has lost, from bonnet-tiled hips on Hutchings Walk to the dormers of Brim Hill, and the joint Design Guidance limits extensions and roof changes. On Fortis Green the council is Haringey, with its own local list and rules.

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Serving East Finchley from our Hampstead studio · NW3 6DN
020 7101 3168

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House refurbishment in East Finchley at a glance

Barnet’s 2010 appraisals of the N2 roads in the Hampstead Garden Suburb Conservation Area read as a list of changes not to repeat. On Brim Hill they record over-large dormers, window replacements and garage conversions out of keeping with the house, poor extensions, painted-over tile hanging or brick and roofs patched with modern tiles. Around Holne Chase and Norrice Lea they single out loft and side extensions that affect the integrity of a design, houses extended to their plot boundaries and low walls detracting from soft hedged edges. Decide first which earlier changes your plans will undo; our Hampstead Garden Suburb pages cover the rest of the Suburb.

Brim Hill (Area 11) character appraisal, October 2010 · Holne Chase and Norrice Lea (Area 13) character appraisal, October 2010

For the whole area, including conservation areas, permissions and working hours, read our East Finchley renovation guide.

Approved guide prices

What does a house refurbishment cost in East Finchley?

Cost in East Finchley depends on depth of work. A cosmetic refurbishment that keeps the existing layout runs £650–£1,250/sqm (typically £90,000–£180,000), while a back-to-brick renovation runs £2,250–£3,250/sqm (typically £275,000–£475,000), excluding VAT. A written scope and site assessment are needed before any project price can be fixed.

Scope of workGuide rateTypical total
Cosmetic — existing layout retained£650–£1,250/sqm£90,000–£180,000
Back-to-brick renovation£2,250–£3,250/sqm£275,000–£475,000
Typical programme16–32 weeks on site

Guide rates exclude VAT and are set by depth of work, not by postcode. Compare scopes in our London refurbishment cost-per-square-metre guide or try the cost calculator.

The buildings

Moderne, Neo-Georgian and Arts and Crafts houses on the Suburb’s N2 roads

Roads and closes in East Finchley’s part of the Suburb tend each to share one architect’s style, and Barnet’s 2010 appraisals note which details survive and which have gone. Three groups of roads show the range.

On Ossulton Way the central run of Moderne houses depends, the 2010 Area 10 appraisal says, on a sharp contrast between render and metal and on pristine white walls, an effect that replacement doors and poor upkeep have often weakened. On Hutchings Walk, Crickmer’s semi-detached houses of 1935 had bonnet-tiled hips, now ridge-tiled on some, and double wooden garage doors that have often given way to metal up-and-over doors. On Ludlow Way several garages have become rooms linked to the house, and some upper windows now have plastic frames of a quite different design.

Ossulton Way and Hill Top (Area 10) character appraisal, October 2010

On Brim Hill the architect of each group matters. Philip Dalton Hepworth’s Neo-Georgian houses of 1931 on the eastern fork of Gurney Drive have wooden sashes with slatted decorative shutters and no dormers on their fronts. On the western fork and the southern side of Brim Hill, Butler’s Arts and Crafts houses mostly carry dormers on the front, and several have side dormers of differing size and proportion. Around Vivian Way and Harford Walk the original wooden front gates are almost all gone, and extensions built up to the twittens, the footpaths between houses, have attracted graffiti.

Brim Hill (Area 11) character appraisal, October 2010

On Holne Chase and Rowan Walk the 2010 Area 13 appraisal finds overdone and added features detracting from these roads, such as extensions that disturb rooflines and porches in polished granite. On The Bishop’s Avenue, the 1999 appraisal called recent high walls and sheeted-over gate railings highly detrimental to the character of the area, and noted that side extensions and ever larger houses were closing the spaces between properties. Read the appraisal for your own road before a single drawing is made.

Holne Chase and Norrice Lea (Area 13) character appraisal, October 2010 · The Bishop’s Avenue character appraisal, approved 1 February 1999

Permissions and local rules

Rules that shape the outside of an East Finchley house

Extensions under the joint Design Guidance

How far can a Suburb house in N2 be extended?

The guidance Barnet and the Trust published in 2010 says rear extensions should generally be no wider than half the rear elevation, and in most cases narrower. Both bodies normally do not approve extensions that intrude on established views or on the space between houses, naming two-storey side extensions and building over an existing garage as examples, and conservatories will not normally be approved. An insensitive alteration made in the past is not accepted as a reason for another.

Hampstead Garden Suburb Conservation Area Design Guidance, Barnet and the Trust, 2010

Dormers, roof tiles and chimney stacks

What can change on the roof?

In most cases the same guidance says dormers should be restricted to the rear or side of the roof, and on a modest house small traditional rooflights may be acceptable in discreet places, generally one to a slope, as an alternative to a dormer. Any re-roofing or extension must use matching tiles; modern interlocking tiles are not accepted as substitutes and concrete tiles will be refused. Demolishing a chimney stack is unacceptable unless the stack is insignificant and no important part of the design.

Hampstead Garden Suburb Conservation Area Design Guidance, Barnet and the Trust, 2010

Solar panels, heat pumps and Trust consent

Can I add solar panels or a heat pump?

Where the Trust’s Scheme applies, its 2024 retrofit guidance says that, given the Suburb’s appearance, solar panels, photovoltaic or solar thermal, will not be acceptable on pitched roof slopes. An air source heat pump needs room for the unit somewhere inconspicuous in the garden. The guidance lists heat pumps, solar panels, window replacement and loft, roof and cavity-wall insulation among the works that need Trust consent, so include any energy upgrade in the Trust application for the refurbishment rather than adding it later.

Hampstead Garden Suburb Trust: home retrofit guidance (PDF)

Fortis Green houses on the Haringey side

Does Haringey treat my house differently?

On Haringey’s Fortis Green N2 streets, Haringey decides, so check the council for the address first. Its register of locally listed buildings of merit includes Nos. 16 to 22 (even) Southern Road and, on Western Road, No. 14, No. 17 and Nos. 25 & 27. For a house in one of its conservation areas, Haringey lists any side extension and any roof addition or alteration among the works that need permission. Its 2017 Local Plan says dormers should be restricted to the rear, with front dormers not normally permitted unless already part of the established local character and sensitively designed.

Haringey Register of Local Listed Buildings of Merit (PDF) · Haringey: works in conservation areas that need planning permission · Haringey Development Management DPD, including Policy DM18

Working hours, skips, parking and the conservation area maps for the whole area are in our East Finchley guide. Local guidance checked ; requirements depend on the address, the building and the complete proposal.

What the work covers

The work on an East Finchley house, in three parts

Windows and doors drawn from the house itself

Each window, front door and garage door is surveyed and drawn against the type its architect used, so that repair comes first and any replacement follows the original pattern. Barnet’s register shows that in 2025 it approved, with conditions, double-glazed replacements for all the windows and patio doors of a house on Brim Hill. That was one planning decision on one house, and where the Trust’s Scheme applies its consent is a separate application.

Barnet planning register: public access search (planning, building control and licensing)

Loft rooms that respect the roof

A loft room is planned around the roof’s own form rather than a standard dormer box, because the appraisals record obtrusive dormers on Hutchings Walk and over-large ones on Brim Hill. Barnet’s register shows a 2026 approval on Holne Chase for a roof extension with two rear dormers, replacing an earlier rear dormer and rear rooflights. We draw the dormer’s cheeks, roof and windows at a scale the council and the Trust can assess.

Ossulton Way and Hill Top (Area 10) character appraisal, October 2010 · Brim Hill (Area 11) character appraisal, October 2010 · Barnet planning register: public access search (planning, building control and licensing)

Front gardens, gates and boundaries

Lost front gardens run through these appraisals: hardstanding in varied and sometimes unsympathetic materials along Ossulton Way, original wooden gates almost all gone around Vivian Way, and low walls and piers that detract from the original soft hedged edges around Holne Chase and Norrice Lea. A refurbishment can bring back planting, a gate in the original pattern and a path kept apart from the drive, rather than adding more hard surfaces.

Ossulton Way and Hill Top (Area 10) character appraisal, October 2010 · Brim Hill (Area 11) character appraisal, October 2010 · Holne Chase and Norrice Lea (Area 13) character appraisal, October 2010

How we work

How we run a East Finchley house refurbishment

  1. Free feasibility visit

    We walk round the house with you and discuss what is feasible.

  2. Survey

    Rooms, levels and features to keep are measured, with opening-up or asbestos checks where needed.

  3. Design and consents

    Our own architects and structural engineers design the layout and structural openings, plan the service routes with them, and identify which consents and party wall notices apply.

  4. Price and contract

    A fixed written price and a JCT contract follow the survey, scope and specification. It records allowances, exclusions and how changes are priced.

  5. On site

    Work is inspected before it is covered, and a director reviews key decisions.

  6. Handover

    Testing, commissioning and snagging. Completed work carries a 12-month defects-rectification period under the JCT contract terms.

Real projects, clearly located

Examples of our house refurbishment work elsewhere in London

None of these projects is in East Finchley. Each card names where the work was done, so you can judge the finish and the approach before you brief your own.

Your brief

Before you ask for a quotation

  1. Find your road’s appraisal

    Send the full address. We confirm which council covers it and, inside the Suburb, which of Barnet’s character appraisals describes your road. Its section on your street shows which features of your type of house the council values and which past changes it regards as harmful.

  2. Record what has already changed

    Photograph the front, rear and roof, the garage doors, porch, gate and front garden. List anything replaced since the house was built, such as windows, roof tiles or a dormer, because the guidance treats earlier insensitive work as something to improve rather than a precedent.

  3. Put each consent on the programme

    Note which approvals the house is likely to need: Barnet or Haringey planning permission, Trust consent where the Scheme applies, and listed building consent for a listed house. Each takes its own time, so set them against the dates for ordering windows, tiles and joinery.

Ready to take the next step? Send the address and a short outline of the work.

Book a free feasibility visit

Questions before you begin

House refurbishment in East Finchley: questions

Can I put a dormer on the front of a Brim Hill house?

It depends on the group your house belongs to. Barnet’s 2010 Brim Hill appraisal records front dormers on most of Butler’s Arts and Crafts houses on the western fork of Gurney Drive and the southern side of Brim Hill, but none on the fronts of Hepworth’s Neo-Georgian houses on the eastern fork. The joint guidance says dormers should in most cases be restricted to the rear or side, and the appraisal counts over-large dormers among the changes that harm the street, so weigh any proposal against its own group.

Brim Hill (Area 11) character appraisal, October 2010 · Hampstead Garden Suburb Conservation Area Design Guidance, Barnet and the Trust, 2010

Can I convert the garage into a room?

It can be approved. Barnet’s register shows a 2026 approval, with conditions, for turning the garage of a house on Holne Chase into living space behind new traditional timber garage-style doors with double-glazed lights. The appraisals also record garage conversions on Brim Hill that do not accord with the style of the house, and garages on Ludlow Way already made into rooms. Keep the garage’s outward form, and where the Trust’s Scheme applies, expect its consent to be needed as well.

Barnet planning register: public access search (planning, building control and licensing) · Brim Hill (Area 11) character appraisal, October 2010 · Ossulton Way and Hill Top (Area 10) character appraisal, October 2010 · Hampstead Garden Suburb Conservation Area Design Guidance, Barnet and the Trust, 2010

Is a house in Lytton Close treated differently?

Yes. Lytton Close is a Grade II listed group of white, flat-roofed Modern Movement houses, so listed building consent from Barnet is needed for works that affect its special interest, on top of the Suburb’s other consents. Barnet’s 2010 Area 13 appraisal notes that some modern replacement garage and front doors there are not sympathetic and that television aerials detract from the flat roofline, so a refurbishment is a chance to put such details right.

Holne Chase and Norrice Lea (Area 13) character appraisal, October 2010 · Historic England: listed-building consent

Can leaded-light windows be double-glazed?

In the Suburb, not normally. The joint Design Guidance says leaded lights can be repaired and their lead renewed, but that double-glazing them is not normally possible because of the harm it may do to the building’s character. Secondary glazing on the inside is an alternative, and the Trust’s retrofit guidance says it needs no Trust consent. For a listed house, check with Barnet before adding anything.

Hampstead Garden Suburb Conservation Area Design Guidance, Barnet and the Trust, 2010 · Hampstead Garden Suburb Trust: home retrofit guidance (PDF)

Does Haringey have a design guide for Fortis Green houses?

Not a borough-wide householder guide. Haringey’s list of current supplementary planning documents covers planning obligations, sustainable design and construction, house extensions in South Tottenham, Finsbury Park town centre and Highgate School. Its older SPG1a design guidance was superseded by the Development Management DPD in July 2017. For a Fortis Green house, that DPD’s adopted policies and the council’s conservation-area rules are therefore the starting point for any change to the outside.

Haringey: supplementary planning documents · Haringey: Supplementary Planning Document / Guidance Update, 24 July 2017 (PDF) · Haringey Development Management DPD, including Policy DM18

How much does a house refurbishment cost in East Finchley?

It depends on scope. In East Finchley, a cosmetic refurbishment keeping the existing layout runs £650–£1,250/sqm (typically £90,000–£180,000); a back-to-brick renovation runs £2,250–£3,250/sqm (typically £275,000–£475,000), excluding VAT. A written scope and site assessment come before any fixed price.

Book a free feasibility visit

Talk to us about your East Finchley house

Tell us the address and what you want to change in your East Finchley house. We reply within one working day, Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm.

Or call 020 7101 3168. We serve East Finchley from our studio at Unit 3, Palace Court, 250 Finchley Road, London NW3 6DN.

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