Flat Refurbishment in South Hampstead, NW6
South Hampstead is one of London's great mansion-flat quarters. The Gardens streets, Goldhurst Terrace, Compayne Gardens, Fairhazel Gardens and Canfield Gardens, carry block after block of tall red-brick Victorian and Edwardian mansion buildings, interleaved with substantial villas now in flats. Much of this grid falls within the South Hampstead Conservation Area, a remarkably coherent piece of townscape where Camden applies Article 4 controls and watches the uniform frontages closely.
The result is that flat refurbishment is the defining work here. With the great majority of homes held on leases, a project turns on the lease, acoustic separation between dwellings, services routed through shared risers and coordination with the managing agent, every bit as much as on the specification. We settle those requirements first, then modernise the interior so a contemporary home sits behind brick and terracotta that are repaired rather than altered.
A full flat refurbishment in Camden runs £60,000 to £110,000 excluding VAT, and each South Hampstead flat is priced individually within that band by its own block, scale and access. The apartments we refurbish reach along Goldhurst Terrace, Compayne Gardens, Fairhazel Gardens and Canfield Gardens.
Flat Refurbishment in South Hampstead: Applied to the Local Stock
South Hampstead sits in the London Borough of Camden, and much of it lies within the South Hampstead Conservation Area — a remarkably coherent grid of late-Victorian and Edwardian red-brick streets. Camden’s South Hampstead Conservation Area appraisal is used for planning assessment. Headline cost range used for a flat refurbishment in Camden: £60,000–£110,000 excluding VAT.
Sources: South Hampstead Conservation Area character appraisal and management strategy (adopted February 2011), Camden Council (2026); South Hampstead Conservation Area appraisal and management strategy page, Camden Council (2026); Camden borough cost data (2026)
What a Flat Refurbishment Involves
Refurbishing a flat means renovating inside a building you share — so the job is as much about leases, neighbours and building rules as it is about kitchens and finishes. We plan every project around the consents your lease demands and the protocols your block expects, then deliver the technical work under one fixed-price contract. A typical scope covers the elements below.
- Licence to Alter — lease review, application pack and freeholder’s surveyor queries handled on your behalf
- Acoustic build-up — separating floors and walls upgraded to meet Building Regulations Part E and any stricter freeholder schedule
- Wet-room tanking — certified waterproofing beneath every bathroom, flood-tested before tiling and covered by a 12-month defects period
- Rewire & replumb — new circuits, pipework and heating, coordinated with the building’s risers and stacks
- Layout changes — internal openings engineered, approved by building control and cleared with the freeholder where the lease allows
- Kitchens & bathrooms — designed, supplied and fitted to the specification tier you select
- Period detail — cornicing, sash windows and fireplaces retained and repaired in conversion flats
- Block protocols — lift protection, booked deliveries, restricted noisy hours and daily cleaning of communal areas
How We Run Your Project
Six stages, sequenced so freeholder consent never holds up the start on site.
- Survey & lease review — we measure the flat, inspect the services and read your lease to identify exactly which consents apply.
- Design & consents — our architects develop the layout while the Licence to Alter application runs in parallel, not afterwards.
- Fixed-price contract — an itemised specification agreed in full, with the acoustic and tanking details written in.
- Strip-out & first fix — soft strip, structural openings, cabling, pipework and the acoustic carcass, all removed and delivered through agreed routes.
- Second fix & finishes — kitchen, bathrooms, joinery, flooring and decoration.
- Testing & handover — snagging, certification and reinstatement of any communal areas before the keys come back to you.
Read the full flat refurbishment guide for flat typologies, specification tiers and the Licence to Alter process in detail.
Almost every leasehold flat needs formal freeholder consent — a Licence to Alter — before structural work, new flooring or services alterations can begin, and proceeding without one puts your lease at risk. Building Regulations apply on top: Part E sound insulation between dwellings, electrical and heating sign-off, and fire safety where walls or floors are opened. Flats and maisonettes also have no permitted development rights, so external changes always need a planning application. Our planning guide library covers the rules borough by borough.
Why Hampstead Renovations
Flat refurbishment rewards a team that already knows what freeholders and managing agents will ask for. Design is led by our in-house RIBA Chartered Architects, lease and party-structure matters are supported by RICS surveying through our sister company, Hampstead Chartered Surveyors, and the build is carried out by our own long-standing teams. Every contract is fixed-price on JCT terms, backed by £10M public liability insurance — the level major London freeholders require — plus a 12-month defects period and a 10-year workmanship warranty. Enquire before 2pm on a weekday and we will call you back the same day.
What does a flat refurbishment cost in South Hampstead?
A flat refurbishment in South Hampstead runs £900–£1,700/sqm excluding VAT, and a full two-bedroom refurbishment typically lands between £60,000 and £110,000. Most programmes take 16–32 weeks on site. A written scope and site assessment are needed before any project price can be fixed.
| Scope of work | Guide rate | Typical total |
|---|---|---|
| Full flat refurbishment (2-bed) | £900–£1,700/sqm | £60,000–£110,000 |
| Typical programme | 16–32 weeks on site | |
Guide rates exclude VAT and are set by depth of work, not by property type. Compare scopes in our London refurbishment cost-per-square-metre guide.
Flat Refurbishment in South Hampstead: Questions
Is South Hampstead really a flat-refurbishment area?
More than almost anywhere in North London. South Hampstead is defined by large purpose-built mansion blocks and big houses long since divided into flats, so the great majority of projects here are leasehold, with the freeholder, managing agent and lease central from the outset.
How are services handled in a South Hampstead mansion-flat refurbishment?
In the red-brick blocks along the Gardens streets, new services are routed through shared risers, acoustic separation between dwellings is engineered in, and every change is coordinated with the managing agent, so the plumbing and electrics matter as much as the finish.
Which South Hampstead buildings do you refurbish flats in?
The tall red-brick Victorian and Edwardian mansion blocks of Goldhurst Terrace, Compayne Gardens, Fairhazel Gardens and Canfield Gardens, along with the substantial villas nearby now divided into apartments.
How much does a flat refurbishment cost in South Hampstead?
A full flat refurbishment in Camden runs £60,000 to £110,000 excluding VAT, and each South Hampstead flat is priced individually within that band by its own block, lease and access, since the mansion buildings vary in scale and services.
Will South Hampstead's conservation area affect the work?
Its coherent red-brick grid is largely covered by the South Hampstead Conservation Area, where Camden applies Article 4 controls and scrutinises the uniform frontages, so external change needs consent while a modern interior sits behind the unchanged elevation.
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