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Hendon NW4 · House refurbishment

House refurbishment in Hendon

Article 4 terraces, 18th-century cottages and Church End houses

A house refurbishment in Hendon starts with what Barnet’s 2012 appraisals say about your building. The Burroughs appraisal describes listed 18th-century houses with mansards and dormers and Victorian terraces with altered porches and windows, and recommended an updated Article 4 direction covering, among others, porches, solar equipment and heat pumps. The Church End appraisal describes weatherboard, clay tiles and lead canopies. Houses outside both areas, and on neither list, are judged against Barnet’s general extensions guidance where they need permission.

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

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House refurbishment in Hendon at a glance

On the locally listed Victorian terrace at Nos. 63–77 (odd) The Burroughs, Barnet’s 2012 appraisal found that some porches had been enclosed and that some houses had inserted uPVC windows, compromising the look of the group, while decorative brick dentils still ran under the soffit along it. Before any design starts, walk the terrace with the appraisal in hand and list what your house has lost and what it keeps. That list decides which original details the refurbishment should repair, copy from a neighbour or put back, and which later changes can stay.

Hendon The Burroughs Conservation Area character appraisal and management proposals, 16 November 2012 (PDF)

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

Approved guide prices

What does a house refurbishment cost in Hendon?

Cost in Hendon depends on depth of work. A cosmetic refurbishment that keeps the existing layout runs £650–£1,250/sqm (typically £90,000–£180,000), while a back-to-brick renovation runs £2,250–£3,250/sqm (typically £275,000–£475,000), excluding VAT. A written scope and site assessment are needed before any project price can be fixed.

Scope of workGuide rateTypical total
Cosmetic — existing layout retained£650–£1,250/sqm£90,000–£180,000
Back-to-brick renovation£2,250–£3,250/sqm£275,000–£475,000
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

Georgian, Victorian and village houses in Hendon’s two conservation areas

Barnet’s appraisals of 16 November 2012 describe many of the older houses in Hendon’s two conservation areas building by building. They record 2012, not today, so compare each detail they mention with what your house shows now.

At the southern end of The Burroughs, on its western side, the appraisal describes a listed Georgian group. Ivey House, No. 13, is faced in yellow brick, with a slated mansard roof and two round-headed dormers behind a low parapet, and the appraisal notes that No. 15’s porch is missing from the original scheme. Further north, the listed Nos. 47 and 55 form the two ends of a row of two-storey brick cottages, one window wide, with gables at each end, the western one stuccoed; Nos. 49 to 53, between them, are modern rebuilds.

Hendon The Burroughs Conservation Area character appraisal and management proposals, 16 November 2012 (PDF) · Planning Data (Historic England): Ivey House, The Burroughs, grade II, list entry 1294759

On the eastern side, the grade II cottages at Nos. 44–52 (even) show red window arches, red tiled roofs and dormers, and in 2012 kept their original glazing bars in most cases. The appraisal notes that lead is commonly used as flashing on roofs of houses in the conservation area, in particular on these cottages and Ivey House. Away from the main road, it finds the terraces reached off Burroughs Gardens quieter and more suburban in feel. Whichever terrace your house belongs to, compare it with its neighbours to see which of its details are original.

Hendon The Burroughs Conservation Area character appraisal and management proposals, 16 November 2012 (PDF) · Planning Data (Historic England): 44–52 The Burroughs NW4, grade II, list entry 1078865

At Church End the 2012 appraisal describes Welsh slate often paired with decorative clay ridge tiles, and lead used as flashing, over the brick dentils of the Daniel Almshouses and on canopies over bay windows. St Mary’s Cottage, behind the Meritage Club, has red brick below dark stained weatherboard, with a clay tiled hipped roof of granny bonnet tiles and oversailing eaves. Details such as these are easy to lose in a re-roofing, so record them before any covering comes off.

Hendon Church End Conservation Area character appraisal and management proposals, 16 November 2012 (PDF)

Permissions and local rules

Checks for a Hendon house before the design is fixed

Solar, heat pumps and porches at the Article 4 houses

Could The Burroughs direction reach new outside equipment?

Because the area’s houses are so alike, the 2012 appraisal of The Burroughs said Barnet would seek to update the 1987 Article 4 direction. Its list of classes included porches and, under the micro-generation rules of the time, solar PV or solar thermal equipment and ground and water source heat pumps. Read the order and its Planning Data record for your address before choosing a system. Barnet says a direction forbids nothing in itself: it means applying for works that would otherwise not need permission, and the application is judged like any other.

Hendon The Burroughs Conservation Area character appraisal and management proposals, 16 November 2012 (PDF) · Barnet: Article 4 direction for Hendon The Burroughs conservation area, A4D05 (partly scanned PDF) · Planning Data: Article 4 for Hendon The Burroughs CA, Area 1 · Barnet conservation areas, appraisals and maps · Article 4 directions in Barnet

Buildings marked positive

What if my house is unlisted but marked positive?

Both 2012 appraisals mark certain unlisted buildings as positive on their townscape maps. For these, the council says it will ensure that applications to extend or alter them are particularly carefully considered, and that proposed demolition will normally be resisted. The Church End appraisal adds a general presumption in favour of keeping such buildings, so an application to demolish one needs a reasoned justification of why it cannot be kept, with emphasis on its state of repair and the possibilities for re-use.

Hendon The Burroughs Conservation Area character appraisal and management proposals, 16 November 2012 (PDF) · Hendon Church End Conservation Area character appraisal and management proposals, 16 November 2012 (PDF)

Putting earlier alterations right

Will Barnet welcome undoing past changes?

In 2012 The Burroughs appraisal named unsympathetic alterations to some historic buildings, such as uPVC windows, modern doors, enclosed traditional porches, satellite dishes and altered boundary walls and gardens. It says some of the changes then visible predate the planning regime while others may be unauthorised, that putting such past mistakes right will be encouraged in Barnet’s planning decisions, and that unauthorised development will continue to meet enforcement. Barnet’s Local Plan says alterations in conservation areas should normally use materials matching the original, and that reinstating lost features will be considered where there is enough evidence for an accurate replacement.

Hendon The Burroughs Conservation Area character appraisal and management proposals, 16 November 2012 (PDF) · Barnet Local Plan 2021–2036, adopted 4 March 2025: the plan and its adoption documents

Houses outside the two conservation areas

Which guidance applies to a later suburban house?

For a Hendon house outside both conservation areas and on neither the national nor the local list, Barnet’s 2026 guidance on residential extensions and alterations is a material consideration where planning permission is needed, and Barnet also applies it where prior approval is needed. It says it is not intended for homes in conservation areas or on either list, though it may be pertinent in certain instances. Among the Local Plan’s tests, Barnet will support extensions that complement the house’s style, form and materials, are subordinate in size, scale and/or height, and have a sympathetic roof profile.

Barnet Sustainable Design and Development Guidance SPD, adopted 15 June 2026: Part 4, guidance on residential extensions and alterations (not intended for conservation areas or nationally or locally listed buildings) · Barnet Local Plan 2021–2036, adopted 4 March 2025: the plan and its adoption documents · Barnet: Hendon The Burroughs conservation area map, November 2023 (PDF) · Barnet: Hendon Church End conservation area map, November 2023 (PDF)

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

What the work covers

What a Hendon house refurbishment covers

Roofs, leadwork and joinery repaired first

We start with the fabric the appraisals single out: slate and clay roofs with their ridge tiles, lead flashings and bay canopies, timber sashes and casements with their glazing bars, and brick details such as dentils. Each element is surveyed and recorded, and repair is priced separately from renewal, so you can decide element by element where like-for-like repair is worth it and where renewal is the better course.

Hendon The Burroughs Conservation Area character appraisal and management proposals, 16 November 2012 (PDF) · Hendon Church End Conservation Area character appraisal and management proposals, 16 November 2012 (PDF)

Fronts put back from evidence

Where an earlier owner enclosed a porch, fitted plastic windows or changed a front wall, the refurbishment can be the time to reverse it. We draw the reinstated front from evidence on the house itself and on its neighbours in the same terrace, then confirm with Barnet which parts need an application at your address before anything is ordered or made in a workshop.

Warmth and services planned with the fabric

Insulation, heating, wiring and plumbing are designed as one package around what the house can take. If the house is listed, Barnet’s Local Plan says proposals to adapt it for energy efficiency must clearly show no harm to its special architectural and historic interest, so the evidence is set out with the design. On any house, new pipes, flues and units are routed away from the street front where the layout allows.

Barnet Local Plan 2021–2036, adopted 4 March 2025: the plan and its adoption documents

How we work

How we run a Hendon house refurbishment

  1. Free feasibility visit

    We walk round the house with you and discuss what is feasible.

  2. Survey

    Rooms, levels and features to keep are measured, with opening-up or asbestos checks where needed.

  3. Design and consents

    Our own architects and structural engineers design the layout and structural openings, plan the service routes with them, and identify which consents and party wall notices apply.

  4. Price and contract

    A fixed written price and a JCT contract follow the survey, scope and specification. It records allowances, exclusions and how changes are priced.

  5. On site

    Work is inspected before it is covered, and a director reviews key decisions.

  6. Handover

    Testing, commissioning and snagging. Completed work carries a 12-month defects-rectification period under the JCT contract terms.

Real projects, clearly located

Examples of our house refurbishment work elsewhere in London

None of these projects is in Hendon. 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. Find the house in its appraisal

    If your house is in The Burroughs or Church End conservation area, find it in the 2012 appraisal and note what it says: listed, locally listed, marked positive or not mentioned. Add photographs of the front, the roof and the rear, and any earlier planning or listed building decisions you hold.

  2. List the past alterations

    Write down what has changed since the house was built, as far as you know: windows, doors, porch, roof covering, front wall and garden, rear additions. Mark which you want to keep and which to reverse, because that list shapes both the design and the applications.

  3. Separate inside from outside

    Group the work that stays inside the house apart from the work that shows outside. On an unlisted house the inside work can often be fixed early, while outside work on an Article 4, listed or positive building may wait on a decision, so ask every contractor to price that part on the same stated basis.

Ready to take the next step? Send the address and a short outline of the work.

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Questions before you begin

House refurbishment in Hendon: questions

Can I replace the windows of a house on Burroughs Gardens?

Ask Barnet first what the Article 4 direction requires at your address. Barnet’s register shows that in 2023 it approved, subject to conditions, a replacement rear door and ground-floor windows, with CCTV at the front and rear, at a house on Burroughs Gardens. That is one decision, not a rule, but it shows such changes going through an application there. Draw new windows from the originals that survive in the terrace, and check Building Regulations too.

Barnet planning register: public access search (planning, building control and licensing) · Planning Data: Article 4 for Hendon The Burroughs CA, Area 1

My Church End house has plastic windows: what should replace them?

The 2012 Church End appraisal describes the windows it values: timber casements, and a few sashes, recessed in brick or stone surrounds, transomed and mullioned and painted white, with glazing divisions from two panes up to six or eight. On St Mary’s Cottage it calls uPVC windows with mock cames a detriment to the building. Base the new windows on your house’s own evidence, and confirm with Barnet whether they need permission.

Hendon Church End Conservation Area character appraisal and management proposals, 16 November 2012 (PDF)

How do the appraisals judge a rear extension?

The 2012 Church End appraisal gives one view: it says the highly visible red brick rear extension of Church House, with its corrugated iron roof, adds little to the conservation area. Barnet’s Local Plan says conservation-area appraisals are used in assessing planning applications, so an extension at the back of a house in either area should be designed with that kind of judgement in mind.

Hendon Church End Conservation Area character appraisal and management proposals, 16 November 2012 (PDF) · Barnet Local Plan 2021–2036, adopted 4 March 2025: the plan and its adoption documents

Has the appraisal judged a large addition to a listed Hendon house?

It comments on one. No. 11 The Burroughs, listed with No. 9, was at some point significantly extended at the front, with a three-storey, three-window addition and a bracketed semi-circular hood over a central door, and the 2012 appraisal does not consider that this compromised the listed building. That is a judgement on an old addition, not a precedent for new work, which needs listed building consent and its own case.

Hendon The Burroughs Conservation Area character appraisal and management proposals, 16 November 2012 (PDF) · Planning Data (Historic England): 9 and 11 The Burroughs NW4, grade II, list entry 1359025 · Planning Portal: listed building consent

Can the refurbishment be split into two stages?

Yes, if both stages are designed together. Settle the layout, the services routes and any outside changes for the whole house first, apply once for whatever needs consent, then build in the order that suits you. Leaving pipes, cables and structural openings ready for the second stage avoids opening up finished rooms later, and keeps both stages on the same written scope.

How much does a house refurbishment cost in Hendon?

It depends on scope. In Hendon, a cosmetic refurbishment keeping the existing layout runs £650–£1,250/sqm (typically £90,000–£180,000); a back-to-brick renovation runs £2,250–£3,250/sqm (typically £275,000–£475,000), excluding VAT. A written scope and site assessment come before any fixed price.

Book a free feasibility visit

Talk to us about your Hendon house

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

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

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