House renovation
& refurbishment
in South Hampstead, NW6
For a South Hampstead application, Camden wants the design and access statement to deal with the repeated terraced forms and with the scale, mass, roofline and rhythm the original builders set.
We price a whole-house job in parts, repairs to the fabric, changes to the rooms and new services, so the client can decide on each separately.
Source: Camden: South Hampstead Conservation Area Character Appraisal and Management Strategy (February 2011)
Which South Hampstead house do you have?
From Broadhurst Gardens to Aberdare Gardens the houses are large semi-detached pairs of three and four storeys, with porches ranging from ironwork canopies to striped brick arches, Baroque pediments with date stones and Gothic arcading.
On the Cotton land west of Priory Road the houses are mostly detached, of two or three storeys; Acol Road shows overhanging gables with carved bargeboards.
Belsize Road's houses follow the usual London pattern of three floors and a basement, in yellow stock above a stucco ground floor.
Greencroft Gardens gained some 68 houses between 1886 and 1897, and Aberdare Gardens, the last street, was largely Tomblin's work in the 1890s.
Source: Camden: South Hampstead Conservation Area Character Appraisal and Management Strategy (February 2011)
Fronts, porches and paint under the 2026 direction
Under the direction confirmed on 9 June 2026, enlarging or altering a house's principal elevation, or a side elevation on the road, needs permission, as does a new porch at the front door.
Paint is controlled too: a front that was unpainted on the date of the order cannot be painted without permission.
Camden's guide encourages putting back lost porches and details, from brick, timber and iron porches to tiled porch hoods.
Where bare brick is combined with small patches of render on a front, the render should be repaired in matching materials.
Sources: Camden: South Hampstead Conservation Area Article 4(1) Direction (made 4 June 2025, confirmed 9 June 2026), Camden: Swiss Cottage (now South Hampstead) Conservation Area Design Guide (updated June 2026)
Windows, doors and decorative glass
Camden's guide sets out what like-for-like means: the same materials, colour and finish, the same dimensions, pattern and profile, and original details such as knobs, catches and pulleys reproduced.
The fact sheet treats matching double glazing on the front as needing an application, so that original windows are kept where possible.
Decorative glass on the street side is protected as well; Camden will resist its removal or replacement.
Original features are to be kept and refurbished, the appraisal says, and replaced only when shown to be past repair.
Window repair and window replacement are priced as separate lines, so the cost of keeping originals is clear.
Sources: Camden: Swiss Cottage (now South Hampstead) Conservation Area Design Guide (updated June 2026), Camden: Swiss Cottage (now South Hampstead) Conservation Area Article 4(1) fact sheet (updated June 2026), Camden: South Hampstead Conservation Area Character Appraisal and Management Strategy (February 2011)
Front walls, paths and parking
Boundary walls here mix red and yellow stock brick with black lava bricks, and ironwork survives in porch canopies on Greencroft Gardens.
Camden's 2008/9 survey recorded the loss of 23% of the area's boundary walls and the paving of 43% of front gardens for cars.
Building or demolishing a front wall, laying a front hard surface or forming a new access to the road now needs permission, and a crossover separately needs approval from Camden's highways department.
Coloured geometric tiled paths are increasingly rare, and surviving historic railings should never be removed.
Camden encourages reinstating front gardens where parking was formed, and putting habitable rooms back where part of a front became a garage.
Sources: Camden: South Hampstead Conservation Area Character Appraisal and Management Strategy (February 2011), Camden: South Hampstead Conservation Area Article 4(1) Direction (made 4 June 2025, confirmed 9 June 2026), Camden: Swiss Cottage (now South Hampstead) Conservation Area Design Guide (updated June 2026)
Brick, terracotta and roof coverings
Most fronts are red brick, while cheaper yellow stock was used for backs and sides and for the earlier Cotton streets and Belsize Road.
Terracotta panels appear widely, including an Arts and Crafts sunflower on Broadhurst Gardens; clay tile covers the Maryon Wilson roofs and Welsh slate the rest.
Repointing, paint or render done without care spoils old brickwork and shortens its life, the appraisal warns.
Re-roofing in matching materials laid to the traditional pattern needs no permission, and lead flashings are to be copied like for like.
Sources: Camden: South Hampstead Conservation Area Character Appraisal and Management Strategy (February 2011), Camden: Swiss Cottage (now South Hampstead) Conservation Area Article 4(1) fact sheet (updated June 2026)
The back of the house and the garden
Camden calls the long rear gardens and the private open spaces central to South Hampstead and treats their protection as paramount.
Work at the back should respect the historic pattern of development and keep the house's historic features.
Glimpses of mature trees between houses, seen from the road, give the impression of the large gardens behind.
When a refurbishment includes the garden, we protect the trees and planting that stay before any scaffold or skip arrives.
Source: Camden: South Hampstead Conservation Area Character Appraisal and Management Strategy (February 2011)
Services, dishes and energy
Camden's direction also reaches chimneys, flues and soil and vent pipes on a house wherever they would show from the road.
Satellite dishes are unacceptable on a main front or anywhere visible from the street; a small dish at the rear or below the ridge is preferred, and permission is usually needed.
Camden's guide counts roof insulation and a condensing boiler with thermostatic valves among the energy savings that need no change to the front.
Wiring and pipe routes are planned floor by floor so that cornices, shutters and boards are lifted and refixed rather than lost.
Sources: Camden: South Hampstead Conservation Area Article 4(1) Direction (made 4 June 2025, confirmed 9 June 2026), Camden: South Hampstead Conservation Area Character Appraisal and Management Strategy (February 2011), Camden: Swiss Cottage (now South Hampstead) Conservation Area Design Guide (updated June 2026)
Subdivision, plots and listing
Camden resists subdividing a plot where it breaks the rhythm of the street, and looks favourably on restoring plots that were merged.
Demolishing a building that contributes positively to the conservation area is very unlikely to be supported.
The appraisal lists only St James' Church in Sherriff Road as listed within the conservation area, and Camden treats listed building consent as a separate permission from planning.
Sources: Camden: South Hampstead Conservation Area Character Appraisal and Management Strategy (February 2011), Camden Council: Listed buildings
Questions about refurbishing a South Hampstead house
Can I paint my red-brick front?
Only with planning permission if the brick was bare when Camden's 2026 direction was made.
Do new front sashes need planning permission?
Not if they are true like-for-like copies; matching double glazing does need permission.
Can I pave my front garden for parking?
Both the paving and the new access need permission, and Camden's highways team must approve a crossover.
Can I enclose or change my porch?
A new porch outside the front door now needs planning permission.
Is my South Hampstead house listed?
Probably not: the appraisal names only St James' Church as listed inside the conservation area.
What does a house refurbishment in South Hampstead cost?
Your South Hampstead figure is confirmed after a feasibility visit.
Sources: Camden: South Hampstead Conservation Area Article 4(1) Direction (made 4 June 2025, confirmed 9 June 2026), Camden: South Hampstead Conservation Area Character Appraisal and Management Strategy (February 2011), Camden: Swiss Cottage (now South Hampstead) Conservation Area Article 4(1) fact sheet (updated June 2026)
Sources
- Camden: South Hampstead Conservation Area Character Appraisal and Management Strategy (February 2011)
- Camden: South Hampstead Conservation Area Article 4(1) Direction (made 4 June 2025, confirmed 9 June 2026)
- Camden: Swiss Cottage (now South Hampstead) Conservation Area Design Guide (updated June 2026)
- Camden: Swiss Cottage (now South Hampstead) Conservation Area Article 4(1) fact sheet (updated June 2026)
- Camden Council: Listed buildings
Guides & Local Reading
More Services in South Hampstead
Book a feasibility visit
At the visit we look at the original windows, joinery and front details you want to keep, and talk through what can change, likely consents and a first budget.
The house and its details
List the rooms to change and the original features you would like to keep.