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Northwood HA6 · Houses, flats & bathrooms

Renovations in Northwood

Edwardian streets, Arts and Crafts houses and maisonettes

Hillingdon’s 2019 appraisal of Northwood Town Centre, Green Lane describes late Victorian and Edwardian buildings, mainly in red brick under red clay tiles; the council’s Frithwood leaflet records large Arts and Crafts houses; and The Glen is a 1950s estate of maisonettes. Whatever you own in HA6, let its construction, its later alterations and the controls on its exact address shape the plan for your house, flat or bathroom.

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020 7101 3168

Hampstead Renovations design and build studio on Finchley Road
Our Hampstead studio · Finchley Road, NW3 6DN

Start with your project

Choose the work your Northwood 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 Detached and semi-detached houses

House refurbishment in Northwood

Whether your house is an Arts and Crafts design in the Northwood-Frithwood conservation area, a semi-detached house on Murray Road or a large house on the Copse Wood Estate, begin with a survey of the sash and casement windows, tiled roofs, chimneys and front boundaries that survive. One scheme can then cover heating, wiring, insulation, bathrooms and finishes, while windows, roof works and boundaries are priced once the conservation map, any Area of Special Local Character and any listing have been checked.

  • Survey of surviving windows, roofs and boundaries
  • Conservation area, ASLC and listing checked by address
  • Any window or boundary consent settled before ordering
Read about house refurbishment in Northwood

02 Maisonettes and converted houses

Flat renovation in Northwood

Flats in Northwood take several forms. Hillingdon’s 2019 appraisal records apartments above shops in the mostly three-storey Green Lane parades and some Murray Road houses converted into flats, and The Glen is a 1950s estate of maisonettes whose management plan says external alterations that materially affect appearance need the residents’ association’s permission as well as planning permission. In any flat, read the lease before a layout is drawn, because it can decide where a bathroom goes and which floor finishes are allowed.

  • The lease’s rules on alterations understood
  • Landlord, managing agent or residents’ association asked early
  • Where the shared drains and supplies run
Read about flat refurbishment in Northwood

03 Bathrooms in houses and flats

Bathroom renovation in Northwood

Standalone bathroom renovations are welcome, from an en-suite in a Northwood house to the bathroom of a maisonette on The Glen or a flat above the Green Lane shops. Three things fix the layout before fittings are chosen: how the floor is built, whether waste can fall to the soil stack, which in a flat may also serve other homes, and where extract air can leave the building. A bathroom involving new plumbing, or electrics near a bath or shower, can need Building Regulations approval.

  • A workable fall to the soil stack proved
  • Route for extract air out of the building
  • Somewhere to wash while the room is out of use
Read about bathroom renovation in Northwood

Real projects, clearly located

Ideas for your Northwood 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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In-House Chartered Architects
Structural
Engineering Calculations
Planning
Applications & Consents
Building Control
Compliance Support
Leasehold
Licence for Alteration
£5M · £10M
Public · employers' liability
Independent
Surveying via Hampstead Chartered Surveyors

Local knowledge with a purpose

Understand the building before changing it

Hillingdon’s 2023 townscape study says Northwood’s homes range from the 1950s maisonettes of The Glen to the terraced-style streets of Chester Road from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and are predominantly late Victorian and Edwardian. The age and construction of your home decide what the survey must record; the exact address, the type of home and the work proposed decide which approvals apply.

Hillingdon’s Northwood Town Centre, Green Lane Conservation Area Appraisal, adopted in September 2019, describes a relatively small conservation area centred on the Green Lane and Maxwell Road junction, taking in Station Approach and most of the residential Maxwell and Murray Roads. Green Lane was a quiet country lane until Northwood Station opened in 1887; by 1891 Frank Murray Maxwell Hallowell Carew had laid out the roads, naming them after himself and his family, and sold all the plots. The historic buildings are mainly red brick under red clay tiles, with gables, half timbering, sash windows, leaded lights and chimney stacks.

Hillingdon: Northwood Town Centre, Green Lane Conservation Area Appraisal, adopted September 2019 (PDF)

Hillingdon’s November 2009 leaflet describes the Northwood-Frithwood conservation area, designated in 1989, as primarily large, individually designed detached houses in the Arts and Crafts style on the estate Frank Carew developed after the Metropolitan Railway arrived in 1887, with later houses by C.H.B. Quennell, Swanell and Sly and John Markham, on roads lined with mature trees. Hillingdon’s local list includes Quennell houses of about 1910 at 5 Carew Road, in red brick under a sweeping tiled hipped roof, and a line of his houses at 10–16 Eastbury Road.

Hillingdon: Northwood-Frithwood Conservation Area leaflet, November 2009 (PDF) · Hillingdon: locally listed buildings in Northwood · Hillingdon local list entry 142: 5 Carew Road, Northwood, May 2010 (PDF) · Hillingdon local list entry 151: 10-16 Eastbury Road, Northwood, May 2010 (PDF)

The Glen, a conservation area since July 2007, is a 1950s planned estate of maisonettes on the south side of Green Lane, designed by Kenneth C. Saunders, Architects, and built in 1958 and 1959 in brown brick, with white-painted casements and brown tiled roofs with bonnet hips. Hillingdon’s Area of Special Local Character maps for the Copsewood and Gatehill Farm estates take in Copse Wood Way, Nicholas Way, Gatehill Road and Elgood Avenue; the 2023 townscape study illustrates its large suburban type with Nicholas Way, describing substantial houses on large plots, many with a strong Arts and Crafts influence.

Hillingdon: The Glen, Northwood Conservation Area Appraisal, March 2008 (PDF) · Hillingdon: Copsewood Estate, Northwood, Area of Special Local Character map (PDF) · Hillingdon: Gatehill Farm Estate, Northwood, Area of Special Local Character map (PDF) · Hillingdon Townscape Character Study, October 2023, evidence base, not policy (PDF)

The first local check

Why the exact address matters more than the area name

The name Northwood and an HA6 postcode settle none of the questions that matter. Hillingdon’s Gatehill Farm Estate map shows administrative boundary lines along the estate’s northern edge, and beyond them Admiralty House lies in Three Rivers District Council’s Frith Wood Conservation Area, so confirm the council with the government’s finder first. Then check the conservation area and Area of Special Local Character maps, the listed and locally listed building records, Hillingdon’s Article 4 directions, the title or lease, any residents’ association rules and the planning history, including conditions on earlier permissions.

Find the council for the property · Hillingdon: Gatehill Farm Estate, Northwood, Area of Special Local Character map (PDF) · Three Rivers District Council: Frith Wood Conservation Area Appraisal, June 2008 (PDF) · Hillingdon: conservation areas in Hillingdon, with maps, appraisals and leaflets · Hillingdon: areas of special local character · Hillingdon: listed buildings · Hillingdon: locally listed buildings in Northwood · Hillingdon: Article 4 directions · LEASE: alterations and home improvements · Hillingdon: The Glen, Northwood Management Plan, March 2008 (PDF) · Householder permitted development technical guidance

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: interiors, flats and houses

When does planning permission come into it?

Interior work in a Northwood house or flat is generally not development, so planning permission is seldom the first question. Outside changes differ: a flat or maisonette has no Part 1 householder permitted development rights, and Hillingdon says some of those rights are restricted in conservation areas. For a house, check the limits, any condition on an earlier permission and Hillingdon’s borough-wide Article 4 direction on single-storey rear extensions reaching more than 4 metres beyond the original rear wall. At The Glen, the management plan says external alterations materially affecting appearance need planning permission.

When planning permission is required · Householder permitted development technical guidance · Hillingdon: living in conservation areas · Hillingdon: Article 4 direction on large rear extensions · Hillingdon: The Glen, Northwood Management Plan, March 2008 (PDF)

Listed buildings and conservation areas

Can a listing control interior work?

Yes. Hillingdon says listed building consent is needed for demolition and for any alteration, internal or external, that would affect a listed building’s special interest, and that carrying out such works without consent is a criminal offence. Northwood Police Station and Northwood War Memorial are listed at grade II, as are the Church of the Holy Trinity and Gatehill Farmhouse. A conservation area is a separate control: there, Hillingdon says relevant demolition needs planning permission and asks for a heritage statement with planning applications.

Hillingdon: listed buildings · Planning Data: Northwood Police Station, grade II, list entry 1392966 · Planning Data: Northwood War Memorial, grade II, list entry 1444974 · Planning Data: Church of the Holy Trinity, grade II, list entry 1080155 · Planning Data: Gatehill Farmhouse, grade II, list entry 1080246 · Hillingdon: Northwood Town Centre, Green Lane Conservation Area Appraisal, adopted September 2019 (PDF) · Hillingdon: demolitions in conservation areas · Hillingdon: living in conservation areas

Building Regulations, a separate approval

Who approves the building work itself?

Hillingdon describes planning permission as entirely separate from Building Regulations approval, and a project can need both. Approval can be needed for structural alterations, new drains, some heating appliances, a bathroom involving plumbing, electrics near a bath or shower, and replacement windows, doors and roof coverings. Planning permission, listed building consent, a landlord’s consent and The Glen residents’ association’s permission do not settle it, so decide for each item how it will be approved and who keeps the completion records.

Hillingdon Building Control: planning permission is a separate process · Hillingdon Building Control: works that require approval · When Building Regulations approval is needed · LEASE: alterations and home improvements · Hillingdon: The Glen, Northwood Management Plan, March 2008 (PDF)

Leases, residents’ associations and party walls

Who else may need to agree or be notified?

Depending on a flat’s lease, the landlord’s permission may be needed for alterations even once planning permission or Building Regulations approval is in place, including structural work such as removing a wall and safety-critical work such as replacing a fire door. At The Glen, the March 2008 management plan says external alterations that materially affect appearance also need the residents’ association’s permission. Party Wall notices apply only to work the Act covers, such as building at the boundary, working on a party wall or digging below and near a neighbour’s foundations.

LEASE: alterations and home improvements · Hillingdon: The Glen, Northwood Management Plan, March 2008 (PDF) · Party-wall work requiring notice

Local facts that affect the brief

Apply the controls to the work you actually need

Designated 1989, 2007 and 2009

Hillingdon’s three Northwood conservation areas

Hillingdon lists three conservation areas in Northwood. Northwood Town Centre, Green Lane, recorded by Planning Data as CA-36, was designated on 2 December 2009 after Cabinet approved it on 15 October 2009, and its appraisal, adopted in September 2019, is a material consideration in planning decisions. Northwood, Frithwood (CA-15) dates from 1989 and was extended in 2009; the council’s list offers a map and a November 2009 leaflet for it. The Glen, Northwood (CA-38) was designated on 18 July 2007.

Hillingdon: conservation areas in Hillingdon, with maps, appraisals and leaflets · Planning Data: Northwood Town Centre, Green Lane conservation area (CA-36) · Hillingdon Cabinet decision: Review of Conservation Areas in Northwood, 15 October 2009 · Hillingdon: Northwood Town Centre, Green Lane Conservation Area Appraisal, adopted September 2019 (PDF) · Planning Data: Northwood, Frithwood conservation area (CA-15) · Hillingdon: Northwood-Frithwood Conservation Area leaflet, November 2009 (PDF) · Planning Data: The Glen, Northwood conservation area (CA-38)

The Glen has its own appraisal and management plan, both dated March 2008. Hillingdon says planning applications in a conservation area should come with a heritage statement and take account of any appraisal and management plan, and that it will generally not permit the demolition of buildings that make a positive contribution to the area’s character or appearance. The Frithwood and Glen leaflets, from November 2009 and June 2007, describe the rules as they then stood, so check the current rules with Hillingdon rather than relying on them.

Hillingdon: conservation areas in Hillingdon, with maps, appraisals and leaflets · Hillingdon: The Glen, Northwood Conservation Area Appraisal, March 2008 (PDF) · Hillingdon: The Glen, Northwood Management Plan, March 2008 (PDF) · Hillingdon: living in conservation areas · Hillingdon: demolitions in conservation areas · Hillingdon: Northwood-Frithwood Conservation Area leaflet, November 2009 (PDF) · Hillingdon: The Glen conservation area leaflet, June 2007 (PDF)

ASLC list; Local Plan Part 2, 2020

Areas of Special Local Character and the Copse Wood and Gatehill estates

Hillingdon has 15 Areas of Special Local Character, which it describes as non-designated local heritage assets. Its list includes Dene Road, Northwood (13 November 1989), Old Northwood (31 March 2005) and Hillside, Northwood Hills (24 July 2008), and gives the Copsewood Estate and the Gatehill Farm Estate, Northwood, a designation date of “Not applicable”. Policy DMHB 5 asks alterations in these areas to respect the established scale, building lines, height, design and materials, and extensions to be subservient, leaving space for landscaping.

Hillingdon: areas of special local character · Hillingdon: Old Northwood Area of Special Local Character map (PDF) · Hillingdon Local Plan Part 2: Development Management Policies, adopted 16 January 2020 (PDF)

Local Plan Part 2 has special policies for the Gatehill Farm Estate and Copse Wood Estate: new development is expected to conform to the vernacular styles predominant there, with traditional roof forms and architectural features, and to relate to its landscaped setting. Policy DMHB 6 asks new houses there to keep similar plot widths and building lines, unobtrusive boundaries in natural materials, at least 1.5m to side boundaries and the mature trees. Under Policy DMHD 1, two-storey side extensions there should be set in at least 1.5 metres from the side boundary, and most Copse Wood Estate trees carry preservation orders.

Hillingdon Local Plan Part 2: Development Management Policies, adopted 16 January 2020 (PDF) · Hillingdon: Copsewood Estate, Northwood, Area of Special Local Character map (PDF) · Hillingdon: Gatehill Farm Estate, Northwood, Area of Special Local Character map (PDF) · Planning Data: TPO 394, Linksway, The Broadwalk and Lowswood · Planning Data: TPO 395, The Broadwalk and Linksway, Northwood · Planning Data: TPO 397, Copse Wood Way, Northwood

Borough-wide directions, 2014 and 2025

Article 4 directions in Hillingdon

Hillingdon lists five Article 4 directions, none of them a conservation-area direction for Northwood householders. The one that reaches ordinary house extensions is borough-wide: in force from 22 September 2014, it removes permitted development rights for a single-storey rear extension reaching more than 4 metres beyond the rear wall of the original house. The sealed direction is dated 20 September 2013 and was confirmed on 22 July 2014.

Hillingdon: Article 4 directions · Hillingdon: Article 4 direction on large rear extensions · Hillingdon: Article 4 direction, large extensions (scanned PDF)

Two of the others can matter when a building changes use. From 11 December 2025, planning permission is needed anywhere in the borough to convert a dwelling into a small house in multiple occupation for three or more unrelated people; Full Council decided this on 27 November 2025 and the direction was confirmed on 21 May 2026. A direction confirmed on 14 July 2022, modified from 27 March 2024, removes rights to change commercial, business and service uses to homes; check whether it reaches the address.

Hillingdon: Article 4 direction on houses in multiple occupation · Hillingdon: Article 4 direction for C4 HMOs (scanned PDF) · Hillingdon: Article 4 direction on commercial, business and service uses to dwellinghouses

Adopted 2012 and 2020; new plan not adopted

The adopted Local Plan, the Green Belt and the 2023 study

Hillingdon’s adopted Local Plan is Part 1, Strategic Policies, adopted on 8 November 2012 to guide development to 2026, and Part 2, the Development Management Policies and Site Allocations and Designations, adopted on 16 January 2020. Policy DMHB 4 expects alterations and extensions in a conservation area, or on its fringes, to preserve or enhance its character or appearance. A new Local Plan is at an early stage: its scoping consultation closed on 21 August 2026, and it is not adopted policy.

Hillingdon Local Plan Part 1: adoption statement, 8 November 2012 (PDF) · Hillingdon: the Local Plan · Hillingdon Local Plan Part 2: Development Management Policies, adopted 16 January 2020 (PDF) · Hillingdon: Local Plan Review, early stage, not adopted

Part 1 says the Green Belt covers much of the northern third of the borough, and Part 2 accepts alterations and extensions to existing homes there only without disproportionate additions over the size of the original building, so ask Hillingdon whether land at the address is Green Belt. The 2023 Hillingdon Townscape Character Study notes that much of Northwood is covered by conservation area or ASLC designation, but it is evidence for the new plan, not policy, and the council is not bound by its findings.

Hillingdon Local Plan Part 1: Strategic Policies, adopted November 2012 (PDF) · Hillingdon Local Plan Part 2: Development Management Policies, adopted 16 January 2020 (PDF) · Hillingdon Townscape Character Study, October 2023, evidence base, not policy (PDF)

Settle the consent route for the exact Northwood address and proposal before ordering windows, re-covering a roof or starting any excavation. Planning permission, listed building consent, conservation-area controls, Article 4 directions, Building Regulations approval, lease or residents’ association consent and any Party Wall procedure each run on their own terms, and none replaces another. Whether planning permission is needed depends on the proposal, on whether the home is a house or a flat, and on the conservation area, Article 4 directions and conditions on earlier permissions; in an Area of Special Local Character, Policy DMHB 5 then guides the design.

When planning permission is required · Householder permitted development technical guidance · Hillingdon: living in conservation areas · Hillingdon: listed buildings · Hillingdon: areas of special local character · Hillingdon Local Plan Part 2: Development Management Policies, adopted 16 January 2020 (PDF) · Hillingdon: Article 4 directions · Hillingdon Building Control: planning permission is a separate process · When Building Regulations approval is needed · LEASE: alterations and home improvements · Hillingdon: The Glen, Northwood Management Plan, March 2008 (PDF) · Party-wall work requiring notice

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 and leaded lights, tiled roofs, shared stacks, protected trees and clay

Sashes, casements and leaded lights

Start with each frame’s condition: a sound sash or casement may be overhauled, draught-stripped or given secondary glazing rather than replaced. Hillingdon’s 2019 appraisal records sash and casement windows in wood and metal, names the replacement of original windows and doors, mostly with UPVC, as the greatest harm to the town centre conservation area, and says surviving originals must be preserved. The Glen’s management plan asks for its leaded-light windows and doors to be replaced like with like, and replacement windows can also need Building Regulations approval.

Hillingdon: Northwood Town Centre, Green Lane Conservation Area Appraisal, adopted September 2019 (PDF) · Hillingdon: The Glen, Northwood Management Plan, March 2008 (PDF) · When Building Regulations approval is needed

Bathrooms, shared stacks and vents

A flat’s bathroom often drains into a soil stack shared with other homes, so a new layout must work with where that stack runs; find out who maintains it before design starts, and decide where the extract duct and any new waste pipe will leave the building before tiling. At The Glen, ask whether a new vent or outlet is an external alteration materially affecting appearance, which the management plan says needs planning permission and the residents’ association’s permission. New drains and bathroom plumbing can need Building Regulations approval.

LEASE: alterations and home improvements · Hillingdon: The Glen, Northwood Management Plan, March 2008 (PDF) · Hillingdon Building Control: works that require approval · When Building Regulations approval is needed

Joists, partitions and sound between homes

Trial openings should show how each floor is framed, where earlier plumbers notched joists and which partitions carry load before any wall comes out or stone flooring is chosen. Structural alterations can need Building Regulations approval, and between flats or maisonettes, choose the floor build-up and acoustic layers with the lease and Approved Document E, which covers sound insulation in houses and flats, in view. Work on a wall shared with a neighbour can also bring in the Party Wall Act.

Hillingdon Building Control: works that require approval · When Building Regulations approval is needed · GOV.UK: Approved Document E, resistance to sound · LEASE: alterations and home improvements · Party-wall work requiring notice

Front gardens, low boundaries and estate planting

Hillingdon’s 2019 appraisal finds boundary treatments in the town centre conservation area overwhelmingly low, with houses and gardens visible behind; most front gardens on Murray Road have been given over to parking, and it calls resurfacing front gardens for parking particularly detrimental where the front boundary is also removed. In the Copse Wood and Gatehill estates, Policy DMHB 6 asks new houses to have unobtrusive, natural-material boundaries and to preserve the mature trees and boundary planting. The Glen’s 2008 appraisal says it lies entirely on private land, its trees the residents’ association’s responsibility.

Hillingdon: Northwood Town Centre, Green Lane Conservation Area Appraisal, adopted September 2019 (PDF) · Hillingdon Local Plan Part 2: Development Management Policies, adopted 16 January 2020 (PDF) · Hillingdon: The Glen, Northwood Conservation Area Appraisal, March 2008 (PDF)

London Clay, protected trees and work below ground

The 2019 appraisal describes London Clay on Reading Beds with pebbly gravel on the hilltops, and a chalk pit found in 1978 at the corner of Green Lane and Dene Road. In a Hillingdon conservation area, a tree over 75mm in diameter at breast height needs 6 weeks’ notice before work, and a tree with a preservation order needs consent; Planning Data records orders at The Glen and on parts of Copse Wood Way, Linksway and The Broadwalk. A new or deeper basement calls for ground, structural, drainage and flood-risk investigation.

Hillingdon: Northwood Town Centre, Green Lane Conservation Area Appraisal, adopted September 2019 (PDF) · Hillingdon: work on trees in conservation areas · Hillingdon: work on protected trees · Planning Data: TPO 241, The Glen & 12 Green Lane, Northwood · Planning Data: TPO 397, Copse Wood Way, Northwood · Planning Data: TPO 394, Linksway, The Broadwalk and Lowswood · Planning Data: TPO 395, The Broadwalk and Linksway, Northwood · Check long-term flood risk in England

Warmer homes and equipment outside

Treat insulation, heating and ventilation as one decision, because insulation chosen without regard to ventilation can trap moisture in older walls and roofs. Hillingdon’s Local Plan Part 2 says external insulation or cladding on any building in a conservation area needs planning permission. At The Glen, the management plan says planning permission is unlikely to be given for dormer windows and roof lights. Installing or replacing a heating system can also need Building Regulations approval.

Hillingdon Local Plan Part 2: Development Management Policies, adopted 16 January 2020 (PDF) · Hillingdon: The Glen, Northwood Management Plan, March 2008 (PDF) · When Building Regulations approval is needed

A practical plan for the street and building

Working hours, deliveries and shared access

Skips, scaffolding and parking bays

Plan deliveries, waste storage and protection for any shared hall, stair or drive before work starts. For a Hillingdon address, a skip on a public road needs a permit, which the skip company obtains, with any exemption from Parking Services first where parking restrictions apply; a scaffold on a road, verge or footway needs a council licence, applied for by the scaffolding contractor with at least 10 working days’ notice. Suspending a parking bay for building works needs 5 full working days’ notice for pay and display bays and 7 for permit holder bays.

Hillingdon: skip permits · Hillingdon: scaffolds, hoardings and fences licence · Hillingdon: applying for a parking suspension · Hillingdon: parking suspensions and charges · LEASE: alterations and home improvements

Hillingdon’s noisy-work hours and living at home

For a Hillingdon address, the council permits building work audible at the site boundary from 8am to 6pm, Monday to Friday, and 8am to 1pm on Saturday, and not on Sundays, public or bank holidays. In a flat or maisonette, ask the managing agent or residents’ association about any building rules on noise, deliveries and shared parts. If you stay at home, agree which rooms remain in use and when water or power will be off, and tell neighbours in advance what is planned.

Hillingdon: commercial, industrial and construction noise · LEASE: alterations and home improvements

A clear scope before a price

Plan your renovation budget and quotation

Give every contractor the identical written scope, or the totals will not compare. Price the rooms as one group, then repairs to windows, roofs, chimneys and boundaries, then structural work, and keep apart anything that waits on a landlord, a residents’ association, a neighbour or a council decision.

The home as found

Separate the repairs you can see today from those that opening up may expose.

  • Drawings and photographs of the home as found
  • Windows, doors, chimneys and boundaries to keep
  • Where timber, damp or pipework needs a closer look

Each room and its services

Describe every room in enough detail that no contractor has to guess.

  • Fittings, finishes and quantities for every room
  • Heating, plumbing, ventilation and electrics described
  • Anything you are buying yourself, with dates

Consents, notices and site arrangements

Set out which consents, notices and street arrangements apply, and who is responsible for each.

  • Answers on conservation area, ASLC, listing and lease
  • Any notice the Party Wall Act calls for
  • Skip, scaffold and parking arrangements for the road

Open items and the order of work

Agree how unknowns are allowed for and when each outstanding decision is due.

  • Provisional sums listed and VAT made clear
  • When windows, doors and fittings must be ordered
  • Inspection stages and completion certificates

A Northwood address does not add a fixed surcharge to a quotation or set the length of the work. Each quotation should make clear how VAT and any professional fees are treated, and what happens if opening up reveals something unexpected. A standalone bathroom gets a quotation of its own, written for that room.

From an idea to a workable scope

Prepare your brief and renovation budget

  1. Tell us about the home

    Start with the property: give its address and say whether it is a detached, semi-detached or terraced house, a maisonette or a flat, adding the floor level for a flat. Include photographs of each room involved, the approach from the road, the front garden and boundary, and any damp, cracking or leaks you have noticed.

  2. Collect what you already have

    Paperwork saves time: plans of the home, the title or lease, any residents’ association rules, building control certificates and letters on earlier planning or listed building applications. Mention what you know about the home’s conservation area, Area of Special Local Character, listing or local listing, and any tree with a preservation order close to the work.

  3. Mark the open questions

    Some decisions can be made now; others wait for an engineer’s findings, a drainage survey, the reply from a landlord or residents’ association, or the council’s view. Name those open items so each quotation carries the same written allowance for them, rather than a guess.

  4. Agree responsibilities and timing

    Put a name against every consent, notice, licence and inspection. Fit deliveries, skips and scaffolding to the road outside and to the council’s published hours for noisy work, tell us whether you plan to stay at home during the work, and agree in writing how variations and the handover file will be managed.

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

Discuss your Northwood project

Our Hampstead base, serving Northwood

Talk to our Finchley Road studio

Our studio is in Hampstead on Finchley Road, at NW3 6DN. We serve Northwood 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.

Book a free feasibility visit
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 Northwood: practical answers

Can one bathroom in my Northwood home be a standalone project?

Yes. One bathroom, en-suite or shower room in a Northwood house, maisonette or flat can be a standalone project for us, without any wider refurbishment. To prepare, we need the room’s size, photographs, the present layout and, if you know it, the route of the soil stack, plus whether another bathroom will be usable while the work goes on.

Is my Northwood home in a conservation area?

That depends on the boundary map, not the name. Hillingdon lists three conservation areas in Northwood: Northwood Town Centre, Green Lane, designated on 2 December 2009; Northwood, Frithwood, from 1989 and extended in 2009; and The Glen, Northwood, from 18 July 2007. Areas of Special Local Character, such as the Copsewood Estate and Old Northwood, are what Hillingdon calls non-designated local heritage assets, not conservation areas, and Frith Wood is a Three Rivers conservation area. Confirm the council for the full address first.

Hillingdon: conservation areas in Hillingdon, with maps, appraisals and leaflets · Planning Data: Northwood Town Centre, Green Lane conservation area (CA-36) · Planning Data: Northwood, Frithwood conservation area (CA-15) · Planning Data: The Glen, Northwood conservation area (CA-38) · Hillingdon: areas of special local character · Planning Data: Frith Wood conservation area, Three Rivers District Council · Find the council for the property

Could an Article 4 direction or a listing affect my Northwood home?

Possibly. Hillingdon lists no conservation-area Article 4 direction for Northwood householders, but under its borough-wide direction in force from 22 September 2014, a single-storey rear extension more than 4 metres beyond the original rear wall needs planning permission, and a second borough-wide direction, in force from 11 December 2025, requires permission to convert a dwelling into a small house in multiple occupation. Northwood Police Station and Northwood War Memorial are listed at grade II; separately, Hillingdon’s Northwood local list includes buildings on Carew Road, Eastbury Road, Maxwell Road and Murray Road.

Hillingdon: Article 4 directions · Hillingdon: Article 4 direction on large rear extensions · Hillingdon: Article 4 direction on houses in multiple occupation · Hillingdon: Article 4 direction for C4 HMOs (scanned PDF) · Planning Data: Northwood Police Station, grade II, list entry 1392966 · Planning Data: Northwood War Memorial, grade II, list entry 1444974 · Hillingdon: listed buildings · Hillingdon: locally listed buildings in Northwood · Hillingdon: locally listed buildings

Are new windows or double glazing possible in a Northwood home?

Start from the frames you have: overhauling and draught-stripping a sash or casement, perhaps with secondary glazing, may give the comfort you want. In the town centre conservation area, the 2019 appraisal names replacing original windows and doors, mostly with UPVC, as the greatest harm and says surviving originals must be preserved, while The Glen’s management plan asks for like-for-like replacement. A listing, the lack of householder rights for flats, the lease and Building Regulations for replacement windows each need checking.

Hillingdon: Northwood Town Centre, Green Lane Conservation Area Appraisal, adopted September 2019 (PDF) · Hillingdon: The Glen, Northwood Management Plan, March 2008 (PDF) · Hillingdon: listed buildings · Householder permitted development technical guidance · LEASE: alterations and home improvements · When Building Regulations approval is needed

Who needs to agree to internal changes in my flat or maisonette?

Usually not the planning team: changes confined to the interior are generally not development, although outside alterations differ because flats have no Part 1 householder rights. The lease usually matters most, so read its alterations clauses and ask the landlord or managing agent about consent before design starts. At The Glen, the management plan says external alterations materially affecting appearance also need the residents’ association’s permission. Building Regulations can cover new bathroom plumbing and electrics near a bath or shower, and listed building consent can reach internal work.

When planning permission is required · Householder permitted development technical guidance · LEASE: alterations and home improvements · Hillingdon: The Glen, Northwood Management Plan, March 2008 (PDF) · When Building Regulations approval is needed · Hillingdon: listed buildings

Could a wall come out, or the bathroom move elsewhere?

The structure and the drains decide. A structural engineer should establish which walls carry loads from above and how the floors are framed before anything is removed, and moving a bathroom depends on whether the new position can drain to the stack with enough fall and send extract air outside. Structural alterations and new drains can need Building Regulations approval, removing a wall can need the landlord’s permission under a lease, and cutting into a party wall needs notice under the Party Wall Act.

Hillingdon Building Control: works that require approval · When Building Regulations approval is needed · LEASE: alterations and home improvements · Party-wall work requiring notice

Can I add space below ground in Northwood?

Refitting an existing lower-ground room stays within the house, but digging out or deepening counts as new basement work and raises planning, structural, drainage and Party Wall questions. Hillingdon’s 2019 appraisal describes London Clay on Reading Beds with pebbly gravel on the hilltops and records a chalk pit found in 1978 at the corner of Green Lane and Dene Road, so commission ground investigation early and check the area’s long-term flood risk before planning any excavation.

When planning permission is required · Hillingdon: Northwood Town Centre, Green Lane Conservation Area Appraisal, adopted September 2019 (PDF) · Party-wall work requiring notice · Hillingdon Building Control: works that require approval · Check long-term flood risk in England

When is noisy building work allowed at a Northwood address?

For a Hillingdon address, the council permits building work that is audible at the site boundary from 8am to 6pm, Monday to Friday, and 8am to 1pm on Saturday, and not on Sundays, public or bank holidays. Check any stricter lease or building rules on noise and deliveries before agreeing the programme, and give neighbours notice of the noisiest stages. If the address turns out to be in Three Rivers, ask that council for its own rules.

Hillingdon: commercial, industrial and construction noise · LEASE: alterations and home improvements · Find the council for the property

How can I tell whether two builders’ quotations cover the same work?

Hand every builder the same written scope, so that each prices identical rooms, quantities, services and finishes, the same original features to keep and the same known repairs. Then compare the treatment of VAT, professional fees, consents, licences, protection and provisional sums line by line; totals mean little until the largest unknowns are investigated. Being in Northwood is not, by itself, a reason for a higher price or a set finishing date.

Where is your studio, and how do I start?

Our studio is in Hampstead, at Unit 3, Palace Court, 250 Finchley Road, London NW3 6DN, and we serve Northwood from this office. Start with the address, the rooms involved and a few photographs; any drawings, lease, residents’ association rules or consent papers can come later, together with a note of what matters most to you in the budget.

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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