Kitchen renovation in East Finchley

Plan the kitchen around movement, storage and services.

Start with the kitchen renovation brief

Map preparation, cooking, washing and storage before choosing cabinet fronts. Measure clearances with doors and drawers open, and decide which existing walls, floors and details belong in the finished room.

Coordinate the cabinetry with water, drainage, extraction, electrics and lighting. Confirm appliance dimensions and access for installation before the layout is signed off; structural alterations need their own design and approval checks.

The local building context

Barnet’s 2010 introduction to the Hampstead Garden Suburb appraisal says the Suburb was developed between 1907 and 1938, and that by 1914 work had begun on extending it into the 300 acres linking it to East Finchley Underground Station. Building there came later: the Ossulton Way and Hill Top appraisal dates its earliest buildings to 1927, and Holne Chase and Norrice Lea were built between 1935 and 1938, the Suburb’s final major building phase. Brim Hill’s mainly semi-detached houses date from 1931 to 1938.

Flats are part of the Suburb’s mix. The Market Place and Lyttelton Road appraisal records a first block of shops with flats above, built in 1922, and three developments of blocks of flats along Lyttelton Road between 1929 and 1936, continuing the Suburb’s tradition of mixed housing. Belvedere Court, designed by Ernst Freud in 1937, is a Grade II listed Modernist block of flats, and the Ossulton Way appraisal records flats and maisonettes alongside large semi-detached and detached houses with garages and gardens.

Part of N2 lies in Haringey, whose heritage register labels Fortis Green, Southern Road, Eastern Road and Western Road as Fortis Green N2. A 2022 Haringey committee report describes the part of the Fortis Green Conservation Area around its site as suburban, quiet residential streets with Edwardian terraces and Arts and Crafts style houses. On the Barnet side, the 1999 appraisal of The Bishop’s Avenue notes that the area around East Finchley station was already urbanised when the avenue was laid out, so date a High Road building from its own fabric.

Local design and consent context

Barnet designated the Hampstead Garden Suburb Conservation Area in December 1968, and its older part was recognised as being of outstanding architectural or historic interest in 1977. East End Road forms its northern boundary at Ossulton Way, and The Bishop’s Avenue its eastern boundary. The Trust says the appraisal, formally adopted in October 2010, is divided into 22 character areas; The Bishop’s Avenue has its own appraisal, approved on 1 February 1999.

Coverage varies. The 1999 appraisal of The Bishop’s Avenue names particular numbers on that road as covered by the Suburb’s direction, so check before assuming it applies. In Haringey, conservation-area directions apply in Noel Park, Peabody Cottages, Rookfield Estate and Tower Gardens, not Fortis Green; there, alterations to a house’s windows and doors need no planning permission if materials and appearance are similar to the original construction, but flats have no permitted development rights.

The Trust’s Scheme of Management came into force on 17 January 1974 and empowers the Trust to control changes to the appearance of the Suburb’s buildings and landscapes. Trust consent is required for any external change to a Suburb property, is distinct from planning permission and is applied for separately. The Trust is also freeholder of most remaining Suburb property let on long leases, including many blocks of flats.

Access and site planning

Start from the route between the kerb and the room: where materials arrive, where waste is held and how shared entrances are protected. On a Haringey road, scaffolding or hoarding on the road or footway needs a licence lasting 3 months; a skip needs a licence applied for at least 5 working days ahead, for up to 28 days; and a skip in a parking bay needs a bay suspension requested at least 2 weeks before. On a Barnet road, check Barnet’s licence and suspension arrangements. Lyttelton Road was designated the A1 in 1983, and the GLA Roads Designation Order 2000 made the A1 from the edge of London to Wakley Street a GLA road; TfL licenses activities only on its red routes, so check the frontage.

Continue planning

The East Finchley area guide · Kitchen renovation across London · Hampstead Architecture & Planning · Hampstead Chartered Surveyors

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