House renovation
& refurbishment
in Hampstead Garden Suburb, NW11
Architects, Engineers & Builders Under One Roof.
One Studio. One Contract. One Team.
Hampstead Chartered Surveyors & Building ConsultancyRefurbishing a Suburb house means two lists from the first visit: the rooms you can change freely, and the windows, pipes, flues and garden work that need the Trust's consent. We survey, design and build to both.
Inside a freehold Suburb house, the Hampstead Garden Suburb Trust does not control interior work; loft and garage conversions are the exceptions, because they almost always show on the outside. Once a refurbishment touches the envelope, the Trust's consent is needed for any external change, and that consent is separate from planning permission from Barnet.
So we draw a line through every house brief at the start: the rooms, services and finishes that can be renewed freely on one side, and the windows, pipes, flues, vents and garden changes that need consent on the other.
Source: Hampstead Garden Suburb Trust: Planning FAQs
Where the Trust's Control Stops Inside the House
Freehold owners can re-plan bedrooms, rebuild a kitchen or rewire without asking the Trust. The guidance adds a warning that applies to almost every refurbishment: an internal change can still need new outside pipework, a flue or a vent, and each of those needs the Trust's consent.
Leasehold houses are different. The Trust wants to hear about internal work where it owns the freehold, and the joint design guidance extends its consent to inside work wherever a lease clause says so.
A listed house moves the line again: freehold or leasehold, Barnet must grant Listed Building Consent before its interior is altered, and the controls cover any work, inside or out, that touches what makes the building special.
Our first visit records tenure, listing and every part of the house the refurbishment would touch from outside, so the consent route is settled before design begins.
Sources: Hampstead Garden Suburb Trust: Planning FAQs, Hampstead Garden Suburb Trust and Barnet Council: Conservation Area Design Guidance (2010)
Pipes, Flues and Vents in the Services Brief
Renewing heating, hot water and ventilation means each new outlet has to leave the house somewhere, and every outside pipe, new or altered, is a consent matter for both the Trust and Barnet. Good internal planning keeps those runs short.
Gutters, downpipes and stacks that are renewed go back in cast iron unless the case is exceptional. A balanced flue has to be small and unobtrusive, its position fixed early and marked on all the drawings.
The Trust's retrofit guidance repeats the point for boilers: check any external flue with the Trust before it goes in, and put the boiler where its flue will be least visible.
We draw the service routes before the room layouts are fixed. A riser boxed into a cupboard asks far less of the consent process than a new pipe across a roughcast wall.
Sources: Hampstead Garden Suburb Trust and Barnet Council: Conservation Area Design Guidance (2010), Hampstead Garden Suburb Trust: Home Retrofit Guidance
Matching Brick, Roughcast and Clay Tiles
The guidance starts from the house's own materials: repair original windows and doors rather than replace them, copy the details on any new work, build in matching brick or render and re-roof in matching tiles.
Its description of the Suburb's palette is precise: red, purple and brown stock brick, roughcast, handmade red clay plain tiles and hedges rather than walls or fences at the boundary.
Samples come before work. A roughcast repair needs a sample inspected before approval, and brick samples must be approved before work starts, with the original bonding and pointing copied.
Re-roofing follows the same rule. Suburb roofs are mostly steep, pitched at around 45 to 55 degrees and covered in handmade clay plain tiles; replacements must match them, and concrete tiles will be refused.
Source: Hampstead Garden Suburb Trust and Barnet Council: Conservation Area Design Guidance (2010)
Insulation, Glazing and Heating in a Suburb House
The Trust's retrofit guidance separates the upgrades it controls from those it does not. Draught-proofing, internal secondary glazing, internal wall insulation and underfloor heating need no Trust consent; window replacement, heat pumps, air conditioning, loft and roof insulation, boiler flues and ventilation systems do.
External wall insulation is very unlikely to be approved on Suburb homes, and insulating on top of the rafters, which would lift the roof line, is unlikely to be acceptable.
For a listed house the Trust warns that floor and internal wall insulation can harm the building's special interest, and that Listed Building Consent from Barnet is needed.
We fold these choices into the refurbishment programme, so a floor lifted for new pipework is insulated while it is open rather than disturbed twice.
Source: Hampstead Garden Suburb Trust: Home Retrofit Guidance
Provisional Consent, Conditions and Final Consent
The Trust issues consent in two stages. Provisional Consent carries conditions, some of which must be discharged before a particular part of the work begins, and Final Consent follows an inspection of the finished house.
Provisional Consent lasts three years from the consent letter. Consent is not treated as given until Final Consent is issued, and the Trust says selling without it may be difficult.
The Trust does not check building work itself, but it encourages contractors and site managers to talk to its staff while a project is running.
We keep a condition schedule from the first day on site, logging each sample, drawing and inspection against the condition it discharges.
Source: Hampstead Garden Suburb Trust: Planning FAQs
Hampstead Garden Suburb · In progress
Current house refurbishment work in the Suburb
Full house refurbishments at Wildwood Road and Meadway are currently in progress.
What a house refurbishment in the Suburb includes
The work can cover new layouts and structural changes, rewiring, heating and hot water, plumbing for one or more bathrooms, a new kitchen, insulation and repairs, joinery and decoration.
What to settle early in a Suburb house. Make a schedule of the doors, stairs and windows to keep, repair or replace. The Trust says interior work in a freehold house does not need its consent, except loft and garage conversions. For repairs and upgrades, its technical guides cover rooflights, roughcast, brick pointing and wall insulation.
Budget. Guide rates per square metre and a typical programme are set out below. Allow separately for surveys, design fees, Trust and planning application fees, and VAT.
For a quotation: existing Trust or Barnet consents, plans or surveys, the rooms to change, and whether you will live in the house during the work.
Local guidance for houses in the Suburb
On our Hampstead Garden Suburb hub: Trust consent, Barnet planning and Building Regulations, building a budget and common questions. From the Trust: its planning FAQs, its design guidance, written jointly with Barnet, and its technical guides. Our guide to the Suburb's conservation area explains the Article 4 Direction. For a leasehold house, see LEASE on alterations.
House projects in and near the Suburb
Questions about refurbishing a Suburb house
Do I need the Trust's consent to refurbish the inside of my house?
Not for a freehold house, unless the work includes a loft or garage conversion or changes the outside, for example with new pipework, flues or vents. Where the Trust is your freeholder, or the house is listed, internal work is controlled too.
Can I replace my windows like for like without applying?
No. The Trust says a like-for-like window change still needs a formal application, because what counts as like for like differs from person to person; such applications can be decided by Trust staff under delegated powers.
Is planning permission from Barnet needed as well as Trust consent?
Often. They are separate applications, and the Suburb's Article 4 Direction takes away permitted development rights, so outside alterations may need Barnet's planning permission as well.
What happens to unsympathetic changes made by earlier owners?
They do not set the standard. The guidance says past insensitive changes are no reason for more, and the Trust may ask for them to be removed, or for lost original detail to be put back, as a condition of consent.
Where can I find the original drawings of my house?
The Trust says original drawings of Suburb buildings are often available from the Hampstead Garden Suburb Archive, held at the London Archives.
What does a house refurbishment in Hampstead Garden Suburb cost?
A house in the Suburb is costed around the Trust's consent and the house itself. Approval from the Hampstead Garden Suburb Trust for external work, any listing, the structure behind a new opening, services in an older house, and access on quiet residential roads shape the scope. We go through these on a feasibility visit, agree a scope and specification, and send a written quotation.
Sources: Hampstead Garden Suburb Trust: Planning FAQs, Hampstead Garden Suburb Trust and Barnet Council: Conservation Area Design Guidance (2010), Hampstead Garden Suburb Trust: Technical Guides
More Services in Hampstead Garden Suburb
Book a feasibility visit
We go round the house with you, mark which changes would show outside and so need the Trust's consent, and set out what looks feasible and an early budget. There is no fee for the visit.
About your Suburb house
Tell us the street and what you want to change; drawings can follow.