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High Barnet and Monken Hadley EN5 · Houses, flats & bathrooms

Renovations in High Barnet and Monken Hadley

Georgian houses, Victorian villas, cottages and flats

Barnet’s 2007 appraisals describe large Georgian houses around Hadley Green and the edges of the Common, Victorian cottages at Hadley Highstone, late Victorian villas facing Ravenscroft Park, timber-framed buildings refronted in brick or stucco and flats above High Street shops. Plan your house, flat or bathroom around the building you actually own, how it has been altered and the conservation area, Article 4, listing and Green Belt questions its address raises.

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Start with your project

Choose the work your High Barnet and Monken Hadley home needs

Choose a focused room renovation or a coordinated refurbishment. Each service page explains the scope in more detail and gives you a direct route to discuss the work.

01 Georgian, Victorian and Edwardian houses

House refurbishment in High Barnet and Monken Hadley

Treat a High Barnet or Monken Hadley house as one project, whether it is a Georgian house on Hadley Green Road, a late Victorian villa on Ravenscroft Park or a cottage at Hadley Highstone. A measured survey records the sashes, roofs, render, chimneys and boundaries that survive, and one scheme then covers heating, wiring, insulation, bathrooms and finishes. Price any change to windows, roofs, paintwork or front boundaries separately, once the Article 4 and listing questions have been checked for the address.

  • Survey of sashes, roofs, render and boundaries
  • Article 4 areas and listing checked for the address
  • Green Belt question settled before extending
Read about house refurbishment in High Barnet and Monken Hadley

02 Flats over shops and conversions

Flat renovation in High Barnet and Monken Hadley

Barnet’s 2007 appraisals record flats above High Street shops, modern purpose-built flats in side streets such as Tapster Street and Moxon Street, and conversions such as Ludgrove Hall on Games Road and the former Old Rectory on Wood Street. Whichever building yours is in, start with the lease: it may require the landlord’s permission for any alteration, even once planning permission or Building Regulations approval is in hand. Part 1 householder permitted development rights do not apply to flats, so check any outside change separately.

  • Alteration terms in the lease checked first
  • Landlord or managing agent approached early
  • Shared stack and isolation valves located
Read about flat refurbishment in High Barnet and Monken Hadley

03 House, cottage and flat bathrooms

Bathroom renovation in High Barnet and Monken Hadley

A standalone bathroom renovation is welcome, whether it is an en-suite in a large house on Hadley Common, the bathroom of a Victorian cottage or terraced house, or the only bathroom in a flat above a shop. Installing a bathroom that involves plumbing, or changing electrics near a bath or shower, can need Building Regulations approval, and in a listed building, work affecting its character needs listed building consent. Before choosing fittings, settle the floor build-up, the waste fall and the route for extract air.

  • Waste fall to the stack or drain proved
  • Extract route and any outside vent agreed
  • Another bathroom to use during the work
Read about bathroom renovation in High Barnet and Monken Hadley

Real projects, clearly located

Ideas for your High Barnet and Monken Hadley refurbishment

Photographs of our work elsewhere in London

Explore a whole house in Belsize Park, an apartment on Chesterfield Street in Mayfair and a bathroom in Pimlico. Use these examples to discuss the scale of work and finishes you have in mind for your own home.

Completed exterior at Belsize Park Gardens after refurbishment

Whole-house refurbishment · Belsize Park, NW3

Belsize Park Gardens, NW3

Full-house refurbishment in Belsize Park with basement, extension and loft works.

Conservation Area · 5 Storeys · Documented programme: 12 months

Documentary programme, not verified elapsed construction time or a timetable for another project.

View the project

More London project records: Carlton Lodge, Belgravia · King’s Road, Chelsea.

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Structural
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Planning
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Building Control
Compliance Support
Leasehold
Licence for Alteration
£5M · £10M
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Independent
Surveying via Hampstead Chartered Surveyors

Local knowledge with a purpose

Understand the building before changing it

Barnet’s two 2007 character appraisals record timber-framed buildings refronted in brick or stucco, Georgian houses, Victorian villas, terraces and cottages, Edwardian houses and modern flats. Knowing which you own, and how later owners altered it, shows what a survey must record and which consents to check.

Barnet’s Monken Hadley Conservation Area Character Appraisal Statement, adopted in January 2007, describes an area that is still green, leafy and of low built density, with large Georgian houses and gardens around Hadley Green and the edges of the Common. Small Victorian cottages of stock brick or stucco line the road at Hadley Highstone, Hadley Green Road has a string of mainly Georgian listed buildings and Dury Road a range of listed buildings, several timber-framed. Hadley Grove has a group of Edwardian houses, and the High Street end is tighter, commercial and mostly Victorian.

Barnet: Monken Hadley Conservation Area Character Appraisal Statement, adopted January 2007 (PDF) · Planning Data: Gothic Place, Dury Road, Grade II, list entry 1078836

Barnet’s Wood Street appraisal of July 2007 describes a conservation area running west along the ridge from St John the Baptist church at the top of Barnet Hill, taking in historic shops, Union Street, the villas facing Ravenscroft Park and Wood Street as far as The Whalebones. It records Victorian villas and terraces, almshouses, 18th and 19th-century houses and timber-framed buildings refronted in brick or stucco, with large central chimneystacks and clay-tiled roofs, such as 32 and 17 Wood Street. The land drops south of Wood Street towards the Dollis Brook, on ground the appraisal describes as largely London clay.

Barnet: Wood Street Conservation Area Character Appraisal Statement, adopted July 2007 (PDF) · Planning Data: Church of St John the Baptist, Wood Street, Grade II*, list entry 1359101 · Planning Data: The Whalebones, Wood Street, Grade II, list entry 1064813 · Planning Data: 32 Wood Street, Grade II, list entry 1359103

Homes change street by street. Ravenscroft Park has large late Victorian villas in small terraces of three or semi-detached pairs, mostly single-family homes in 2007; Union Street has modest buildings close to the road; and further west, Wood Street’s north side has substantial detached houses of about 1900 behind deep frontages. In 2007 the appraisals recorded flats over High Street shops, town-centre homes in Tapster Street, Moxon Street and Victors Way, mostly in modern purpose-built flats, conversions to flats such as the former Old Rectory on Wood Street, and Hadley Heights, a modern block of flats on the Common.

Barnet: Wood Street Conservation Area Character Appraisal Statement, adopted July 2007 (PDF) · Barnet: Monken Hadley Conservation Area Character Appraisal Statement, adopted January 2007 (PDF)

The first local check

Check the property, not the place name or postcode

Neither the names High Barnet and Monken Hadley nor an EN5 postcode tells you which council decides, whether a home is in the Monken Hadley or Wood Street Conservation Area or the Green Belt, whether it is listed, which Article 4 direction applies or which consent route the work takes. The Monken Hadley Conservation Area has Hertfordshire and Enfield on its northern boundary, and a 2019 Barnet tree preservation order still gives an EN5 address on Wood Street as Barnet, Hertfordshire, so confirm the council with the official lookup, then read the conservation area map, the list entry, the mapped Article 4 areas, the title or lease and the planning history of the property itself.

Find the council for the property · Barnet: Monken Hadley Conservation Area Character Appraisal Statement, adopted January 2007 (PDF) · Planning Data: Whalebones Park (and Adjacent), Wood Street, Tree Preservation Order 2019 · Barnet: Monken Hadley Conservation Area (CA01) boundary map, November 2023 (PDF) · Barnet: Wood Street Conservation Area (CA03) boundary map, November 2023 (PDF) · Planning Data: listed buildings intersecting the Monken Hadley Conservation Area · Planning Data: listed buildings intersecting the Wood Street Conservation Area · Barnet open data: legal orders for Article 4 directions · Planning Data: Barnet Green Belt record · LEASE: alterations and home improvements

Separate checks, one coordinated brief

Planning, listed buildings, building control and leases

One approval does not settle every requirement. Identify the applicable routes before ordering work, and record who will prepare submissions, arrange inspections and provide the relevant completion information.

Planning permission and householder rights

When does the work need planning permission?

Work affecting only the inside of a building is generally not development, though works begun after 5 December 1968 that add space underground are an exception. Part 1 householder permitted development rights do not apply to flats. For a house, check those rights’ limits and any conditions on past permissions, then the Article 4 directions mapped in parts of Monken Hadley and Wood Street: they mean specified works need a planning application, not that they will be refused. Where the Green Belt applies, it is a separate test: when an extension needs planning permission, national policy weighs it against the size of the original building.

legislation.gov.uk: Town and Country Planning Act 1990, section 55, meaning of development · Householder permitted development technical guidance · When planning permission is required · Planning Data: Article 4 for Monken Hadley Conservation Area, Area 1 · Planning Data: Article 4(2) for Monken Hadley Conservation Area, Area 1 · Planning Data: Article 4 for Wood Street Conservation Area, Area 1 · Barnet open data: legal orders for Article 4 directions · GOV.UK: National Planning Policy Framework, Chapter 13: Protecting Green Belt land (GB1–8)

Listing and the conservation areas

Does listing reach inside a building here?

It can. Barnet’s Wood Street appraisal notes that listing covers the inside and outside of a building, and the law requires listed building consent for works that would affect a listed building’s character, so internal work can need it. The Monken Hadley appraisal records wainscotting of a late 17th-century type inside 151 High Street and ship’s-cabin panelling inside The Old Cottage on Hadley Green Road. Planning Data finds 52 list entries intersecting the Monken Hadley Conservation Area and 31 intersecting Wood Street. Conservation-area status is a separate control, so check both.

Barnet: Wood Street Conservation Area Character Appraisal Statement, adopted July 2007 (PDF) · legislation.gov.uk: Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990, section 7 · Barnet: Monken Hadley Conservation Area Character Appraisal Statement, adopted January 2007 (PDF) · Planning Data: 151 High Street, Grade II, list entry 1287058 · Planning Data: listed buildings intersecting the Monken Hadley Conservation Area · Planning Data: listed buildings intersecting the Wood Street Conservation Area

Building Regulations

Which work needs building control?

Building Regulations approval is separate from planning permission, listed building consent and a landlord’s consent, and one project may need several. It can be required to install a bathroom involving plumbing, to change electrics near a bath or shower and to replace windows and doors. Here, replacement windows and doors can also be caught by an Article 4 direction in its mapped area and, in a listed building, by listed building consent. Choose either the council’s building control service or a private registered building control approver, and agree early who certifies each part.

When Building Regulations approval is needed · LEASE: alterations and home improvements · Barnet: Wood Street Conservation Area Character Appraisal Statement, adopted July 2007 (PDF) · Barnet: Monken Hadley Conservation Area Character Appraisal Statement, adopted January 2007 (PDF) · legislation.gov.uk: Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990, section 7

Lease, landowner and Party Wall questions

Whose agreement is needed besides the council’s?

Before anything is drawn for a flat, read the lease: it may require the landlord’s permission for any alteration, even after planning permission or Building Regulations approval. The Party Wall Act applies only to the work it lists, such as cutting into a party wall or removing chimneys from one, not to minor jobs like plastering, new sockets or drilling for shelves. If work or deliveries would cross Monken Hadley Common, note that Barnet’s 2007 appraisal records that the Common’s freehold is held by the churchwardens of Monken Hadley Church in trust for the commoners, who have their own rules on vehicle access, and that the Common is not in public ownership.

LEASE: alterations and home improvements · Party-wall work requiring notice · Barnet: Monken Hadley Conservation Area Character Appraisal Statement, adopted January 2007 (PDF)

Local facts that affect the brief

Apply the controls to the work you actually need

Appraisals of January and July 2007

Two conservation areas, two appraisals

Monken Hadley (CA01) was designated in December 1968, one of Barnet’s first four conservation areas, and extended in February 1979 to the northern end of Chipping Barnet High Street. Barnet’s map, dated November 2023, gives its last amendment as 15 January 2007 and marks the borough boundary. The Character Appraisal Statement, adopted in January 2007 with a management plan, divides the area into ten sub-areas, from Hadley Highstone and Hadley Green to Barnet High Street, Camlet Way and Monken Hadley Common. Its guidance says extensions should normally be subordinate to the main building and need thoughtful design at the rear as well as the front, and that materials should match the existing building unless a contrast is intended.

Planning Data: Monken Hadley Conservation Area (CA01), London Borough of Barnet · Barnet: Monken Hadley Conservation Area Character Appraisal Statement, adopted January 2007 (PDF) · Barnet: Monken Hadley Conservation Area (CA01) boundary map, November 2023 (PDF)

Planning Data gives Wood Street (CA03) a designation date of 25 April 1969; the appraisal says it was extended in 1979, and Barnet’s Article 4 note records that after a council sub-committee on 7 June 2007 it took in 87 to 97 (odd) High Street, although Barnet’s November 2023 map still gives a last amendment of 1 October 1969. Its appraisal, adopted in July 2007, sets out five character areas, gives unlisted ‘positive’ buildings a general presumption in favour of retention and was to be reviewed every five years. Barnet’s open data lists no later appraisal for either area.

Planning Data: Wood Street Conservation Area (CA03), London Borough of Barnet · Barnet: Wood Street Conservation Area Character Appraisal Statement, adopted July 2007 (PDF) · Barnet: Article 4 directions in Wood Street Conservation Area, A4D13, with the 2007 boundary note (partly scanned PDF) · Barnet: Wood Street Conservation Area (CA03) boundary map, November 2023 (PDF) · Barnet open data: conservation area appraisals and boundary maps

Directions recorded 1972 and 2007

Article 4 directions, each for mapped land

In Monken Hadley, Planning Data records direction A4D8 from 8 September 1972, mapped as two areas. The appraisal says that where these Article 4(1) directions apply, planning permission is needed for extensions and alterations, including doors, windows, architectural detail, dormers, rooflights and changing roof tiles, and for exterior painting, porches, hardstandings, new access to a highway, oil tanks and gates, fences and walls.

Planning Data: Article 4 for Monken Hadley Conservation Area (A4D8), from 8 September 1972 · Planning Data: Article 4 for Monken Hadley Conservation Area, Area 1 · Barnet: Monken Hadley Conservation Area Character Appraisal Statement, adopted January 2007 (PDF) · Barnet: Article 4 directions in Monken Hadley Conservation Area, A4D8, with 2013 map (scanned PDF)

An Article 4(2) direction, A4D9, approved by Barnet’s Cabinet on 15 January 2007, is mapped as 15 areas. Where the work fronts a highway, waterway or open space, planning permission is needed for alterations including windows, doors and facing materials, roof-slope changes, porches, outbuildings and pools, hard surfaces, satellite antennas, gates, fences and walls and their demolition, and exterior painting; erecting, altering or removing a chimney is listed without that frontage condition.

Barnet: Monken Hadley Conservation Area Article 4(2) direction, approved 15 January 2007, A4D9 (scanned PDF) · Planning Data: Article 4(2) for Monken Hadley Conservation Area (A4D9), from 15 January 2007 · Planning Data: Article 4(2) for Monken Hadley Conservation Area, Area 1 · Barnet: Monken Hadley Conservation Area Character Appraisal Statement, adopted January 2007 (PDF) · GPDO 2015, Schedule 2 Part 1: householder permitted development · legislation.gov.uk: GPDO 2015, Schedule 2 Part 2: gates, fences and walls, access and exterior painting · legislation.gov.uk: GPDO 2015, Schedule 2 Part 11, Class C: demolition of gates, fences and walls

Wood Street’s direction, A4D13, records approvals in 1970, 1974 and 1981, and Planning Data maps it as two areas. The appraisal says it covers most of the conservation area and brings replacement windows and doors, roof extensions and rooflights, new wall materials and painting, small extensions such as front porches, outbuildings, oil tanks, satellite dishes, the removal and replacement of boundaries other than hedges, front-garden hard standings and crossovers, and most new gates, fences and walls under planning control. In 2007 Barnet removed it from 2 to 30 (even) West End Lane, The Croft in Blenheim Road and 6 and 8 Queens Road.

Barnet: Article 4 directions in Wood Street Conservation Area, A4D13, with the 2007 boundary note (partly scanned PDF) · Planning Data: Article 4 for Wood Street Conservation Area (A4D13), from 8 September 1972 · Planning Data: Article 4 for Wood Street Conservation Area, Area 1 · Barnet: Wood Street Conservation Area Character Appraisal Statement, adopted July 2007 (PDF)

Barnet’s direction on small houses in multiple occupation also overlaps both conservation areas; it concerns use as a small house in multiple occupation, not alterations to a home. An Article 4 direction means the works need a planning application, not that they will be refused.

Planning Data: Article 4 small houses in multiple occupation, Area 1, from 29 May 2016 · Barnet open data: legal orders for Article 4 directions · When planning permission is required

Local Plan adopted 4 March 2025

Read the 2007 appraisals alongside the 2025 Local Plan

Planning Data records the Barnet Local Plan 2021–2036 as adopted from 4 March 2025. Both appraisals were written under the 2006 Unitary Development Plan, so use their descriptions of buildings and streets as character evidence and ask Barnet which current policies a proposal will be judged against.

Planning Data: Barnet Local Plan 2021–2036, adopted 4 March 2025 · Barnet: Monken Hadley Conservation Area Character Appraisal Statement, adopted January 2007 (PDF) · Barnet: Wood Street Conservation Area Character Appraisal Statement, adopted July 2007 (PDF)

Planning Data finds 52 list entries intersecting the Monken Hadley Conservation Area, five of them Grade II*, and 31 intersecting Wood Street, one Grade II*, with none at Grade I. The Monken Hadley appraisal also names locally listed buildings such as Ludgrove Hall and Monkenhurst, and in 2007 Barnet added five Wood Street area buildings, including the Old Library and 85 High Street, to its local list. Ask Barnet whether a building is on its current local list.

Planning Data: listed buildings intersecting the Monken Hadley Conservation Area · Planning Data: listed buildings intersecting the Wood Street Conservation Area · Barnet: Monken Hadley Conservation Area Character Appraisal Statement, adopted January 2007 (PDF) · Barnet: Article 4 directions in Wood Street Conservation Area, A4D13, with the 2007 boundary note (partly scanned PDF)

Historic England’s registered battlefield for the Battle of Barnet of 1471 overlaps the Monken Hadley Conservation Area, and the 2007 appraisal notes it is the only one on the register in Greater London. Historic England also maps an Archaeological Priority Area overlapping both conservation areas, and another, mostly inside Monken Hadley, around a probably prehistoric bank and ditch at Hadley Wood. In 2007 the appraisal recorded Hadley Green as a Site of Metropolitan Importance for Nature Conservation.

Planning Data: Battle of Barnet 1471, registered battlefield (Historic England) · Barnet: Monken Hadley Conservation Area Character Appraisal Statement, adopted January 2007 (PDF) · Planning Data: Historic England Archaeological Priority Area 77418 · Planning Data: Historic England Archaeological Priority Area 77126, bank and ditch at Hadley Wood

Green Belt; NPPF of 17 August 2026

Green Belt is a separate question

The Monken Hadley appraisal records about three quarters of the conservation area as Green Belt and over half of it as open fields and recreational land, and a Planning Data search finds the current Barnet Green Belt record, part of the London Green Belt, overlapping it but none in Wood Street. Green Belt is a separate designation from the conservation area, with its own national policy test. Check with Barnet whether the Green Belt boundary takes in your house or garden.

Barnet: Monken Hadley Conservation Area Character Appraisal Statement, adopted January 2007 (PDF) · Planning Data: Barnet Green Belt record · GOV.UK: National Planning Policy Framework, Chapter 13: Protecting Green Belt land (GB1–8)

The National Planning Policy Framework, published on 17 August 2026, treats development in the Green Belt as inappropriate unless it falls within listed categories, and inappropriate development should not be approved except in very special circumstances. The categories include the reuse, extension or alteration of a lawful building of permanent and substantial construction, provided an extension or alteration does not result in a disproportionate increase in size over the original building, as it stood on 1 July 1948 or as first built if later.

GOV.UK: National Planning Policy Framework, published 17 August 2026 · GOV.UK: National Planning Policy Framework, Chapter 13: Protecting Green Belt land (GB1–8)

Before ordering windows, renewing a roof, painting a front, changing a boundary or booking any excavation at a High Barnet or Monken Hadley address, establish which consents the property and the proposal need. Planning permission, listed building consent, Building Regulations approval, lease consent and Party Wall procedures are separate regimes, and approval under one settles none of the others. On their mapped land the Article 4 directions bring specified works under planning control; conservation-area status brings its own checks, such as six weeks’ notice before certain work on trees; and where the Green Belt applies, national policy weighs an extension that needs planning permission against the original building.

When planning permission is required · legislation.gov.uk: Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990, section 7 · When Building Regulations approval is needed · LEASE: alterations and home improvements · Party-wall work requiring notice · Planning Data: Article 4 for Monken Hadley Conservation Area (A4D8), from 8 September 1972 · Planning Data: Article 4(2) for Monken Hadley Conservation Area (A4D9), from 15 January 2007 · Planning Data: Article 4 for Wood Street Conservation Area (A4D13), from 8 September 1972 · Householder permitted development technical guidance · Tree preservation orders and conservation-area trees · GOV.UK: National Planning Policy Framework, Chapter 13: Protecting Green Belt land (GB1–8)

Local guidance checked . The linked sources help you prepare a brief; requirements depend on the address, building and complete proposal.

From retained details to shared services

Sashes, peg tiles, lime render, railings and protected trees

Sashes, casements and front doors

The Wood Street appraisal names timber sliding sashes as the main window type, commonly in recessed openings, with timber casements often on vernacular buildings and most doors in painted softwood, and counts uPVC windows and doors among inappropriate alterations. The Monken Hadley appraisal asks for matching materials and calls uPVC rarely acceptable where a contrast is sought. In their mapped areas, Article 4 directions can bring windows and doors under planning control, and a replacement can also need Building Regulations approval and, in a listed building, listed building consent, so record each frame’s condition first.

Barnet: Wood Street Conservation Area Character Appraisal Statement, adopted July 2007 (PDF) · Barnet: Monken Hadley Conservation Area Character Appraisal Statement, adopted January 2007 (PDF) · Planning Data: Article 4 for Wood Street Conservation Area, Area 1 · Planning Data: Article 4 for Monken Hadley Conservation Area, Area 1 · When Building Regulations approval is needed · legislation.gov.uk: Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990, section 7

Soil stacks, waste falls and extract air

Settle the waste route before choosing fittings: a new or moved bathroom needs a workable fall to the stack or drain, and in a flat above a shop or in a converted building that stack often serves other homes, so ask who maintains it and where supplies are isolated. In its Ravenscroft Park character area the Wood Street appraisal lists plastic replacing cast-iron pipework among inappropriate works, so consider where any new external pipe or vent would show. Building Regulations can apply to new bathroom plumbing and to electrics near a bath or shower.

LEASE: alterations and home improvements · Barnet: Wood Street Conservation Area Character Appraisal Statement, adopted July 2007 (PDF) · When Building Regulations approval is needed

Floors, timber frames and sound

Before removing a wall or laying a heavier finish, open up to see how the floors are framed and whether the wall carries load, especially in the timber-framed buildings the Wood Street appraisal records behind brick or stucco fronts. In a listed building, a change affecting its character needs listed building consent, inside as well as out. Where a flat sits above or below another home, agree the floor build-up and sound insulation with the lease in hand and check Approved Document E. Cutting into a party wall needs notice under the Party Wall Act.

Barnet: Wood Street Conservation Area Character Appraisal Statement, adopted July 2007 (PDF) · legislation.gov.uk: Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990, section 7 · GOV.UK: Approved Document E, resistance to sound · LEASE: alterations and home improvements · Party-wall work requiring notice

Railings, hedges, gates and hard standings

Boundaries differ by street. The Wood Street appraisal values cast-iron railings and gates, often on low brick walls, and records the loss of front boundary trees, hedges and railed walls as a problem, especially at Wood Street’s west end. The Monken Hadley appraisal describes picket fencing and hedges at Hadley Highstone, railings, low walls and hedges on Hadley Green Road and tall brick walls or hedges on the Common, and asks that new boundaries respect that character. In their mapped areas, Article 4 directions can bring gates, fences, walls and hard standings under planning control.

Barnet: Wood Street Conservation Area Character Appraisal Statement, adopted July 2007 (PDF) · Barnet: Monken Hadley Conservation Area Character Appraisal Statement, adopted January 2007 (PDF) · Planning Data: Article 4 for Wood Street Conservation Area, Area 1 · Planning Data: Article 4 for Monken Hadley Conservation Area, Area 1 · Planning Data: Article 4(2) for Monken Hadley Conservation Area, Area 1 · legislation.gov.uk: GPDO 2015, Schedule 2 Part 2: gates, fences and walls, access and exterior painting · GPDO 2015, Schedule 2 Part 1: householder permitted development

Protected trees, clay and lower floors

Barnet’s 1972 Tree Preservation Order for the Monken Hadley Conservation Area is mapped in many parts, and the appraisal notes many protected trees in larger gardens; trees in St John the Baptist churchyard have a 1982 order. Protected trees need consent, and certain work on other conservation-area trees needs six weeks’ notice. Refitting an existing lower floor differs from digging new space: works begun after 5 December 1968 that add space underground count as development. The Wood Street appraisal describes the area as largely London clay, and an Archaeological Priority Area overlaps both conservation areas.

Planning Data: Monken Hadley Conservation Area Tree Preservation Order 1972, zone A1 · Barnet: Monken Hadley Conservation Area Character Appraisal Statement, adopted January 2007 (PDF) · Planning Data: St John the Baptist Church and Churchyard, Wood Street, Tree Preservation Order 1982 · Tree preservation orders and conservation-area trees · Barnet: Wood Street Conservation Area Character Appraisal Statement, adopted July 2007 (PDF) · legislation.gov.uk: Town and Country Planning Act 1990, section 55, meaning of development · Planning Data: Historic England Archaeological Priority Area 77418

Insulation, heating, render and roofs

Plan insulation, heating and ventilation together, and choose materials that suit the existing walls and roofs. The Wood Street appraisal notes that lime renders on older buildings are soft and pliable where cement-based renders tend to crack, records peg-tile roofs at the eastern end of Wood Street and Welsh slate on most buildings after the mid-19th century, and lists non-traditional re-roofing and render over red brick among inappropriate works in its Ravenscroft Park character area. Check the consent route, including any Article 4 direction, before changing wall finishes, paintwork, roof tiles or a chimney.

Barnet: Wood Street Conservation Area Character Appraisal Statement, adopted July 2007 (PDF) · Planning Data: Article 4 for Wood Street Conservation Area, Area 1 · Barnet: Monken Hadley Conservation Area Character Appraisal Statement, adopted January 2007 (PDF) · Barnet: Monken Hadley Conservation Area Article 4(2) direction, approved 15 January 2007, A4D9 (scanned PDF)

A practical plan for the street and building

Working hours, deliveries and shared access

Busy roads, narrow lanes and street licences

Barnet’s 2007 Wood Street appraisal describes traffic dominating the High Street end, busy and noisy particularly at the junction of Wood Street with High Street; it also records busy traffic in the morning and afternoon rush hours on Wood Street between Tudor Hall and the Black Horse, and limited parking schemes in the area. The Monken Hadley appraisal records restricted road widths around Taylors Lane and Old Fold Lane, describes Camlet Way as a narrow lane and notes that Games Road has no pavement or kerb. A skip on a public road needs a council licence, usually obtained by the skip company, while one wholly on private land needs none; scaffolding or hoarding on the highway needs a licence too. TfL licenses such items only on its red routes, so check whether the road outside is one.

Barnet: Wood Street Conservation Area Character Appraisal Statement, adopted July 2007 (PDF) · Barnet: Monken Hadley Conservation Area Character Appraisal Statement, adopted January 2007 (PDF) · GOV.UK: skip licence (England and Wales) · GOV.UK: scaffolding and hoarding licence (England and Wales) · TfL: highway licences on red routes

Working hours, neighbours and living in

For a Barnet address, the council’s published construction working hours say noisy work should only be carried out Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm, and Saturday, 8am to 1pm, and at no time on a Sunday or bank holiday. A lease or building manager may set tighter limits on noise, deliveries and shared parts. If you will live at home through the work, decide which rooms stay usable and when water or power will be off, and tell neighbours what is planned and when.

Barnet construction working hours · LEASE: alterations and home improvements

A clear scope before a price

Plan your renovation budget and quotation

High Barnet and Monken Hadley quotations can only be compared when each prices the same written scope. Keep room work apart from repairs to sashes, roofs, render and boundaries, from structural items and from anything that waits on a planning decision, a landlord or a neighbour.

Existing condition

Record the building as it stands so that nothing is priced on assumption.

  • Measured drawings and dated photographs
  • Sashes, peg tiles, lime render and railings to keep
  • Opening-up for damp, rot and hidden pipework

Rooms, finishes and services

Describe each room fully so that every contractor prices identical work.

  • Layouts, fittings and finish quantities
  • Heating, drainage, extract and wiring routes
  • Items you will supply and their delivery dates

Approvals and site arrangements

List every consent, notice and licence the proposal needs, and who obtains it.

  • Article 4, listing, Green Belt and lease questions
  • Party Wall notices only for qualifying work
  • Skip and scaffold licences and access on narrow lanes

Written allowances and sequence

Put assumptions, exclusions and open choices in writing before signing.

  • VAT, provisional sums and exclusions shown
  • Lead times for windows and sanitaryware
  • Certificates and records collected for handover

Building in High Barnet or Monken Hadley does not add a fixed surcharge or dictate how long the work takes. Each quotation should state its VAT position, any professional fees and how problems found during the work will be handled. For a standalone bathroom, you receive a separate quotation covering that room only.

From an idea to a workable scope

Prepare your brief and renovation budget

  1. Start with the address and the building

    Send the full address and say whether the home is a house, a cottage or a flat, and for a flat, which floor it is on and whether it sits above a shop, in a purpose-built block or in a converted building. Add photographs of the rooms to change, the front elevation, the boundary, the access from the road and any damp, cracks or leaks.

  2. Gather the papers you hold

    Look out the title or lease, earlier drawings, planning and listed building decisions, building control certificates and any letters from the council. If you already know the home is listed or locally listed, inside the Monken Hadley or Wood Street Conservation Area or the Green Belt, or covered by an Article 4 direction, say so, and mark any protected trees near the work.

  3. Note what still depends on others

    List the work you have decided on, such as known repairs and finishes you like, apart from items that wait on opening up, a structural check, a drainage survey, the landlord’s reply or the council’s view. Open items can then be carried as written allowances that every quotation shows in the same way.

  4. Share out the tasks and timing

    Decide who applies for consents, serves any Party Wall notices, arranges skip and scaffold licences and books inspections. Fit deliveries and noisy stages around the council’s published hours and any lease rules, say whether you will live at home during the work, and agree how changes are priced and recorded.

Ready to take the next step? Send the property address and a short outline of what you want to change.

Discuss your High Barnet and Monken Hadley project

Our Hampstead base, serving High Barnet and Monken Hadley

Talk to our Finchley Road studio

Our studio is in Hampstead on Finchley Road, at NW3 6DN. We serve High Barnet and Monken Hadley from this office. Bring us the practical questions about your house, flat or bathroom and the result you want to achieve.

Contact the studio to discuss your brief and arrange the next step. If you already have drawings, a lease or planning correspondence, tell us what is available.

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Hampstead Renovations
Unit 3, Palace Court
250 Finchley Road
London NW3 6DN

020 7101 3168
contact@hampsteadrenovations.co.uk

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Questions before you begin

Renovating in High Barnet and Monken Hadley: practical answers

Can you renovate just one bathroom in High Barnet or Monken Hadley as a standalone job?

Yes. A standalone bathroom, en-suite or shower room renovation in a house, cottage or flat in High Barnet or Monken Hadley is a project we take on by itself, with no other work required. Send the room’s measurements, a few photographs and a note of problems such as leaks, slow drainage or poor extraction, and tell us whether another bathroom will be usable while the work goes on.

How can I tell whether my home is in a conservation area?

Check the property against Barnet’s maps of the Monken Hadley (CA01) and Wood Street (CA03) conservation areas, both dated November 2023. Monken Hadley takes in the village round St Mary the Virgin, Hadley Green, Hadley Highstone, Monken Hadley Common and the northern end of the High Street; Wood Street runs from the top of Barnet Hill west to The Whalebones. Confirm the council first, then read the map for the exact address rather than relying on the name or an EN5 postcode.

Find the council for the property · Barnet: Monken Hadley Conservation Area (CA01) boundary map, November 2023 (PDF) · Barnet: Wood Street Conservation Area (CA03) boundary map, November 2023 (PDF) · Barnet: Monken Hadley Conservation Area Character Appraisal Statement, adopted January 2007 (PDF) · Barnet: Wood Street Conservation Area Character Appraisal Statement, adopted July 2007 (PDF)

Do Article 4 directions or listings cover my property?

Each applies only to particular land or buildings, so check the address. In Monken Hadley, one direction is mapped as two areas; the 2007 Article 4(2) direction is mapped as 15 and mostly concerns work fronting a highway, waterway or open space. Barnet’s 2007 appraisal says the Wood Street direction covers most of that conservation area. Listing is recorded entry by entry: Grade II* entries include St Mary the Virgin, Hadley House and St John the Baptist, and Grade II entries include the Wilbraham Almshouses, 151 High Street and The Whalebones.

Planning Data: Article 4 for Monken Hadley Conservation Area, Area 1 · Planning Data: Article 4(2) for Monken Hadley Conservation Area (A4D9), from 15 January 2007 · Planning Data: Article 4(2) for Monken Hadley Conservation Area, Area 1 · Barnet: Wood Street Conservation Area Character Appraisal Statement, adopted July 2007 (PDF) · Planning Data: Parish Church of St Mary the Virgin, Monken Hadley, Grade II*, list entry 1078819 · Planning Data: Hadley House, Hadley Green Road, Grade II*, list entry 1078824 · Planning Data: Church of St John the Baptist, Wood Street, Grade II*, list entry 1359101 · Planning Data: Wilbraham Almshouses, Hadley Green Road, Grade II, list entry 1078821 · Planning Data: 151 High Street, Grade II, list entry 1287058 · Planning Data: The Whalebones, Wood Street, Grade II, list entry 1064813

Can I replace old sash windows here?

Check before ordering anything. Barnet’s Wood Street appraisal treats timber sliding sashes as the main window type and counts uPVC windows among inappropriate alterations, the Monken Hadley appraisal calls uPVC rarely acceptable where a contrast is sought, and in their mapped areas Article 4 directions can bring windows and doors under planning control. A listed building needs listed building consent for changes affecting its character, flats lack householder permitted development rights, a lease may control windows and replacements can need Building Regulations approval.

Barnet: Wood Street Conservation Area Character Appraisal Statement, adopted July 2007 (PDF) · Barnet: Monken Hadley Conservation Area Character Appraisal Statement, adopted January 2007 (PDF) · Planning Data: Article 4 for Wood Street Conservation Area, Area 1 · Planning Data: Article 4 for Monken Hadley Conservation Area, Area 1 · legislation.gov.uk: Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990, section 7 · Householder permitted development technical guidance · LEASE: alterations and home improvements · When Building Regulations approval is needed

What consents does internal work to a flat need?

Seldom planning permission, because work affecting only the inside of a building is generally not development, though any outside change needs its own check since flats have no Part 1 householder rights. The lease is the key document and may require the landlord’s permission even after planning permission or Building Regulations approval. Building Regulations can apply to new bathroom plumbing and to electrics near a bath or shower, and if the building is listed, listed building consent can apply to internal work.

legislation.gov.uk: Town and Country Planning Act 1990, section 55, meaning of development · Householder permitted development technical guidance · LEASE: alterations and home improvements · When Building Regulations approval is needed · legislation.gov.uk: Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990, section 7

Can a wall come out or the bathroom move?

It may be possible once the structure and drainage are understood. A structural check shows whether a wall carries load and how the floor is framed, which matters in a timber-framed building behind a later front as much as in a Victorian villa. A moved bathroom still needs a workable fall to the stack or drain and a route for extract air to leave the building. Listed building consent, Building Regulations, the lease and the Party Wall Act all need checking first.

Barnet: Wood Street Conservation Area Character Appraisal Statement, adopted July 2007 (PDF) · legislation.gov.uk: Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990, section 7 · When Building Regulations approval is needed · LEASE: alterations and home improvements · Party-wall work requiring notice

Could I add space below ground, or only refit a lower-ground room?

Refitting an existing lower-ground room keeps to space you already have, while digging new space raises separate questions. Planning law treats works begun after 5 December 1968 that add space underground as development, and where the Green Belt applies, national Green Belt policy is a separate test. An Archaeological Priority Area overlaps both conservation areas and the Battle of Barnet registered battlefield overlaps Monken Hadley, so raise any excavation with the council early, and check separately whether the Party Wall Act applies.

legislation.gov.uk: Town and Country Planning Act 1990, section 55, meaning of development · GOV.UK: National Planning Policy Framework, Chapter 13: Protecting Green Belt land (GB1–8) · Planning Data: Historic England Archaeological Priority Area 77418 · Planning Data: Battle of Barnet 1471, registered battlefield (Historic England) · Party-wall work requiring notice

When is noisy building work allowed in High Barnet and Monken Hadley?

For a Barnet address, the council’s published construction working hours say noisy work should only be carried out from 8am to 6pm Monday to Friday and from 8am to 1pm on Saturday, and at no time on a Sunday or bank holiday. A lease or building manager may set tighter limits on noise and deliveries, so check those before the programme is agreed, and tell neighbours what to expect.

Barnet construction working hours · LEASE: alterations and home improvements

How can I compare quotations for a High Barnet or Monken Hadley project?

Give every contractor the same written scope, with each room, its quantities and finishes, the original features to keep and the repairs already known, then compare line by line. Check how each treats VAT, professional fees, consents, licences, protection and items found once work starts, and investigate the biggest unknowns before comparing totals. An address here is no reason in itself for a surcharge or a fixed finish date.

Where is your studio, and how do I begin?

Our studio is at Unit 3, Palace Court, 250 Finchley Road, London NW3 6DN, in Hampstead, and we serve High Barnet and Monken Hadley from this office. To begin, send the address, the rooms you want to change and a few photographs; the lease or title, any drawings and planning letters can follow once we have spoken.

Go deeper where it matters

Guides for your property and project

Explore the relevant property guide, then check the current official sources above for your address and proposed work.

More help with your renovation brief

Client Reviews
“

I would like to thank Ross and his team for their consistent commitment to quality and their unerring reliability. They delivered our property to specification and on time, proving to be an extremely effective, experienced, and proactive contractor.

JW
James WardInvestment Director, Belgravia
“

We have worked with Ross and his company many times. They are extremely professional and hardworking individuals who can work under any circumstances. There was no variation to the works.

CR
Cirus RehmanFinance Director, Grosvenor Street, Mayfair
“

A company where you get value for your money while at the same time achieving excellent quality. Their work is carried out on time and within budget. We've worked with them on multiple projects and they never disappoint.

BI
Brian InghamDirector, Green Evolution Limited
Independent
Surveying
Hampstead Renovations operates alongside Hampstead Chartered Surveyors & Building Consultancy — an RICS Regulated firm providing chartered building surveying, fire safety and project advisory services, under shared directorship. Both practices are based in Hampstead NW3 6DN, giving our clients local professional oversight from survey through to handover.
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