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Hatch End HA5 · Flat refurbishment

Flat refurbishment in Hatch End

Post-war blocks, centre homes and proposals for extra storeys

Harrow’s 2011 assessment and its planning reports describe a number of Hatch End’s blocks one by one: brick blocks of the 1970s and 1980s at Westfield Park, the Dove Park towers and newer homes in the Uxbridge Road centre. Below you can see which your flat resembles, what officers recommended when extra storeys were proposed on three blocks, and what Harrow asks when a house is divided into flats.

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Serving Hatch End from our Hampstead studio · NW3 6DN
020 7101 3168

Start here

Flat refurbishment in Hatch End at a glance

For a Hatch End flat, begin with the block and the roof above it. Harrow’s records name several purpose-built blocks here, from the 1960s tower blocks at Dove Park to the 1970s and 1980s blocks of Westfield Park. In 2021 its officers recommended allowing an extra storey of flats on three other blocks, Cornwall Court, Devonshire Court and Alden Mead. Each was one recommendation for one building, but together they show that the space over a top-floor flat may be the subject of someone else’s proposal, so read what the lease says about the roof before designing.

Harrow: Character Assessment of Harrow’s Residential Areas, 2011 (PDF) · Harrow: Planning and Developments, with the link to search Harrow’s planning register

For the whole area, including conservation areas, permissions and working hours, read our Hatch End renovation guide.

Approved guide prices

What does a flat refurbishment cost in Hatch End?

A flat refurbishment in Hatch End 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

Blocks, closes and centre homes in Harrow’s account of Hatch End

Harrow’s 2011 Character Assessment describes several Hatch End blocks by name or street, a number of them built where villas once stood. These are 2011 descriptions, so check your own block as it is now.

By 1896 Westfield Park had been laid out with detached and semi-detached villas in spacious grounds around St Anselm’s Church. Harrow records that the area, with closes such as Oakdene Close, Elm Hatch and Thorndyke Court, was mainly redeveloped in the 1970s and 1980s as brick blocks of flats and terraced houses: four storeys facing Uxbridge Road and two or three elsewhere, with parking in rear courts. Some earlier detached houses remain at the north end, and many mature trees keep the area spacious and green.

Harrow: Character Assessment of Harrow’s Residential Areas, 2011 (PDF)

Harrow says post-war blocks of flats in open parkland settings, built where large sites were redeveloped, are found mainly in the borough’s central north, Hatch End among the places named. At Dove Park, on the site of the Victorian villas Dove House and New Dove House, it records a 1950s and 1960s development of two brick ‘H’-shaped tower blocks with flat roofs and balconies, landmarks visible from the surrounding area, and three-storey pitched-roof blocks in contrasting brick. Lonsdale Close, off Uxbridge Road, has two 1960s three-storey flat-roofed blocks in brick with white panelling and communal gardens behind: check the address.

Harrow: Character Assessment of Harrow’s Residential Areas, 2011 (PDF)

Harrow recorded a 1980s or 1990s block of two and three storeys at the junction of Woodridings Close and Uxbridge Road: check the address. In the local centre it noted a four-storey block with shops below on the site of the former Railway Hotel, which brought in an element of modern design, and, less successfully in its view, a corner building at the junction with Grimsdyke Road converted and developed into a substantial red-brick block with large dormers. Harrow’s 2009 Pinner conservation areas guidance called Hatch End instantly recognisable as an area for eating out, where restaurants seem to predominate.

Harrow: Character Assessment of Harrow’s Residential Areas, 2011 (PDF) · Harrow: Pinner Conservation Areas Supplementary Planning Document, adopted December 2009 (PDF)

Permissions and local rules

Extra storeys, conversions and consents for a Hatch End flat

An extra storey on Cornwall Court

What did officers recommend there?

In 2021 Cornwall Court was a three-storey block of 12 flats on Cornwall Road, with garages, parking and a communal garden behind. That February Harrow’s officers recommended granting prior approval for one more storey of four flats, to 13.6 m overall, finding it within the national permitted development right for new homes on a detached block of flats (Schedule 2, Part 20, Class A of the 2015 Order). Because some rooms of different kinds would overlap between floors, they recommended a noise impact assessment condition. It was one block’s recommendation, not a rule for others.

Harrow: Planning and Developments, with the link to search Harrow’s planning register

Devonshire Court and Alden Mead

Which other blocks were considered for an extra floor?

In June 2021 officers recommended permission for an extra storey of three flats on Devonshire Court, a detached block on Devonshire Road, taking it to 14.68 m, with a noise assessment condition. The report records that a 2018 scheme of front and rear dormers for two roof flats was refused in March 2019, partly because it would be out of character with the established pattern of development within the estate, and that the appeal was dismissed. In October 2021 officers recommended a third floor of two one-bedroom flats on Alden Mead, a 1960s block of six on The Avenue.

Harrow: Planning and Developments, with the link to search Harrow’s planning register

Dividing a house into flats

What does Harrow expect of a conversion?

Harrow’s adopted plan treats the outside of a conversion in detail. Once the rear garden is split into private gardens, each flat’s bins belong in its own garden with a wheeling route to the forecourt; where that is impossible, as with terraces, the forecourt must have room and screening. Bikes belong at the back or side, not the front, save in exceptional cases, and planting on the forecourt must increase even where it is mostly hard-surfaced. The 2010 guide wants new windows, doors and porches to reflect the prevailing local character, and rules out excessive extensions built to add flats.

Harrow Local Plan 2021–2041, the adopted plan (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 Hatch End guide. Local guidance checked ; requirements depend on the address, the building and the complete proposal.

What the work covers

The work inside a Hatch End flat, in three parts

Floors and the home below

A change from carpet to timber or tile, or a kitchen or bathroom in a new place, alters what the home below hears. The scope specifies the new floor build-up, its acoustic layer and, where it can be reached, the ceiling beneath, and the freeholder sees the detail before finishes are fixed. In a purpose-built block the screed and anything buried in it are checked first; in a converted house, a few boards come up so the design follows the joists actually found.

The roof, risers and shared services

For a top-floor flat, the scope records the roof above, who repairs it and whether the freeholder has proposed building on it, since that can change access, scaffolding and the timing of your own work. Pipes, risers, flues and cables that serve other flats are traced and labelled with the stopcock and consumer unit, and nothing shared is moved without the freeholder’s written agreement.

Windows, balconies and the face of the block

Purpose-built blocks were often designed with matching windows, balconies and panels across each elevation, so a new window is agreed in writing with the freeholder or the managing agent to keep that pattern, and its planning position is checked before anything is ordered. Balcony doors, railings and any new vent on the outside are handled the same way, while window boards, reveals and trickle ventilation are designed with the frame.

How we work

How we run a Hatch End 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 Hatch End. 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 block and its freeholder

    Give the block’s name and street, the floor your flat is on, who owns the freehold and who manages the block. Tell us if it was once a council flat, and send the lease or, at the least, the parts of it that deal with alterations, the roof and the shared areas.

  2. Say what surrounds the flat

    Describe what is above, below and beside the flat: another flat, a roof, a shop, a garage court or a communal garden. Note any leaks, noise or draughts you already notice, and whether neighbours have recently done similar work, so the scope can allow for them.

  3. Send any notices about the building

    If the freeholder has written to leaseholders about planned works, an extra storey, roof repairs or new windows, send those letters. Add any planning notices you have seen for the block, and the managing agent’s rules on working hours, deliveries and the use of lifts and stairs.

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 Hatch End: questions

Do leaseholders’ rights count when a freeholder applies to build on the roof?

Not in the planning decision itself, on the officers’ view in one Hatch End case. When objectors to the Cornwall Court proposal raised leaseholders’ rights, officers acknowledged the points in February 2021 but said such matters were not for consideration in prior approval or planning applications, because they fall outside planning law. What a freeholder may do to the roof, and the notice, access and disruption you must accept, turn on the lease, so ask a solicitor to read its clauses on the roof and the space above it.

Harrow: Planning and Developments, with the link to search Harrow’s planning register

What is planned for the telephone exchange on Uxbridge Road?

Harrow’s adopted Local Plan allocates the Hatch End telephone exchange, inside the local centre, for residential-led redevelopment once it is no longer needed as an exchange, with a minimum capacity of 48 homes. It adds that an upward extension may be possible if done sensitively to the building’s frontage and its surroundings, and its planning considerations include flood zone and critical drainage area. An allocation sets out what the plan expects, not what has been approved, so ask Harrow for the current position if your flat is nearby.

Harrow Local Plan 2021–2041, the adopted plan (PDF)

My flat was once a council flat. Whose permission comes first?

Harrow’s leaseholder rules cover only Harrow Council flats and maisonettes that have been sold, whether to the tenant under Right to Buy or on to a later buyer. You do not own the land it sits on, the council still maintains the estate’s structure and communal areas, and its Housing department must give written permission before you change anything. Buying the loft space to extend into it is refused, as are ground-floor extensions on its estates. In a privately owned block, the lease and freeholder set the rules instead.

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

Do the higher-risk building rules apply to my block?

Only if the block meets the national test. While building work goes on in an existing building, it counts as higher-risk if it holds two or more homes and reaches 18 metres or seven storeys, and falls under the higher-risk regime overseen directly by the Building Safety Regulator. Harrow’s descriptions of the Dove Park towers and the committee reports on other Hatch End blocks do not settle that question for any building, so ask the freeholder or managing agent whether the test is met before work is planned.

GOV.UK: criteria for a higher-risk building during building work in an existing building

Can a ground-floor flat in a converted house keep a parking space?

Usually one at most. Harrow’s 2010 design guide says a converted house’s forecourt will usually have room for a single car space, normally allocated to the ground-floor flat; two or more spaces with minimal landscaping on a forecourt of conventional size are unacceptable, and so are high railings and gates. Agree the forecourt layout, with any space, bins and planting, before the flats themselves are planned.

Harrow: Residential Design Guide Supplementary Planning Document, adopted 15 December 2010 (PDF, file 23276)

What should I ask the managing agent before work starts?

Ask for the building’s rules on alterations, working hours, deliveries, protection of lifts and stairs and parking for trades, and who must approve drawings for floors, windows and services. Ask too whether major works, roof repairs or extra storeys are planned, and whether there is an asbestos record for the common parts, so that your own programme fits around the building’s.

How much does a flat refurbishment cost in Hatch End?

Guide rates in Hatch End 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 Hatch End flat

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

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

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