Flat
refurbishment
in Hampstead Garden Suburb, NW11
Architects, Engineers & Builders Under One Roof.
One Studio. One Contract. One Team.
Hampstead Chartered Surveyors & Building ConsultancyA Suburb flat refurbishment starts with the lease and the building: who must agree to new windows, floors and pipework, and which neighbours share the walls. We plan the rooms once those answers are on paper.
Suburb flats sit inside buildings whose outside is protected twice: by Barnet, which designated the conservation area in 1968, and by the Trust's Scheme of Management, which since 17 January 1974 has required freeholders to obtain its approval before changing the external appearance of their property.
For a flat owner the practical result is a chain of permissions: the lease, the freeholder or block manager, the Trust and Barnet, each answering for its own part of the building.
Source: Hampstead Garden Suburb Trust and Barnet Council: Conservation Area Design Guidance (2010)
Reading the Lease Before Drawing a Flat
The joint guidance says leaseholders need Trust consent for internal as well as external alterations wherever the lease controls them, and where the Trust is itself the freeholder it asks to be contacted about internal work.
LEASE states the general position: depending on its terms, a lease may require the landlord's permission before any alteration, even when planning permission or building regulations approval is already in place.
Flooring is a frequent trap. LEASE gives the example of a clause requiring carpeted floors, which could rule out wooden or laminate boards.
We ask for the lease and any earlier licences at the first meeting, then set out the alterations in the order the landlord will want to read them.
Sources: Hampstead Garden Suburb Trust and Barnet Council: Conservation Area Design Guidance (2010), Hampstead Garden Suburb Trust: Planning FAQs, LEASE: alterations and home improvements
Windows in a Block of Flats: Who Decides
The Trust tells people living in a block of flats that they may need the block manager's or landlord's permission to replace windows. Replacement also needs planning permission from Barnet, and an upgrade that changes a window's appearance, including altering it for double glazing, needs Trust consent.
Where double glazing is approved, the units the Trust accepts are typically no deeper than 16mm; double-glazed uPVC windows are not acceptable on any Suburb house.
Internal secondary glazing needs no Trust consent, which often makes it the simpler route in a flat.
Sources: Hampstead Garden Suburb Trust: Supplementary Guidance on Timber Windows, Hampstead Garden Suburb Trust: Home Retrofit Guidance
Floors, Walls and the Flats Around You
GOV.UK says neighbours must be told before work on an existing party wall or party structure, or before building on or at the boundary.
If the owners cannot agree, a surveyor must be appointed, jointly or one each, to set out in writing the work, how and when it is done and who pays; an owner cannot act as their own surveyor.
In a building the Trust leases out, structural work inside needs its consent too, and Barnet's building regulations approval covers any structural alteration.
We plan stripping-out and structural work around the people above and below, and agree how materials pass through the common parts before work starts.
Sources: GOV.UK: Party walls and building work, Hampstead Garden Suburb Trust and Barnet Council: Conservation Area Design Guidance (2010)
New Kitchens and Bathrooms Without New Clutter Outside
A flat refurbishment often moves a kitchen or adds a bathroom. Any outside pipework, flue or vent that follows needs Trust consent, so the layout should keep extra soil and waste runs within the flat wherever it can.
Extraction from a kitchen or shower room needs an outlet, and the Trust wants the position of any outside vent settled with it before the fan goes in.
Leaseholders may also need consent for internal retrofit alterations, so insulation and heating upgrades belong on the same permission list.
Sources: Hampstead Garden Suburb Trust: Planning FAQs, Hampstead Garden Suburb Trust and Barnet Council: Conservation Area Design Guidance (2010), Hampstead Garden Suburb Trust: Home Retrofit Guidance
Flats in Listed Suburb Buildings
Around 500 Suburb buildings are individually listed, and Lutyens' buildings around Central Square include Grade I listed churches.
In a listed building, the Trust says Listed Building Consent from Barnet is needed for internal changes whatever the tenure, and the joint guidance asks for interior plans and features of interest to be left unaltered as far as possible.
Where a flat is in a listed block, we photograph and record surviving joinery, plasterwork and the plan form before proposing any change to them.
Sources: Hampstead Garden Suburb Trust - Your Property, Barnet Council - Hampstead Garden Suburb Conservation Area, Area 1 (Central Square) Character Appraisal, Hampstead Garden Suburb Trust: Planning FAQs, Hampstead Garden Suburb Trust and Barnet Council: Conservation Area Design Guidance (2010)
What a flat refurbishment in the Suburb includes
Within the flat, the work can cover the layout and any structural change, electrics, heating and plumbing, a kitchen and bathrooms, floors with sound insulation, fire-stopping and fitted joinery.
Decisions for a Suburb flat. Find out early whether a new bathroom or kitchen needs an outlet through an outside wall, because that becomes a question for the Trust. Agree with the managing agent or landlord how shared pipes and risers may be altered. Plan where vans can stop: the Trust says most Suburb roads are owned and maintained by Barnet, while some smaller roads are the Trust's.
Budget. See the cost section below for the guide rate and a two-bedroom example; consent fees, any work to shared parts and VAT are extra.
To prepare a quotation: your floor, who the freeholder is, the lease's alterations clause, drawings if you have them, and the changes you want.
Local guidance for flats in the Suburb
The Trust's planning FAQs cover internal alterations where it is the freeholder, and its property pages explain the Scheme of Management. For the lease, see LEASE's guidance on alterations and home improvements. Our Suburb hub sets out the Trust, Barnet and Building Regulations checks, and our conservation area guide explains the Article 4 Direction.
Flat renovations we have completed nearby
Three completed flat renovations in Hampstead, NW3, and a mansion flat in St John's Wood, NW8.
Questions about refurbishing a Suburb flat
Will the Trust need to approve the refurbishment of my flat?
It depends on the lease. Leaseholders need Trust consent for internal work wherever the lease controls it, and where the Trust is the freeholder it asks to be contacted about internal alterations. Any change to the outside needs its consent.
Can I replace the windows of my flat?
Possibly, with several permissions: the Trust's consent, planning permission from Barnet and, the Trust notes, perhaps the block manager's or landlord's permission.
Is secondary glazing allowed in a Suburb flat?
Internal secondary glazing does not need Trust consent; the lease may still require the landlord's permission.
Can I lay wooden floors in my flat?
Check the lease first. LEASE warns that a clause requiring carpeted floors could prevent wooden or laminate flooring.
Who checks the work while it is going on?
Not the Trust, which says monitoring building work is not its responsibility, although it encourages contractors to speak to its staff during a project. Building regulations approval from Barnet is a separate check for structural alterations.
What does a flat refurbishment in Hampstead Garden Suburb cost?
A Suburb flat's cost depends on the lease and the managing agent as much as the rooms. Consent for alterations, any Trust approval, floor and party wall matters in a block of flats, and routes for extract and services all shape the scope. A feasibility visit confirms them for your flat; after a scope and specification are agreed you receive a written quotation.
Sources: Hampstead Garden Suburb Trust and Barnet Council: Conservation Area Design Guidance (2010), Hampstead Garden Suburb Trust: Planning FAQs, Hampstead Garden Suburb Trust: Supplementary Guidance on Timber Windows, Hampstead Garden Suburb Trust: Home Retrofit Guidance, LEASE: alterations and home improvements
Sources
- Hampstead Garden Suburb Trust and Barnet Council: Conservation Area Design Guidance (2010)
- Hampstead Garden Suburb Trust: Planning FAQs
- LEASE: alterations and home improvements
- Hampstead Garden Suburb Trust: Supplementary Guidance on Timber Windows
- Hampstead Garden Suburb Trust: Home Retrofit Guidance
- GOV.UK: Party walls and building work
- Hampstead Garden Suburb Trust - Your Property
- Barnet Council - Hampstead Garden Suburb Conservation Area, Area 1 (Central Square) Character Appraisal
Guides & Local Reading
More Services in Hampstead Garden Suburb
Book a feasibility visit
We look at the flat and its building, go through the lease and, if the Trust is your freeholder, what it will want to see, then discuss what is possible and a rough budget.
About your flat in the Suburb
Your floor, the rooms to change, and who the freeholder is.