House
extensions
in Golders Green, NW11
Architects, Engineers, Surveyors & Builders Under One Roof.
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Hampstead Chartered Surveyors & Building ConsultancyAdd a larger kitchen, dining space or family room to a Golders Green house while keeping a useful garden and relating the addition to the original rear and side of the home. Send Hampstead Renovations your plans and photographs of the rear of the house, and tell us how you want the new space and the garden to work.
A considered approach to house extensions in Golders Green
Planning a house extension in Golders Green
Measure the original house, the garden and the boundaries before fixing a footprint, then test it against Part 4 of Barnet’s June 2026 SPD. Confirm whether the address lies in a conservation area or is covered by a Hampstead Garden Suburb direction.
Rear depth, garden and height
Barnet’s SPD gives maximum single-storey rear depths of 3 metres for terraced, 3.5 metres for semi-detached and 4 metres for detached houses, no more than half the garden’s length, and a height of up to 4 metres with eaves no higher than 3 metres.
Side extensions and corner plots
Barnet’s SPD says a single-storey side extension should be no more than half the width of the original home (para 4.58), and on a corner site it should be set in 1 metre from the boundary (para 4.65).
- Barnet SPD Part 4: residential extensions and alterations
From the initial brief to a coordinated project
Define the brief and constraints
Develop and test the design
Plan construction around the home
Inspect, review and document
What to bring to your first conversation
- The address, existing plans and photographs of the rear, side, garden and neighbouring relationship.
- The intended room use, priorities for retained outdoor space and any known drainage or tree constraints.
- Available planning history, ownership or lease documents, access arrangements and occupation requirements.
Include the joinery in the design brief
Explore bespoke joineryHouse extensions: practical questions
Does every house extension require a planning application?
No. Some qualify for permitted development, but eligibility depends on the building, proposal and restrictions. Conservation-area rules treat side and multi-storey rear extensions differently from some single-storey rear work. Flats do not have Part 1 householder rights.
- GOV.UK: householder permitted development technical guidance
Is planning permission the same as Building Regulations approval?
No. Building Regulations cover construction and extension work, while planning addresses whether development is acceptable. The project may need both, alongside any separate listed-building, lease or private consent.
- GOV.UK: building regulations approval
- Historic England: listed building consent
- LEASE: alterations and home improvements
Will Party Wall procedures apply?
They may apply to work on a party structure, boundary building or qualifying excavation near a neighbour’s foundations. Assess the proposed work rather than assuming every extension needs an award. Minor drilling for shelves or cabinets is a different matter.
- GOV.UK: notifiable party-wall work
Can work to a listed house be treated like an ordinary extension?
The effect on its special architectural or historic interest must be assessed. Listed-building consent can be relevant to internal alterations as well as the addition, and should be considered before significant fabric is changed.
- Historic England: listed building consent
How far can a single-storey rear extension project under Barnet’s guidance?
The SPD gives maximum depths of 3 metres for terraced, 3.5 metres for semi-detached and 4 metres for detached houses, and no more than half the length of the garden. These are design guidance limits, not an automatic approval for the proposal.
- Barnet SPD Part 4: residential extensions and alterations
Do the Hampstead Garden Suburb Article 4 directions affect an extension?
Only where a direction covers the address. Barnet’s Suburb directions withdraw rights including the enlargement, improvement or other alteration of a house, so check the address and the rights withdrawn before relying on permitted development.
- Hampstead Garden Suburb Article 4 directions
- GOV.UK: householder permitted development technical guidance
Why Hampstead Renovations
Guides & Local Reading
More Services in Golders Green
The local building context
Barnet’s August 2011 appraisal of the Golders Green Town Centre Conservation Area records that development began about two years before the station opened in 1907. Between 1907 and 1911 roads were laid out and some 744 homes built, and the appraisal describes two building phases, 1907–1918 and 1924–30. Record the age, construction and later alterations of your own building rather than assuming one local type.
Barnet describes the conservation area as the town centre together with the railway and bus/coach station. The appraisal identifies parades of shops with apartments and flats above as the main building type and counts seven listed buildings; the Cheapside and The Promenade parades, 78 retail units in all, are listed Grade II. For a flat above a shop, the survey brief should also cover any listing, the lease terms and the shared services.
Golders Green describes where we work, not the rules for a particular home. Confirm the council through the official lookup, then check Barnet’s conservation maps, the Golders Green boundary map, the listing, any Article 4 direction and the planning history; neither the neighbourhood name nor an NW11 postcode settles the conservation boundary or the consent route.
- Golders Green Town Centre Conservation Area appraisal, August 2011
- Barnet: Golders Green conservation area
- Historic England: listed-building consent
- LEASE: alterations and home improvements
- Find the council for the property
- Barnet conservation areas, appraisals and maps
- Golders Green conservation area boundary map
- Article 4 directions in Barnet
Local design and consent context
Barnet designated the Golders Green Town Centre Conservation Area in March 1998 and publishes a character appraisal and management proposals dated August 2011, with a boundary map. Barnet notes that, of over 16,000 people living in the Golders Green area, approximately 400 live within this conservation area; that figure does not show whether another designation covers your home.
The 2011 appraisal says an Article 4 direction is not applied in the Golders Green Town Centre Conservation Area. Barnet’s Hampstead Garden Suburb directions are different: they withdraw permitted development rights for the enlargement, improvement or other alteration of a house, other roof alterations, porches, hard surfaces, boundary walls and gates, exterior painting and more, for addresses inside the Suburb.
Barnet adopted the Sustainable Design and Development Guidance SPD on 15 June 2026, replacing the 2016 Residential Design Guidance SPD. Its Part 4 covers residential extensions and alterations, including rear and side extensions, dormers, rooflights and basements. Check proposals against this current guidance rather than advice written around the superseded document.
- Barnet: Golders Green conservation area
- Golders Green Town Centre Conservation Area appraisal, August 2011
- Golders Green conservation area boundary map
- Hampstead Garden Suburb Article 4 directions
- Barnet Sustainable Design and Development Guidance SPD, adopted 15 June 2026
- Barnet SPD Part 4: residential extensions and alterations
Access and site planning
Plan how materials and waste will move between the street and the room, and how shared entrances will be protected. Barnet requires a highways licence wherever works use or infringe upon the public highway or footway, such as scaffold or hoarding. Only registered skip companies are licensed to place skips on the highway, and a skip licence needs an approved bay suspension first, so apply well in advance and check the current notice period.
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Consultation
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Completed renovation project examples
