Regent's Park Renovations & Design-Build — NW1

Westminster's leaflet dates the terraces from Cornwall Terrace in 1821 to Kent Terrace in 1827, after Park Crescent, begun in 1812, and Park Square.

Each is built as a centre and wings, with porticos, piazzas and pediments carried on columns of different orders.

Westminster lists the terraces encircling the park at Grade I, with Nos 1-18 Kent Terrace among twenty-two Grade II* buildings.

Historic England's register has Grade I entries for houses on Park Crescent, York Terrace East and West, Cornwall Terrace, Sussex Place, Clarence Terrace and Hanover Terrace.

On the Camden side, Chester Terrace runs 287 metres without a break, and Cumberland Terrace, 244 metres long, was rebuilt behind its facade after bombing.

Gloucester Gate, of 1827, closes the eastern run behind sloping gardens; Gloucester Lodge and Gloucester House beside it are listed Grade I.

Behind a listed front there may be a post-war rebuild, so we read the list entry and inspect the structure before deciding what is original.

Sources: Westminster City Council: Regent's Park conservation area information leaflet (May 2004), Historic England: National Heritage List for England, list entry 1225956 (1-6, Park Crescent W1), Historic England: National Heritage List for England, list entry 1066044 (1-18, York Terrace East NW1), Historic England: National Heritage List for England, list entry 1066047 (1-33, York Terrace West NW1), Historic England: National Heritage List for England, list entry 1356971 (1-21, Cornwall Terrace NW1), Historic England: National Heritage List for England, list entry 1264092 (1 to 26 Sussex Place), Historic England: National Heritage List for England, list entry 1357311 (1-43, Clarence Terrace NW1), Historic England: National Heritage List for England, list entry 1279085 (Hanover Terrace), Camden: Regent's Park Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Strategy (adopted 11 July 2011), Historic England: National Heritage List for England, list entry 1078323 (Gloucester Lodge and Gloucester House)

Nash's 1811 plan showed forty villas in the park; by 1827 there were eight, and several terraces, circuses and crescents were never built.

Park Crescent and Park Square were meant as one circus across the New Road. Its northern half was dropped, so Park Square became the opening into the park.

Camden's history has the terraces rising from south to north between 1820 and 1827, with the Park Villages begun in 1824.

In Victorian years the park turned from a private residential estate into a public park with a few private houses, Westminster's leaflet records.

After wartime damage the 1947 Gorrell Report led to the terraces and Park Village being rebuilt where needed and restored.

Knowing whether a room is Regency, Victorian or a post-war rebuild changes what a repair should look like, so dating each part of the house is one of our first tasks.

Sources: Westminster City Council: Regent's Park conservation area information leaflet (May 2004), Camden: Regent's Park Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Strategy (adopted 11 July 2011)

Camden's 2011 appraisal records that the Crown owns the freehold of the buildings in and around the park, apart from the Zoo, the Prince Albert Road houses and the York and Albany, and that as freeholder the Crown Estate requires a Licence to Alter for works inside and out.

The same appraisal says the Crown Estate area covers almost all of Camden's conservation area, leaving out parts east of Albany Street and the middle of Park Village West.

The Crown Estate itself says it holds classical period homes within and around the park and keeps long-term ownership of its residential properties.

The Crown Estate Paving Commission, set up in 1813, is a separate body. It looks after the terrace gardens, their railings and the terrace roads and pavements.

It says residents and contractors must follow guidelines set independently by the Crown Estate and the Commission, and that it has wide statutory powers over works on its private roads.

We ask for the lease, the title and any past licences at the first meeting, because they decide who must approve what as much as the councils do.

Sources: Camden: Regent's Park Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Strategy (adopted 11 July 2011), The Crown Estate: Residential, Crown Estate Paving Commission: information for contractors

Camden says its 2011 appraisal is used to assess planning applications in its Regent's Park conservation area.

It asks applicants to work out where permission is needed, what is significant about the building, which policies apply, and what the proposal does to the building and its surroundings.

Design and access statements are expected to deal with the repeated terraced forms and the roof line and rhythm of the historic layout.

Officers decide with specialist conservation advice and after consulting the Regent's Park Conservation Area Advisory Committee, a group of local people who comment on applications.

Our submissions follow those five questions in order, with photographs of the existing fabric beside each drawing, so an officer can see what changes and what stays.

Sources: Camden Council: Regent's Park Conservation Area appraisal and management strategy, Camden: Regent's Park Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Strategy (adopted 11 July 2011)

In Camden's area any tree over 75mm across is protected without a preservation order, and six weeks' notice is needed before it is cut, topped or lopped.

Where trees stand on or next to a site, street trees included, Camden wants an arboricultural report with the application.

A band of large canopy trees runs through the back gardens of Park Village East.

Westminster also needs six weeks' written notice for work to any tree in a conservation area.

Before scaffold or skips arrive, we mark root protection areas on the site plan and fence them off.

Sources: Camden: Regent's Park Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Strategy (adopted 11 July 2011), Westminster City Council: Trees and high hedges

Westminster's leaflet gives the park more than 400 acres, nearly circular, with the Outer Circle drive of almost two miles running round it.

It is a Grade I registered park and Metropolitan Open Land, and City Plan Policy 34 asks that development affecting the Royal Parks improve their quality and range of uses.

The Primrose Hill to Palace of Westminster strategic view passes over Westminster's half from north to south.

For a house that looks onto the park, we prepare views of the proposal from the Outer Circle as well as from the street, because that is how the councils will judge it.

Sources: Westminster City Council: Regent's Park conservation area information leaflet (May 2004), Westminster City Plan 2019-2040 (2026, adopted January 2026)

The Paving Commission's terms rule out work before 8am or after 5pm on weekdays, after 1pm on Saturdays, and on Sundays and public holidays, with drilling confined to 10am to 2pm.

It adds that Saturday working is not permitted for works The Crown Estate has licensed.

Scaffolding anywhere on the estate needs a licence, and so do skips, cranes, huts, hot works and lorries over 28 tonnes.

Narrow access roads run over vaults beneath the pavements, and many of them cannot take very heavy vehicles.

Off the estate roads the councils' own limits govern: both let noisy building work run between eight and six on weekdays and until one on Saturdays.

We apply for the Commission's licences ourselves, plan deliveries in small loads, and keep a named contact for the neighbours on the terrace.

Sources: Crown Estate Paving Commission: Standard Licence Terms and Conditions, Crown Estate Paving Commission: works licences, Crown Estate Paving Commission: information for contractors, Camden Council: noisy building works, Westminster City Council: noise problems we can investigate