Kitchen
renovation
in Regent's Park, NW1
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Nash raised the ground round his terraces to hide their service floors, and many Regent's Park kitchens still sit in those lower rooms.
Camden's appraisal says the levels around the park terraces were raised to strengthen their hierarchy and to make the most of the service areas and basements below.
A kitchen here is drawn with its steel, extract and gas supply worked out first, and the cabinets are fitted to that plan, not the other way round.
Source: Camden: Regent's Park Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Strategy (adopted 11 July 2011)
Kitchens on the lower floor
Some Albany Street houses have four storeys over a basement.
Camden normally resists infilling front basement areas, to keep the plan and setting.
Westminster's City Plan counts open lightwells among the features it conserves.
We test the lower floor for damp and check the floor build-up before a single cabinet is designed, because an old service floor rarely sits level.
Sources: Camden: Regent's Park Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Strategy (adopted 11 July 2011), Westminster City Plan 2019-2040 (2026, adopted January 2026)
Opening rooms in a listed house
Westminster may protect the hierarchy of rooms, historic floor levels and chimney breasts of a listed building.
Camden will not normally approve alterations that obscure the original plan form or structural integrity.
Removing a chimney breast always needs building regulations approval, with an engineer's drawings and calculations.
A new opening in an external wall needs beams, normally protected against fire with layers of plasterboard.
Where a wider opening is accepted, we keep nibs of the old wall and the line of the cornice, so the two rooms can still be read.
Sources: Westminster City Plan 2019-2040 (2026, adopted January 2026), Camden Council: Listed buildings, Planning Portal Interactive House: Do I need permission to remove chimney breasts?, Planning Portal: Extensions, Building Regulations: Structural Opening
Extract and flues
Westminster's City Plan asks for plant, flues and similar additions to be carefully sited and screened.
In Camden, new external pipework on an elevation facing the street of a conservation-area house needs planning permission.
Security boxes and similar fixings on the front should be unobtrusive or out of sight, Camden's appraisal says.
Recirculating hoods with good filters avoid a new hole in the wall; where ducted extract is needed, it runs to the rear inside a void we can reach later.
Sources: Westminster City Plan 2019-2040 (2026, adopted January 2026), Camden Council: Home Improvements, Camden Planning Guidance (January 2021), Camden: Regent's Park Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Strategy (adopted 11 July 2011)
Kitchens in flats
LEASE treats changes to gas pipes or electrical wiring as safety-critical alterations.
The landlord's permission is needed to knock through a structural wall the landlord owns, or to use a chimney or flue it owns.
We confirm with the managing agent where the kitchen may sit before planning it, since moving it over another flat's bedroom is often refused.
Source: LEASE: alterations and home improvements (last updated 22 December 2025)
Cabinets, dressers and original joinery
Camden asks for original features to be kept and refurbished wherever possible.
Doors here tend to be solid panelled timber with fanlights above.
Westminster warns that historic fittings can be damaged or stolen during works, and will require them to be reinstated.
Panelling and doors that must come off are numbered, wrapped and stored; new units are scribed to the old walls rather than the walls being cut to fit units.
Sources: Camden: Regent's Park Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Strategy (adopted 11 July 2011), Westminster City Plan 2019-2040 (2026, adopted January 2026)
Getting a kitchen onto the estate
The Paving Commission says Regent's Park is closed to commercial vehicles, deliveries included, between midnight and 7am.
Larger vehicles should generally use Gloucester Gate, and cranes of any weight need a special licence.
No vehicle may drive or park on a pavement, because of the vaults beneath, without protection and written permission.
Worktops and tall units arrive on a small van at an agreed time and are carried in by hand, with boards over the York stone at the door.
Source: Crown Estate Paving Commission: Standard Licence Terms and Conditions
Kitchens in mews houses
Mews houses began as stabling and coach houses for the terraces and are now homes in their own right.
Camden says unpainted mews brick should stay unpainted, with white painted first-floor joinery and black painted cast iron pipes as the Crown Estate guidelines set out.
Gloucester Gate Mews is the most intact of the Nash mews, and the Paving Commission wants surplus granite setts and York stone returned to its yard.
A ground-floor mews kitchen often sits where the coach house doors were, so we keep the door opening legible and fit the units behind it.
Sources: Camden: Regent's Park Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Strategy (adopted 11 July 2011), Crown Estate Paving Commission: Standard Licence Terms and Conditions
Ventilation and building control
Any new kitchen should have extract ventilation to deal with condensation and smells, the Planning Portal says.
Replacing sinks and similar fittings is exempt from building regulations approval, though work on heating systems is not.
Gas, electrics and extract are signed off before the kitchen is handed over, and the certificates are kept with the licence papers for the freeholder.
Sources: Planning Portal: Extensions, Building Regulations: Ventilation, GOV.UK: when you don't need building regulations approval
Waste, bins and packaging
Skips are restricted on the estate and the Paving Commission's advice must be sought first.
No mixing or storage is allowed on its roads and pavements.
The Commission also collects domestic refuse on the estate.
Packaging and old units leave on the delivery van that brought the new ones, so nothing waits on the pavement.
Sources: Crown Estate Paving Commission: works licences, Crown Estate Paving Commission: Standard Licence Terms and Conditions, Camden: Regent's Park Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Strategy (adopted 11 July 2011)
Noisy days and quiet days
On the estate, drilling and other noisy work is limited to 10am to 2pm, and nothing happens after 1pm on a Saturday.
Outside the estate roads, Camden allows noisy work from 8am to 6pm on weekdays and 8am to 1pm on Saturdays.
We stack the loud jobs, such as chasing walls and cutting worktops, into the permitted window, and keep the quieter fitting and finishing for the rest of the day.
Sources: Crown Estate Paving Commission: Standard Licence Terms and Conditions, Camden Council: noisy building works
Questions about kitchen renovation in Regent's Park
Can I remove the chimney breast for a larger kitchen?
Building regulations approval is always needed, and in a listed house the breast itself may be protected.
May I fill in the front area to enlarge the kitchen?
Camden normally resists infilling front basement areas.
Will a new extract outlet need permission?
In Camden, new pipework on a street-facing elevation of a conservation-area house does.
Can the kitchen be delivered early in the morning?
Not before 7am: the park is closed to commercial vehicles overnight.
Does moving the gas supply count as an alteration in a flat?
Yes. LEASE treats gas pipe changes as safety-critical alterations.
Sources: Planning Portal Interactive House: Do I need permission to remove chimney breasts?, Westminster City Plan 2019-2040 (2026, adopted January 2026), Camden: Regent's Park Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Strategy (adopted 11 July 2011), Camden Council: Home Improvements, Camden Planning Guidance (January 2021), Crown Estate Paving Commission: Standard Licence Terms and Conditions, LEASE: alterations and home improvements (last updated 22 December 2025)
Related pages
Sources
- Camden: Regent's Park Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Strategy (adopted 11 July 2011)
- Westminster City Plan 2019-2040 (2026, adopted January 2026)
- Camden Council: Listed buildings
- Planning Portal Interactive House: Do I need permission to remove chimney breasts?
- Planning Portal: Extensions, Building Regulations: Structural Opening
- Camden Council: Home Improvements, Camden Planning Guidance (January 2021)
- LEASE: alterations and home improvements (last updated 22 December 2025)
- Crown Estate Paving Commission: Standard Licence Terms and Conditions
- Planning Portal: Extensions, Building Regulations: Ventilation
- GOV.UK: when you don't need building regulations approval
- Crown Estate Paving Commission: works licences
- Camden Council: noisy building works
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