House
refurbishment
in Regent's Park, NW1

Chester Place, entered from Albany Street, is a plain three-storey stucco terrace set below the park terraces, while the four houses of Cumberland Place share one seven-bay front.

Park Village houses mix stucco, projecting eaves, black lattice pergolas and cast iron decoration.

At the Longford Street end, an early nineteenth century terrace on Albany Street has four storeys over a basement.

Mews houses were built as stables and coach houses, and in Gloucester Gate Mews the rooms still sit above the old coach houses.

Each type wears differently: stucco cracks and lets water into brick, mews roofs leak at parapet gutters, and villas suffer at their projecting eaves. The survey looks for the failures that type is prone to.

Source: Camden: Regent's Park Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Strategy (adopted 11 July 2011)

Camden's 2011 appraisal records that the Crown Estate, as freeholder, requires a Licence to Alter for works inside and outside the buildings.

It adds that the Crown Estate has written management guidelines and standard specifications for repair and conservation, and monitors works.

Camden has regard to those publications where relevant, describing them as requirements enforced by the Crown and Camden policies.

The Paving Commission refers to the Crown Estate's quinquennial painting programme, which it describes as lessees' five-yearly painting.

We draw the licence package to the standard the freeholder asks for, and agree with you the order in which the licence, listed building consent and any planning application go in.

Sources: Camden: Regent's Park Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Strategy (adopted 11 July 2011), Crown Estate Paving Commission: works licences

Camden expects replaced windows to go back to the original pattern: wooden sliding sashes with slim glazing bars, crown glass and shutters.

Rear elevations matter here because they are easily seen, and windows that ignore the original pattern spoil them.

Original features are to be kept and refurbished, and replaced only where shown to be beyond repair.

In Westminster, secondary glazing in a listed building is generally acceptable subject to design, though it needs listed building consent.

Shutters are freed, re-hung and draught-sealed so they close properly again, which helps keep a room warm in winter without changing the glass.

Sources: Camden: Regent's Park Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Strategy (adopted 11 July 2011), Westminster City Council: Environment Supplementary Planning Document (adoption version, February 2026)

The Paving Commission requires scaffolding left unsupervised to be alarmed, with the alarm visible from the street, and the lowest lift at least 2.1 metres above the kerb.

Contractors park on the terrace roads only with its permit, one per property, and larger vehicles need a suspension.

Work stops at 5pm on weekdays under its terms, and Saturday working is not allowed on Crown Estate-licensed works.

Our site lead walks the terrace with the Commission's surveyor before the scaffold goes up, and photographs the paving and railings so any damage is clear.

Source: Crown Estate Paving Commission: Standard Licence Terms and Conditions