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Harrow on the Hill HA1 · Flat refurbishment

Flat refurbishment in Harrow on the Hill

Later blocks, flats over shops and houses divided long ago

Flats on the Hill sit in very different buildings: large blocks put up in the mid to late 20th century where big houses once stood, a building with two floors of flats above its shops, maisonettes, and substantial buildings divided into flats. This page sets out what Harrow’s 2008 documents record about each, where the Council resists creating more flats, and who must agree before you change the one you own.

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Serving Harrow on the Hill from our Hampstead studio · NW3 6DN
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Flat refurbishment in Harrow on the Hill at a glance

For a flat on the Hill, start with the kind of building it is in, because the 2008 records describe several. Sudbury Hill has large blocks such as Edward Court, Wendela Court, Gooden Court and Chasewood Park. At Roxeth Corner, Dublin Court has shops below two floors of flats, and Roxeth Hill also has a small group of maisonettes on Byron Hill Road. In the Village, the 2008 management strategy notes that flats, like commercial properties, have restricted permitted development rights. Each kind of building brings its own questions about neighbours, shared parts and the outside walls.

Harrow: Sudbury Hill Conservation Area Appraisal, adopted May 2008 (PDF) · Harrow: Roxeth Hill Conservation Area Appraisal, adopted May 2008 (PDF) · Harrow: Harrow on the Hill Village Management Strategy and design guide, adopted May 2008 (PDF)

For the whole area, including conservation areas, permissions and working hours, read our Harrow on the Hill renovation guide.

Approved guide prices

What does a flat refurbishment cost in Harrow on the Hill?

A flat refurbishment in Harrow on the Hill runs £900–£1,700/sqm excluding VAT, and a full two-bedroom refurbishment typically lands between £60,000 and £110,000. Most programmes take 16–32 weeks on site. A written scope and site assessment are needed before any project price can be fixed.

Scope of workGuide rateTypical total
Full flat refurbishment (2-bed)£900–£1,700/sqm£60,000–£110,000
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

The blocks, conversions and flats over shops on record

Harrow’s 2008 appraisals for Sudbury Hill, Roxeth Hill and Harrow Park describe some of the buildings that hold the Hill’s flats, and the Mount Park strategy records where conversion has pressed on older houses.

The Sudbury Hill appraisal says that in the mid to late 20th century development there came mainly as large blocks of flats on the sites of larger older houses, since demolished. It gives Edward Court, Wendela Court, on the site of Wendela, and Gooden Court, on the site of Gooden House, as examples, with the Chasewood Park flats on the site of the Sudbury Grove Estate. Harrow’s 2022 Sudbury Hill schedule lists all four, with Gooden Court entered under the street South Hill Avenue. Check your block’s address on Harrow’s conservation area search.

Harrow: Sudbury Hill Conservation Area Appraisal, adopted May 2008 (PDF) · Harrow: Sudbury Hill Conservation Area schedule of properties (PDF created 20 May 2022) · Harrow: conservation areas and Article 4

Roxeth Hill is largely single-family houses, its appraisal says, with a small group of maisonettes along Byron Hill Road and a small number of houses converted to flats. Former small shops towards Roxeth Corner became residential properties, and shopfront remains can still be seen on lower Middle Road. At the entrance to the area on Northolt Road, Dublin Court has ground-floor shops topped by two floors of flats. The 2008 strategy proposed leaving Dublin Court and Kymes Court out of the conservation area, yet Harrow’s 2022 schedule still lists both.

Harrow: Roxeth Hill Conservation Area Appraisal, adopted May 2008 (PDF) · Harrow: Roxeth Hill Conservation Area Management Strategy, adopted May 2008 (PDF) · Harrow: Roxeth Hill Conservation Area schedule of properties (PDF created 20 May 2022)

In Harrow Park, the 2008 appraisal says many of the larger properties and associated buildings on the road Harrow Park are used as accommodation for Harrow School masters and other employees, while Julian Hill is mostly in private residential use. On the Mount Park Estate, the strategy lists among the pressures throughout the area alterations to the historic architectural core of its large buildings to turn them into flats.

Harrow: Harrow Park Conservation Area Appraisal, adopted May 2008 (PDF) · Harrow: Mount Park Estate Management Strategy, adopted May 2008 (PDF)

Permissions and local rules

Conversions, the High Street parade and the outside of a block

Where Harrow resists more flats

Can a house on the Hill be divided into flats?

Several 2008 strategies resist it. Mount Park’s says the Council will continue to resist applications to change single-family dwellings into flats, and applications for new blocks of flats. Roxborough Park and The Grove’s records flat conversions as a pressure on Roxborough Park and Whitehall Road, where applications to convert single-family houses will be resisted. South Hill Avenue’s finds the modern blocks at the eastern edge of the avenue incongruous with an area of family homes, and says flats should not be allowed to extend any further into the area.

Harrow: Mount Park Estate Management Strategy, adopted May 2008 (PDF) · Harrow: Roxborough Park and The Grove Conservation Area Management Strategy, adopted May 2008 (PDF) · Harrow: South Hill Avenue Conservation Area Management Strategy, adopted May 2008 (PDF)

One High Street conversion, and how rooms stack

What did officers weigh when a High Street house was proposed for flats?

In one 2021 case, under the policies then in force, officers recommended permission to turn a house on the High Street into three flats with a rear extension. The conservation officer said the change would cause some loss of the building’s original character, and the recommended conditions required new windows in white-painted timber reflecting the originals. Officers found the stacking good in part, with some overlap of bedrooms with kitchen and living spaces between floors. For conversions, Harrow’s 2010 guide asks that bedrooms do not overlap living rooms, kitchens and bathrooms on other floors.

Harrow: Planning and Developments, with the link to search Harrow’s planning register · Harrow: Residential Design Guide Supplementary Planning Document, adopted 15 December 2010 (PDF, file 23276)

The High Street as a parade

What does the Local Plan say about homes in a parade such as the High Street?

Harrow’s 2008 SPD calls the High Street, particularly around The Green, the Hill’s commercial core, and notes pressure for bars and restaurants to open later, which it says conflicts with the residential nature of the area. The adopted Local Plan lists High Street, Harrow-on-the-Hill, as a Neighbourhood Parade. Its policy LE1 accepts providing access to homes in a parade only where the resulting loss of active frontage or floorspace is carefully managed, and where homes and shops share a scheme it looks for clearly separate entrances and servicing, bin and cycle stores included.

Harrow on the Hill Conservation Areas Supplementary Planning Document, adopted May 2008 (PDF) · Harrow Local Plan 2021–2041, the adopted plan (PDF)

Satellite dishes on a block or a divided house

Where can a dish go on a building of flats?

Harrow Park’s 2008 strategy lists satellite dishes added on the road Harrow Park as a negative feature, with the action to consult owners and consider enforcement. For new residential development, Harrow’s 2010 design guide requires buildings intended for multiple occupation to provide for communal satellite equipment, and in other cases expects a dish of standard size, positioned discreetly, such as on a non-exposed rear elevation, and removed as soon as it becomes obsolete.

Harrow: Harrow Park Conservation Area Management Strategy, adopted May 2008 (PDF) · Harrow: Residential Design Guide Supplementary Planning Document, adopted 15 December 2010 (PDF, file 23276)

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

What the work covers

The work inside a Hill flat refurbishment

Rooms over and under your neighbours

Before any wall moves, the scope maps what lies above, below and beside each room, so that a bedroom does not end up under a neighbour’s kitchen or over their living room. A small section of floor is lifted first to show whether it is timber or concrete, and the floor and ceiling build-up is then designed for sound wherever hard flooring replaces carpet.

Pipes, stacks and the shared parts

Every pipe, stack, flue and cable that also serves another home is identified and left undisturbed unless the freeholder or managing agent agrees otherwise, and the stopcock and consumer unit are found before work starts. Protection for shared halls and stairs, how deliveries arrive and waste leaves, and the hours the common parts may be used are agreed with them in writing.

Windows, the entrance door and the outside walls

Replacement windows, a new flue or vent, a satellite dish and the flat’s entrance door onto a shared landing are agreed with the freeholder first, then checked for planning permission, listed building consent where it applies, and the Building Regulations. Where original windows survive, the scope records their condition so that repair is priced before replacement.

How we work

How we run a Harrow on the Hill flat refurbishment

  1. First visit

    We see the flat, then the entrance, stairs or lift that serve it.

  2. Lease and consents

    We go through the lease’s consent requirements with you and the managing agent at the start.

  3. Survey and design

    Drainage and services are traced on site. Our own architects and structural engineers design the layout and any structural change around those routes, and any new external vent or window is checked for planning.

  4. Price and contract

    A fixed written price and a JCT contract follow the survey, scope and specification. The price names its allowances and exclusions, with consent fees and any common-parts work shown separately.

  5. Working in the building

    Common parts are protected and their condition recorded; deliveries keep to the building’s rules, and noisy work to those rules and the council’s permitted hours; key decisions go to a director.

  6. Handover

    Commissioning, drawings, certificates and any managing-agent close-out. Completed work carries a 12-month defects-rectification period under the JCT contract terms.

Real projects, clearly located

Examples of our flat refurbishment work elsewhere in London

None of these projects is in Harrow on the Hill. 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. Name the building and who owns it

    Tell us the building’s name, whether it is a purpose-built block, a house divided into flats or a home above shops, and the name of the freeholder or managing agent. If you, or a previous owner, bought it from Harrow Council, say so, because the council then has its own permission process.

  2. Send the lease and the building’s rules

    Send a copy of the lease, or the clauses on alterations and repairs, any building rules on works and noise, and consent letters for earlier changes. If you are thinking of dividing a house or adding a flat rather than refitting one, tell us at the start, because that is a planning question first.

  3. Mark the rooms and what surrounds them

    List the rooms that change and what is above, below and beside each one. Note original windows, fireplaces or joinery, any dish or pipe on the outside wall, and whether Harrow’s conservation area search places the address in a conservation area, so that every consent is listed before design starts.

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

Flat refurbishment in Harrow on the Hill: questions

What if I bought my flat from Harrow Council?

Then these rules apply to you; they do not apply to privately owned blocks. Harrow says a council leaseholder does not own the land beneath the property, and that written permission from its Housing department is needed before any change is made. It will not let leaseholders buy the loft space and extend into it, and it does not permit ground-floor extensions on its estates. Its permission does not replace planning permission or building control, which some alterations also need and which you apply and pay for yourself.

Harrow Council: leaseholders of council flats and maisonettes · Harrow Council: home alterations permission for leaseholders

Are Dublin Court and Kymes Court in a conservation area?

Harrow’s 2008 Roxeth Hill strategy described three adjacent buildings on Roxeth Corner, Kymes Court, Dublin Court and the then recent block of flats on Waldrons Yard, as being in a plain, block design, and proposed altering the boundary accordingly. The Council’s current Roxeth Hill schedule, from 2022, still lists Kymes Court and Dublin Court. So check the address on Harrow’s conservation area search, and work from the schedule rather than the 2008 proposal.

Harrow: Roxeth Hill Conservation Area Management Strategy, adopted May 2008 (PDF) · Harrow: Roxeth Hill Conservation Area schedule of properties (PDF created 20 May 2022) · Harrow: conservation areas and Article 4

What does Harrow expect when a house is divided into flats?

Beyond the plan’s size and location tests, where the rear garden is divided it wants bins in each flat’s own garden area with a route to wheel them to the forecourt, or, where that cannot be done, as with terraced houses, requires enough space and screening on the forecourt. Cycle storage should go at the rear or side, not the front garden, and the forecourt must gain soft landscaping. Harrow’s 2010 guide adds that new windows, doors or porches should reflect the local character, and that excessive extensions to create additional flats will be unacceptable.

Harrow Local Plan 2021–2041, the adopted plan (PDF) · Harrow: Residential Design Guide Supplementary Planning Document, adopted 15 December 2010 (PDF, file 23276)

Does refitting an existing flat count as a conversion?

No. Refitting the kitchen, bathroom or rooms of a flat that already exists is not dividing a house, and the strategies’ resistance is aimed at new conversions and new blocks. For a refit, what matters is the lease, any freeholder consent, the Building Regulations and, in a listed building, listed building consent. Moving a kitchen or bathroom over a neighbour’s bedroom, or creating a new flat in the roof, is a different matter and should be raised early.

Why are the outside controls on my flat stricter than I expected?

Harrow’s 2008 SPD says minor alterations to homes, such as replacement windows and doors, boundary treatments and extensions, can cumulatively detract severely from the Hill’s conservation areas if done poorly. It says greater awareness of what needs planning permission is particularly relevant for blocks of flats, where individual owners may not be aware of how strict planning controls are. Before ordering windows or fixing anything to the outside, ask the freeholder and Harrow which consents your address needs.

Harrow on the Hill Conservation Areas Supplementary Planning Document, adopted May 2008 (PDF)

How much does a flat refurbishment cost in Harrow on the Hill?

Guide rates in Harrow on the Hill are £900–£1,700/sqm excluding VAT, with a full two-bedroom refurbishment typically between £60,000 and £110,000, over a 16–32 weeks programme. A written scope and site assessment come before any fixed price.

Book a free feasibility visit

Talk to us about your Harrow on the Hill flat

Tell us the address and what you want to change in your Harrow on the Hill flat. We reply within one working day, Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm.

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

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