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Palmers Green N13 · House refurbishment

House refurbishment in Palmers Green

Edwardian houses whose plans and roofs differ street by street

Not every Palmers Green house follows the standard Edwardian plan. Enfield’s Lakes Estate appraisal records houses with a square plan and no rear extension, Broomfield Avenue pairs with a valley behind the main roof, and many roofs re-covered in concrete tiles. This page covers those house types, the Article 4 classes for front outbuildings and dishes, two locally listed houses outside the conservation area, and the drainage evidence that bears on gardens and extensions.

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Start here

House refurbishment in Palmers Green at a glance

Before planning a whole-house job, find out which plan your house has, because it decides where new space can go. Enfield’s Lakes Estate appraisal, approved in June 2015, notes that the commonest exception to the estate’s standard type has a roughly square plan and no rear extension, for example in Old Park Road, Grovelands Road and notably Broomfield Avenue. Elsewhere in Broomfield Avenue, beyond the group whose very steep roof pitches hide flat roofs, it describes linked pairs, each house with a secondary street door set back in the link to the service rooms behind, and square first-floor bays on the garden side instead of rear extensions.

Enfield: Lakes Estate Conservation Area Character Appraisal, approved June 2015 (PDF)

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

Approved guide prices

What does a house refurbishment cost in Palmers Green?

Cost in Palmers Green 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

Palmers Green houses: roofs, stacks and two houses on the local list

Before a scope is written, look at roofs and stacks that vary from one street to the next, at what earlier re-roofing has already changed, and at whether a house outside the conservation area is locally listed, as the two described below are.

Broomfield Avenue’s roofs repay a close look before any re-roofing. For the linked pairs outside the group with false pitches, the appraisal describes a valley running the full width of each pair behind the main L-shaped, hipped and gabled roof, with the rear of each house under what is effectively a separate pitch, so the hidden valley gutter matters too. Across the estate, it notes a small additional stack on the front party wall of the higher class of semi-detached houses, which served fireplaces in the entrance halls. Find out whether yours survives before the hall is replanned.

Enfield: Lakes Estate Conservation Area Character Appraisal, approved June 2015 (PDF)

Character changes from street to street. Along Fox Lane, both sides are mainly short terraces and linked pairs, and the houses the appraisal singles out have big gables, canted first-floor oriels and bay windows arranged differently at each level. On Aldermans Hill, the semi-detached houses between Ulleswater and Lakeside Roads are bigger than the estate average and relatively plain, with big chimneys, tile hanging and substantial porches. Across the estate, many roofs have lost their original clay tile or Welsh slate, most often to red or grey interlocking concrete tiles, though many kept their terracotta ridge tiles.

Enfield: Lakes Estate Conservation Area Character Appraisal, approved June 2015 (PDF)

Enfield’s Local Heritage List of December 2024 includes houses outside any conservation area, among them these two. The Gables, 87 New River Crescent, in Palmers Green ward, was the home of Albert Frederick Simmons, who built the Hazelwood Estate; built in 1906 for his bride, it is an Arts and Crafts inspired house with exposed beams and original stained glass, including the transom above the front door. No. 128 Aldermans Hill, of 1892, has two storeys with some rooms in the roof, a red-brick neo-Gothic design and a first floor hung with decorative red clay tiles.

Enfield: Local Heritage List, December 2024 (PDF)

Permissions and local rules

What to check before the outside of the house changes

Front outbuildings, oil tanks and dishes

What else does the Lakes Estate direction cover?

The Lakes Estate Article 4(2) direction of 2010 also reaches parts of the garden. In the 1995 Order’s lettering, Class E covers a building, enclosure or pool within the curtilage, or a container for storing heating oil or liquid petroleum gas, and Class H covers installing, altering or replacing a microwave antenna, such as a satellite dish, on the house or within its curtilage. Both rights are withdrawn where the work would front a highway, open space or waterway. Only houses in the schedule are covered, so check yours before a front store, tank or dish goes in.

Enfield: Lakes Estate Article 4(2) direction, made 24 February 2010 and confirmed 26 April 2010 (PDF)

Extending a square-plan house or a semi-detached pair

Which Enfield policies judge an extension?

For a square-plan house that needs permission for a rear extension, adopted DMD 11 measures the limits from the original house, however deep the neighbours have built, though a deeper extension may be allowed where justified to line up with neighbouring rear extensions. A flat-roofed single-storey extension should stay within 3 metres of the ground at the eaves, with an allowance of 3.3 to 3.5 metres to the top of a parapet. Under DMD 13, a sideways roof extension must not upset the pair’s balance, and its text warns that side-facing dormers can unbalance mirrored pairs.

Enfield: Development Management Document, adopted November 2014 · Enfield: Lakes Estate Conservation Area Character Appraisal, approved June 2015 (PDF)

Surface water at Hamilton Crescent and on Green Lanes

Does the drainage evidence bear on a garden extension?

Enfield’s 2012 Surface Water Management Plan names Hamilton Crescent a critical drainage area. Its model sends overland flow along Lodge Drive and through the school to pond in Hamilton Crescent gardens behind the New River embankment, though it left out a culvert under the embankment that may reduce the ponding, and the plan notes limited records of actual flooding. It also describes surface water flowing down Green Lanes and nearby roads towards Pymmes Brook, in an area reaching into Haringey, so check the address. For a householder application, the council’s drainage page directs you to its minor SuDS pro-forma.

Enfield: Surface Water Management Plan (Drain London, final v3.0, 5 January 2012; a model-based study whose options are recommendations, PDF) · Enfield: sustainable drainage systems (page modified 12 February 2026)

Solar panels on a Lakes Estate roof

What do the management proposals say about solar panels?

Enfield’s 2015 management proposals called the photovoltaic panels fitted to the front roof pitch of a house in Broomfield Avenue highly intrusive and visually damaging to the traditional roofscape, and treated micro-generation as an emerging issue needing monitoring and guidance. Ask the council how it treats such panels today. Where planning permission is needed, adopted policy DMD 53 says the council will seek to encourage further carbon reductions on minor applications through on-site renewable energy, and separately encourages local low and zero carbon energy supply where there is no overriding adverse local impact, including identified impacts on historic assets.

Enfield: Lakes Estate Conservation Area Management Proposals, approved June 2015 (PDF) · Enfield: Development Management Document, adopted November 2014

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

What the work covers

The work inside and out of a Palmers Green house

Roof, ridge tiles and stacks

Settle the roof in one go while the scaffold is up. That may mean re-covering a concrete-tiled slope in clay tile or Welsh slate, reusing terracotta ridge tiles, clearing and relining a Broomfield Avenue valley gutter, and repairing the hall stack rather than taking it down. Enfield’s Building Control Charges 26/27 list re-roofing as a standard domestic item, so ask building control whether yours needs an application, and on a scheduled house check the Article 4 position before the roof covering changes.

Enfield: Lakes Estate Conservation Area Character Appraisal, approved June 2015 (PDF) · Enfield: Building Control Charges 26/27, effective 1 April 2026 (PDF) · Enfield: Lakes Estate Article 4(2) direction, made 24 February 2010 and confirmed 26 April 2010 (PDF)

Front doors, porches and glass

The appraisal found that the original front door more commonly survives with some or all of its stained glass missing, though a number have been replaced, sometimes with modern porches added, and it commends houses where traditionally detailed painted timber doors and windows have been reinstated. A refurbishment can repair the glass or remake a door to its pattern. The 2015 proposals record that the Article 4 direction has brought most of the problems found in 2010 under control without wholly preventing them.

Enfield: Lakes Estate Conservation Area Character Appraisal, approved June 2015 (PDF) · Enfield: Lakes Estate Conservation Area Management Proposals, approved June 2015 (PDF)

Inside: the hall, the back rooms and services

Inside, the work usually covers rewiring, heating and plumbing, new bathrooms and a kitchen, insulation and any change of layout. On a square-plan house without a rear extension, decide early whether the back rooms will be replanned or extended, since that sets the structural work. The 2026-27 charges list removing a load-bearing wall and removing chimney breasts as separate building control items, and Enfield’s Building Notice checklist says a notice lapses three years after it is given unless the work has started, so time the application to the start.

Enfield: Building Control Charges 26/27, effective 1 April 2026 (PDF) · Enfield: building notice notes and checklist (PDF)

How we work

How we run a Palmers Green 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 Palmers Green. 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. Identify the plan and the roof

    Tell us whether the house has a two-storey rear extension, a square plan or the Broomfield Avenue linked-pair form, and send photographs of the front and rear roof slopes, any valley gutter, the chimneys and the entrance hall. That shows early whether the roof, the stacks or the back of the house will drive the scope.

  2. Look the house up in three places

    Check the house against the Lakes Estate Article 4 schedule, the conservation area boundary and Enfield’s Local Heritage List. A house can sit outside the conservation area yet be locally listed, as on New River Crescent, and the schedule lists particular house numbers rather than whole roads. Note any outbuilding, oil tank or dish you plan at the front.

  3. Note the water and the garden

    Say whether the garden is low-lying, has held water after heavy rain or backs onto the New River embankment, and where the rainwater pipes and gullies discharge. If an extension is likely, those answers shape the drainage design and the minor SuDS pro-forma that a householder application would need.

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

Book a free feasibility visit

Questions before you begin

House refurbishment in Palmers Green: questions

Is every house on Aldermans Hill in the Lakes Estate?

No. Aldermans Hill forms the estate’s southern edge, and the appraisal describes the semi-detached houses there between Ulleswater and Lakeside Roads, but Enfield’s Local Heritage List records No. 128 Aldermans Hill as outside any conservation area, and the Article 4 schedule names only some Aldermans Hill numbers. Ulleswater Road itself has N14 addresses. Check the exact address against the boundary map in the Lakes Estate appraisal and the schedule rather than relying on the street name.

Enfield: Lakes Estate Conservation Area Character Appraisal, approved June 2015 (PDF) · Enfield: Local Heritage List, December 2024 (PDF) · Enfield: Lakes Estate Article 4(2) direction, made 24 February 2010 and confirmed 26 April 2010 (PDF) · Enfield: Lakes Estate conservation area

Can a Broomfield Avenue house be extended at first floor?

Possibly. Outside the group with false roof pitches, the street’s linked pairs have square first-floor bays rather than rear extensions. A first-floor rear extension that needs permission is judged under DMD 11, which among other tests says it must not cross a 30-degree line from the mid-point of the nearest original first-floor window next door and, where appropriate, must secure a common alignment. For a single-storey extension it uses a 45-degree line from the mid-point of the neighbour’s nearest original ground-floor window, or a common alignment instead. Draw both lines on a survey first.

Enfield: Lakes Estate Conservation Area Character Appraisal, approved June 2015 (PDF) · Enfield: Development Management Document, adopted November 2014

Where can a garden room or shed go?

Usually behind the front building line. Enfield’s adopted DMD 12 treats a garden building as something that must serve the house, says it should not normally sit forward of that line, and looks at the lie of the ground, how far it stands from the house and whether its height and bulk would harm local character or the neighbours. For a house in the Lakes Estate Article 4 schedule, a building fronting a highway, open space or waterway needs planning permission. Elsewhere, householder permitted development may cover a modest building, within its limits and conditions.

Enfield: Development Management Document, adopted November 2014 · Enfield: Lakes Estate Article 4(2) direction, made 24 February 2010 and confirmed 26 April 2010 (PDF) · Householder permitted development technical guidance

What paperwork follows the building work?

Enfield’s completion notice form says that whoever must give a building notice or full plans application must, no more than five days after the work is completed, give the council a completion notice. On it the client confirms that, as far as they know, the work complies, and the principal contractor and principal designer confirm they have met their duties. Once the work is satisfactorily complete, building control issues a completion certificate. Keep both with the electrical and gas certificates for a future sale.

Enfield: Regulation 16(4A) completion notice form (PDF) · Enfield: building control applications

Does Enfield publish a design guide for house extensions?

Not on its list of adopted guidance. The council’s page of adopted supplementary planning documents, modified on 13 February 2025, lists area masterplans and briefs, the S106 and energy documents and the Heritage Strategy, but no householder design guide, so DMD 11 to 14 are the tests for extensions. The Core Strategy of 2010 planned an Enfield Design Guide giving energy-efficiency advice to householders, but it is not on that list. For a Lakes Estate house, read the appraisal and the management proposals alongside those policies.

Enfield: adopted supplementary planning documents · Enfield: The Enfield Plan Core Strategy, adopted November 2010 (PDF) · Enfield: Development Management Document, adopted November 2014 · Enfield: Lakes Estate Conservation Area Character Appraisal, approved June 2015 (PDF) · Enfield: Lakes Estate Conservation Area Management Proposals, approved June 2015 (PDF)

How much does a house refurbishment cost in Palmers Green?

It depends on scope. In Palmers Green, 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 Palmers Green house

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

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

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