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Queen’s Park NW6 · House refurbishment

House refurbishment in Queen’s Park

Brent terraces with outriggers, cottages in Westminster

A whole-house refurbishment in Queen’s Park begins with the council, because the outside of a conservation-area house here is judged against one of two sets of guidance. Brent’s design guide sets depths, heights and roof proportions for the terraces and villas of its conservation area. Westminster’s guidance covers the two-storey cottages of the Queen’s Park Estate, from their slate roofs to their front walls. This page explains both, and what to decide first.

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House refurbishment in Queen’s Park at a glance

What you can add behind a Queen’s Park house depends on the council. On most houses in Brent’s Queen’s Park Conservation Area, Brent’s 2013 design guide says only a single-storey rear extension would be acceptable, and it should project no more than 3 metres from the back of a terraced or semi-detached house, or 4 metres from a detached one. In Westminster’s Queen’s Park Estate Conservation Area, the 2005 audit says the council will usually limit a rear extension to ground floor level, acceptable only where it is subordinate to the house, uses high-quality materials and detailing and does not significantly reduce outdoor space. Confirm the council for your address.

Brent: Queen’s Park Conservation Area Design Guide, adopted 17 June 2013 (PDF) · Westminster: Queens Park Estate Conservation Area Audit, adopted 15 April 2005 · Find the council for the property

For the whole area, including conservation areas, permissions and working hours, read our Queen’s Park renovation guide.

Approved guide prices

What does a house refurbishment cost in Queen’s Park?

Cost in Queen’s Park 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

Queen’s Park houses: Brent terraces and Westminster cottages

The two councils describe very different houses. Brent’s documents mostly deal with large Victorian and Edwardian houses, usually on tight plots, while Westminster’s deal with small two-storey cottages laid out as one estate.

Brent’s 2013 design guide describes most houses in its Queen’s Park Conservation Area as large but usually well placed on tight, composed plots, and warns that in most cases overly large extensions will not be acceptable. Dispersed among the Victorian and Edwardian rows are short post-war terraces, put up after the Second World War to replace bomb-damaged houses. One of their key original features, the guide says, would have been steel-framed Crittall windows, so establish which kind of house you own before choosing windows.

Brent: Queen’s Park Conservation Area Design Guide, adopted 17 June 2013 (PDF)

Brent’s 2024 appraisal for the boundary extension describes three-storey town houses on Salusbury Road with double-height bay windows and decorative stone and red-brick arches; whether a given house is inside the final boundary should be checked on Brent’s map. The same appraisal records that Hartland Road, Donaldson Road and the east end of Victoria Road were built by Solomon Barnett, but were considered too altered by large roof extensions to be included in the Queen’s Park Conservation Area.

Brent: Queen’s Park Conservation Area boundary extension character appraisal, December 2024 (PDF) · Brent: listed buildings and conservation areas

Westminster’s 2005 audit of the Queen’s Park Estate notes that, in some locations, open gaps at the ends of terraces give views down the backs of the houses to rear closet wings of consistent detail. At the front, the estate’s painted timber panelled doors are recessed, with glazed upper panels above fielded or herringbone lower panels. The small front garden walls are all of one design, a low coped wall with square gate piers and pyramidal caps, and their railings were removed during the Second World War.

Westminster: Queens Park Estate Conservation Area Audit, adopted 15 April 2005

Permissions and local rules

Outside controls for a Queen’s Park house

Rear extensions and outrigger infills in Brent’s conservation area

What may be added behind a terraced or semi-detached house in Brent’s conservation area?

Brent’s 2021 and 2025 Article 4 directions do not withdraw the permitted development right for a single-storey rear extension kept within the original side walls, so check whether you need to apply. Where an outrigger infill needs permission, the 2013 guide asks for a lightweight roof, no more than 2.0 metres high on the boundary, measured from the neighbour’s side, and 3.0 metres where it meets the house, no longer than the outrigger and not wrapped around it. If neighbours apply jointly and build at the same time, the guide says that boundary height limit is not relevant.

Brent: Queen’s Park Conservation Area Article 4 direction, in force 18 December 2021 (scanned PDF) · Brent: Queen’s Park Conservation Area non-immediate Article 4 direction, in force 1 September 2025 (scanned PDF) · Householder permitted development technical guidance · Brent: Queen’s Park Conservation Area Design Guide, adopted 17 June 2013 (PDF)

Rear dormers and a front rooflight in Brent’s conservation area

What can change on a roof in Brent’s conservation area?

Brent’s 2013 guide says a rear dormer should be no wider than two-thirds of the original roof plane, or half on a particularly wide building, and set at least 0.3 metres below the ridge and 0.5 metres above the eaves, with a mainly glazed face and cheeks normally matching the roof; a smaller one may be required where the rear is clearly visible from the street. At the front, Brent’s Planning Committee decided on 2 July 2015 that a single modest, flush rooflight placed carefully above the first-floor window is acceptable, in black metal conservation style only.

Brent: Queen’s Park Conservation Area Design Guide, adopted 17 June 2013 (PDF)

Roofs and rear additions in Westminster’s conservation area

Can a Queen’s Park Estate cottage grow?

Westminster’s 2005 audit says roof extensions and dormers are unlikely to be permitted on the estate, that original slate should be kept wherever possible and that the council will not normally accept concrete tiles or artificial slate. Where a rear extension is acceptable, Westminster’s Spring 1995 design guide expects weathered London stock brick, timber sliding sashes and usually a pitched slate roof, not render, painted brick or a flat roof. Where rear elevations are prominent, the audit adds, an extension may in many cases not be acceptable. Westminster cautions that these older documents may cite policies predating its current framework.

Westminster: Queens Park Estate Conservation Area Audit, adopted 15 April 2005 · Westminster: The Queen’s Park Estate Design Guide, Spring 1995 (older guidance, PDF) · Westminster: conservation area audits, maps and guidance L–Z, with its note on older policies

Front doors, paths and garden walls

What does each council ask of the front?

In Brent’s conservation area, the 2013 guide says infilling recessed entrances or porches with extra door sets will not be permitted, and asks for tiled, terrazzo or stone front paths to be kept or repaired. Walls and hedges may be removed for hard surfaces only as part of an acceptable off-street parking scheme, and where front walls have gone Brent encourages matching replacements, most in the house’s own brick and around 10 brick courses high at most. In Westminster’s conservation area, the 2005 audit asks for repairs to the coped walls to match the original brickwork, and encourages traditional railings.

Brent: Queen’s Park Conservation Area Design Guide, adopted 17 June 2013 (PDF) · Westminster: Queens Park Estate Conservation Area Audit, adopted 15 April 2005

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

What the work covers

What a Queen’s Park house refurbishment covers

Windows: repair, copy or replace

Brent’s 2013 guide says a replacement window should ideally copy the original exactly, keep its opening size and original depth in the reveal, without swapping casement and sash styles; an application must include 1:10 or fully dimensioned elevations and a 1:5 or preferably full-size section through the transom. Where all of a post-war terrace’s windows are mixed replacements, Brent seeks one consistent aluminium design, without picture windows. Westminster’s Environment SPD finds slim double glazing appropriate in conservation areas, subject to detail, but the estate’s Article 4 controls remain.

Brent: Queen’s Park Conservation Area Design Guide, adopted 17 June 2013 (PDF) · Westminster Environment SPD, adopted 13 February 2026 (PDF) · Westminster: Article 4 directions and address map · Westminster: Queens Park Estate Conservation Area Audit, adopted 15 April 2005

Layout, structure and the outrigger

Whole-house work often reorganises the back of a terraced house, around the outrigger and the stair. Before a layout is fixed, the survey records which walls carry floors or the roof, how the outrigger meets the main house and the state of its joists and footings, so that steels or new foundations are designed once rather than discovered later. Cutting into a wall shared with the house next door is planned around the Party Wall Act.

Party-wall work requiring notice · When Building Regulations approval is needed

Insulation, heating and solar

Brent’s 2013 guide gives insulation, secondary glazing and ground source heat pumps as measures that do not affect the area’s character, and asks that solar panels project no more than 200mm beyond the roof, where possible off front and side slopes and out of the highway’s view, masked by a low parapet on a flat-roofed outrigger. Westminster’s Environment SPD expects external wall insulation on heritage assets to be contentious, likely to be allowed in some circumstances, such as on rear elevations, but not for only part of a unified terrace.

Brent: Queen’s Park Conservation Area Design Guide, adopted 17 June 2013 (PDF) · Westminster Environment SPD, adopted 13 February 2026 (PDF) · Historic England: a whole-building approach

How we work

How we run a Queen’s Park 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 Queen’s Park. 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. Pin down the council and the boundary

    Send the full address and say whether the house is in Brent or Westminster, if you know. On the Brent side the conservation area was extended in 2024 and a further Article 4 direction came into force on 1 September 2025, so the current map and that direction’s plan decide which guidance applies.

  2. Photograph the back and the roof

    Pictures of the rear elevation, the outrigger, the side return, your neighbours’ extensions and each roof slope tell us more than the front does. Show any dormer or rooflight already there and where the back can be seen from the street, since both councils weigh how visible the rear is.

  3. List what must stay original

    Mark the windows, front door, path tiles, chimneys and front wall you want to keep, and any already replaced. On both sides of Queen’s Park, surviving originals set the pattern replacements are asked to match, so this list shapes the specification, the consents and the order in which items are made.

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 Queen’s Park: questions

Can I convert the loft of a Queen’s Park Estate cottage?

Usually not. Westminster’s Spring 1995 design guide says the shallow pitch of the estate’s roofs means using the roof space for rooms is not usually practical, and that dormers cannot easily be installed. Where a dormer or rooflight is otherwise acceptable, the guide asks that it be no wider than the windows below, set back from the eaves and kept below the ridge, and bars both from front elevations. Speak to Westminster before paying for loft drawings, bearing in mind the 2005 audit’s view that roof extensions are unlikely to be permitted there.

Westminster: The Queen’s Park Estate Design Guide, Spring 1995 (older guidance, PDF) · Westminster: Queens Park Estate Conservation Area Audit, adopted 15 April 2005

Do I need permission to replace the front door of an estate cottage?

Check with Westminster before ordering. The controls its 2005 audit lists for the estate include alterations to the front or any elevation visible from the street. Where wholesale replacement is needed, the audit says doors and windows should match the original glazing pattern and method of opening, and original details such as cast-iron pot retainers and door and window furniture should be kept. Repairing a sound original door avoids most of these questions, so have a joiner assess it first.

Westminster: Queens Park Estate Conservation Area Audit, adopted 15 April 2005

Can I dig a basement under a Brent house?

Possibly, if the scheme meets Brent’s Local Plan Policy BD3. Among its requirements, a basement under an existing house may be habitable only as space ancillary to the home above, must be no wider than the original building, and must go no further than the existing front elevation, 3 metres to the rear and one storey down. Any rooflights must sit flush with the ground and close to the house, and the basement must be protected from sewer flooding by a suitable pumped device. For a Westminster address, ask the council before planning one.

Brent Local Plan 2019–2041 (accessible version)

What if my Brent house is outside any conservation area?

Then Brent’s Residential Extensions and Alterations SPD is the borough’s starting point, and its limits are wider. A single-storey rear extension to a terraced or semi-detached home could be up to 6 metres deep, but never more than half the garden’s length, and a rear dormer could span the full width of the original roof but must be set at least 0.2 metres above the eaves. Front dormers are acceptable only where common in the street. Confirm the boundary for the exact address first.

Brent Residential Extensions and Alterations SPD, January 2025 (PDF) · Brent: listed buildings and conservation areas

Does the Neighbourhood Plan limit a garden room or extension?

Only on Westminster’s side. Policy 3 of the Queen’s Park Neighbourhood Plan says development needing planning permission that would cause a significant loss of private garden space will not be permitted, and asks that any development needing permission on a home’s plot keep some outdoor garden space where possible, ensure sustainable drainage and maintain or enhance biodiversity. The plan covers Westminster’s neighbourhood area and no Brent address. In Brent, Local Plan Policy BH12 grants permission only for outbuildings that will not be residential accommodation or support more people living in the house.

Queen’s Park Neighbourhood Plan 2020–2040, adopted version, made by Westminster on 25 November 2021 (PDF) · Westminster: Queen’s Park Neighbourhood Plan, made 25 November 2021 · Brent Local Plan 2019–2041 (accessible version)

Can I put a new building at the end of my garden, facing the side street?

Brent discourages it. For houses at the ends of terraces in its Queen’s Park Conservation Area, the 2013 design guide says the council discourages infilling rear gardens with new buildings that face onto side streets. Any extension you do build should keep its guttering within your own property rather than overhanging the boundary. If an end-of-terrace plot seems to invite a new building, raise it with Brent’s planning service before paying for drawings.

Brent: Queen’s Park Conservation Area Design Guide, adopted 17 June 2013 (PDF)

How much does a house refurbishment cost in Queen’s Park?

It depends on scope. In Queen’s Park, 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 Queen’s Park house

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

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

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