Basement conversion in Southgate

Investigate the structure and ground before design.

Start with the basement conversion brief

Distinguish an existing cellar conversion from excavation for a new basement. Record levels, drainage, access and the adjoining structures, and obtain project-specific ground and structural investigations before relying on a design or budget.

Plan temporary works, waterproofing, ventilation, escape and spoil removal as part of the same brief. Ask Hampstead Chartered Surveyors to assess party-wall matters and Hampstead Architecture & Planning to coordinate the design requirements. An area name alone does not establish ground conditions.

The local building context

Enfield’s appraisal places the Southgate Green Conservation Area in the south-western corner of the borough, as the historic core of the suburb called Southgate. It covers 31.7 hectares and about 160 buildings, centred on The Green and the three roads radiating from it, the High Street, Cannon Hill and Waterfall Road, with Balaams Lane and Cannon Road also included. A restored group of Georgian houses at 23–32 and 38–41 The Green, generally flat-fronted and of yellow stock brick, mixes tripartite and twelve-pane sash windows with a variety of doorcase designs.

The appraisal shows the character changing from street to street. The High Street has tightly packed two- or three-storey terraces set close to the road, interspersed with groups of modern flats, while Cannon Hill has widely spaced, large detached properties in substantial gardens along a wide, tree-lined road. On the south side of The Green, individually designed houses of about 1930, with mock Tudor dominating, share casement picture windows and large, steeply pitched tiled roofs, with widespread use of brown brick. Flats also sit above the Edwardian and interwar shops at 22–56 Cannon Hill.

South-east of Southgate Circus, the Meadway Conservation Area follows Meadway, Greenway and Bourne Avenue between the High Street and Bourne Hill, with Grovelands Park as its immediate neighbour. Its management proposals describe brick-and-burr front garden boundaries and unpainted timber gates, and its appraisal finds houses that keep both their original form and a substantial proportion of their original features rare. Nos. 1–17 (odd) Abbotshall Avenue, a separate conservation area, are nine 1930s moderne houses, which Enfield’s Local Heritage List describes with flat roofs, curved projecting front bays, porch canopies and horizontal metal-framed Crittall windows.

Local design and consent context

Enfield has 22 conservation areas, each with a character appraisal and management proposals, and its list includes four around Southgate. Southgate Green (CA17) was designated in 1968 and extended in 1994 to take in the Walker Cricket Ground and Southgate Cemetery, and in 2008 to include 1–21 Cannon Road. Its appraisal, first adopted in 2006 and reviewed in February and March 2013, was approved in February 2015, as were its management proposals.

Southgate Circus (CA20) and Abbotshall Avenue (CA23) were designated in 2008, and Meadway (CA22) in November 2008. All three appraisals, and the management proposals that go with them, were approved in June 2015. Enfield’s page for each conservation area offers both documents, so read them together and check whether the address falls inside the boundary.

On 26 January 2006 Article 4(2) directions were made covering parts of eleven Enfield conservation areas, including Southgate Green, and the direction, confirmed as permanent, was sealed on 27 June 2006. Its Southgate Green schedule names addresses on Arnos Grove, Balaams Lane, Cannon Hill, Greenacre Walk, the High Street, Minchenden Crescent, Selborne Road and The Green. On elevations facing or visible from a highway or open space, it withdraws rights for alterations including windows, doors, roof coverings in a different material and rooflights, for roof additions, porches, hard surfaces, satellite antennas, gates, fences and walls, and for painting exposed brickwork; demolishing or replacing a chimney is covered on every elevation.

Access and site planning

For an Enfield address, the council says noisy building work that can be heard at the site boundary should only take place Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm, and Saturday, 8am to 1pm, and is not allowed outside these times or on bank holidays unless agreed with the council in advance. For a Barnet address, check that council’s hours. In a flat, check the lease and any rules the building manager sets on noise and deliveries. If you will live at home through the work, decide which rooms stay usable and when water or power will be off, and tell neighbours what is planned.

Continue planning

The Southgate area guide · Basement conversion across London · Hampstead Architecture & Planning · Hampstead Chartered Surveyors

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