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Southgate N14 · House refurbishment

House refurbishment in Southgate

Meadway ‘cottage’ houses, Cannon Road and Abbotshall Avenue

Enfield’s appraisals describe three groups of 20th century Southgate houses in close detail: the early 1900s houses on the north side of Cannon Road, the ‘cottage’ and semi-detached types of the Meadway Conservation Area, and the nine moderne houses of Abbotshall Avenue. This page sets out what each appraisal says survives and what has harmed it, how Enfield’s extension policies apply, and what to decide before a design is drawn.

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House refurbishment in Southgate at a glance

For a house refurbishment, the most useful local fact is which set of Enfield guidance covers your street. For Cannon Road, Meadway and Abbotshall Avenue, the council’s current appraisals and management proposals, approved in 2015, describe each group’s original features and the changes that have harmed them. An Article 4 direction made in 2008 or 2009 then brings many changes fronting a road or open space under planning control, but only for the houses its schedule lists. Outside those boundaries the documents do not apply, and an N14 address may not even be in Enfield.

Enfield: Southgate Green Conservation Area Character Appraisal, approved February 2015 (PDF) · Enfield: Meadway Conservation Area Character Appraisal, approved June 2015 (PDF) · Enfield: Meadway Conservation Area Management Proposals, approved June 2015 (PDF) · Enfield: Abbotshall Avenue Conservation Area Character Appraisal, approved June 2015 (PDF) · Enfield: Abbotshall Avenue Conservation Area Management Proposals, approved June 2015 (PDF) · Enfield: notice of the Enfield Borough Conservation Areas Article 4(2) Direction 2008, made 12 November 2008 and confirmed 29 January 2009 · Enfield: notice of the Article 4(2) direction made 23 September 2009, including Abbotshall Avenue and the Southgate Green extension (PDF) · Find the council for the property · Planning Data: Barnet tree preservation order, Osidge, 151 Chase Side, Southgate, N.14 (1971)

For the whole area, including conservation areas, permissions and working hours, read our Southgate renovation guide.

Approved guide prices

What does a house refurbishment cost in Southgate?

Cost in Southgate depends on depth of work. A cosmetic refurbishment that keeps the existing layout runs £650–£1,250/sqm (typically £90,000–£180,000), while a back-to-brick renovation runs £2,250–£3,250/sqm (typically £275,000–£475,000), excluding VAT. A written scope and site assessment are needed before any project price can be fixed.

Scope of workGuide rateTypical total
Cosmetic — existing layout retained£650–£1,250/sqm£90,000–£180,000
Back-to-brick renovation£2,250–£3,250/sqm£275,000–£475,000
Typical programme16–32 weeks on site

Guide rates exclude VAT and are set by depth of work, not by postcode. Compare scopes in our London refurbishment cost-per-square-metre guide or try the cost calculator.

The buildings

Three groups of Southgate houses and what survives

The appraisals’ observations were made at the reviews of 2013 and 2014, so read what they say about condition as a record of that time; the features they ask owners to keep remain the council’s guidance.

On the north side of Cannon Road, Enfield’s Southgate Green appraisal describes early 20th century detached houses with bracketed timber cornices, rendered fronts, red brick dressings, upper-floor sashes and bay windows sharing a roof with veranda-style porches. On Cannon Hill it records two houses of about 1900 in an older Edwardian style, slightly damaged by poor replacement windows. Cannon Hall, a Regency villa listed at grade II and recorded as belonging to a school, was noted as suffering from a badly designed lean-to in place of its original veranda-style porch and a poor artificial stone boundary wall.

Enfield: Southgate Green Conservation Area Character Appraisal, approved February 2015 (PDF) · Planning Data: Cannon Hall, grade II, list entry 1078904

In Meadway, the appraisal picks out a ‘cottage’ house type of the mid-1920s, distinctive for its exposed front chimney breasts. In the better survivals the ground floor is recessed under a corbelled first floor, with the bay window inside the recess and a small-tiled roof over the chimney breast. In Bourne Avenue, The Ridgeway and Parkway, a semi-detached type has wide angled wings, hipped roofs and very deep eaves over its bays, and one variant is designed to look like a single house, with an asymmetrical front and front doors in different positions.

Enfield: Meadway Conservation Area Character Appraisal, approved June 2015 (PDF) · Planning Data: Meadway Conservation Area (CA22)

The nine Abbotshall Avenue houses appear to be built of rendered brickwork, with concrete floor slabs carried out as prominent canopies over the windows and doors, and smooth render whose bold horizontal bands continue round the side elevations. Reviewing the area in 2014, the appraisal found careless render repairs that had obscured this ‘moderne’ detailing, and obsolete chimneys reduced in height, capped or removed. It also recorded over-large roof structures and rear extensions that interrupt the group, while noting no such work since designation.

Enfield: Abbotshall Avenue Conservation Area Character Appraisal, approved June 2015 (PDF) · Planning Data: Abbotshall Avenue Conservation Area (CA23)

Permissions and local rules

Roofs, extensions and fronts: Enfield’s checks for a Southgate house

Roof extensions and dormers

What do Enfield’s documents say about dormers?

Enfield’s Meadway appraisal lists side or roof dormers forming a continuous ridge among its long-standing damage, and in 2014 the Abbotshall Avenue appraisal found two modern roof extensions visible from the street. Under DMD 13, a side roof extension must not upset the character or balance of the house or its pair or group, and side-facing dormers are singled out where a pair’s roofs mirror each other. From the Walker Cricket Ground, the Southgate Green appraisal also sees the backs of houses on Mayfield Avenue, outside the conservation area, a number with prominent roof extensions on the skyline.

Enfield: Meadway Conservation Area Character Appraisal, approved June 2015 (PDF) · Enfield: Abbotshall Avenue Conservation Area Character Appraisal, approved June 2015 (PDF) · Enfield: Development Management Document, adopted November 2014 · Enfield: Southgate Green Conservation Area Character Appraisal, approved February 2015 (PDF)

Side and rear extensions

What limits a Southgate extension?

Enfield’s DMD 11 caps height as well as depth. A flat-roofed single-storey rear extension should stay within 3 metres at the eaves, or 3.3 to 3.5 metres at the top of a parapet; a pitched one within 4 metres at the ridge and 3 metres at the eaves. A 45-degree line from the midpoint of the closest original ground-floor window next door marks its limit, unless it secures a common alignment. In Meadway, the management proposals warn that over-large extensions can damage the area, particularly where they encroach on the gaps between the original houses.

Enfield: Development Management Document, adopted November 2014 · Enfield: Meadway Conservation Area Management Proposals, approved June 2015 (PDF)

Front walls, hedges and gardens

What does the council want at the front?

Each set of management proposals treats the front differently. Southgate Green’s proposed actions include maintaining the walls, hedges and painted fences characteristic of the area, and its summary of issues names poor quality replacement boundary walls. In Meadway, paving over a front garden for parking is now under planning control, and reinstating a planted or partly planted garden will be encouraged when the opportunity arises. On Abbotshall Avenue the council will encourage appropriate front boundaries such as low brick or stone walls; in 2014 the appraisal thought the low rustic brickwork in front of two houses may well be original.

Enfield: Southgate Green Conservation Area Management Proposals, approved February 2015 (PDF) · Enfield: Meadway Conservation Area Management Proposals, approved June 2015 (PDF) · Enfield: Abbotshall Avenue Conservation Area Management Proposals, approved June 2015 (PDF) · Enfield: Abbotshall Avenue Conservation Area Character Appraisal, approved June 2015 (PDF)

Cladding, render and original details

Can I clad, render or strip details from the front?

Enfield’s Southgate Green appraisal, approved in 2015, records cottages on Balaams Lane seriously disfigured by plastic cladding on their upper storeys, and Balaams Lane is one of the streets in the 2006 Article 4 schedule; where that direction covers a house, cladding an elevation facing or visible from a road or open space needs planning permission. In Meadway, the council will continue to resist the loss of traditional details such as windows, doors, chimneys, decorative timber, plasterwork and brickwork. Its proposals say Meadway’s direction has brought most of the 2008 issues under planning control, but has not wholly prevented them.

Enfield: Southgate Green Conservation Area Character Appraisal, approved February 2015 (PDF) · Enfield: Enfield Borough Conservation Areas Article 4(2) Direction 2006 (as confirmed), sealed 27 June 2006 · Enfield: Meadway Conservation Area Management Proposals, approved June 2015 (PDF)

Working hours, skips, parking and the conservation area maps for the whole area are in our Southgate guide. Local guidance checked ; requirements depend on the address, the building and the complete proposal.

What the work covers

What a Southgate house refurbishment covers

Windows, garage doors and timber details

Survey every window and door before choosing replacements. The Meadway appraisal lists painted softwood windows replaced with uPVC or hardwood, and lost single-storey garages with timber doors, among its long-standing damage, and the features it says deserve retention include oriel windows, hipped dormers, brick arches and tiled porches. Repairing an original softwood window, oriel or timber garage door keeps a feature the appraisal values, and a like-for-like copy is the fallback where repair is not possible.

Enfield: Meadway Conservation Area Character Appraisal, approved June 2015 (PDF)

Foundations, groundwater and slopes

Enfield’s 2021 flood risk assessment is evidence for the new Local Plan, still at examination, not adopted policy. It records that more than half of the borough’s recorded groundwater flooding is perched water where gravels meet London Clay on higher ground, and links some recent incidents to nearby buildings on wide, deep strip foundations or basements. It also notes the Houndsden Gutter, a largely culverted brook, rising north of Southgate. Ask the engineer to look at foundations and groundwater together, using the council’s geology and watercourse maps.

Enfield: New Enfield Local Plan 2041, Level 1 Strategic Flood Risk Assessment, December 2021 (evidence for the plan at examination, not adopted policy; PDF) · Enfield: sustainable drainage systems (page modified 12 February 2026)

Drainage and the planning application

If an extension needs planning permission, Enfield requires a sustainable drainage strategy for every application, and for a householder application the form to use is its minor SuDS pro-forma. DMD 61 requires even small schemes to include at least one ‘at source’ drainage measure, and DMD 49 requires every application to come with a Sustainable Design and Construction Statement, its scale set through the council’s local validation list. Prepare these with the drawings, not after them.

Enfield: sustainable drainage systems (page modified 12 February 2026) · Enfield: Development Management Document, adopted November 2014

How we work

How we run a Southgate house refurbishment

  1. Free feasibility visit

    We walk round the house with you and discuss what is feasible.

  2. Survey

    Rooms, levels and features to keep are measured, with opening-up or asbestos checks where needed.

  3. Design and consents

    Our own architects and structural engineers design the layout and structural openings, plan the service routes with them, and identify which consents and party wall notices apply.

  4. Price and contract

    A fixed written price and a JCT contract follow the survey, scope and specification. It records allowances, exclusions and how changes are priced.

  5. On site

    Work is inspected before it is covered, and a director reviews key decisions.

  6. Handover

    Testing, commissioning and snagging. Completed work carries a 12-month defects-rectification period under the JCT contract terms.

Real projects, clearly located

Examples of our house refurbishment work elsewhere in London

None of these projects is in Southgate. Each card names where the work was done, so you can judge the finish and the approach before you brief your own.

Your brief

Before you ask for a quotation

  1. Find your house type in the appraisal

    Open the appraisal for your conservation area and find the description that matches your house: a Meadway ‘cottage’ or semi-detached type, an early 1900s Cannon Road house or one of the Abbotshall Avenue moderne houses. Note the original features it names, then photograph each of them on your own house, front, sides and back.

  2. Measure from the original house

    Record where the original rear wall stood, the nearest original ground-floor and first-floor windows of the houses next door, and the depth of any neighbouring extensions. Enfield draws its 45-degree and 30-degree lines from those windows and its depth limits from the original house, so these measurements show early what an extension can be.

  3. Decide what is repaired and what is new

    Before design starts, mark which windows, doors, chimneys, render, canopies and front walls will be repaired and which will be new. Ask for render and brick samples, and agree how any missing porch, canopy or wall would be put back to suit the house type rather than redesigned.

Ready to take the next step? Send the address and a short outline of the work.

Book a free feasibility visit

Questions before you begin

House refurbishment in Southgate: questions

Can I convert the garage of a Meadway house?

Ask Enfield before you design it. The Meadway appraisal lists the loss of traditional single-storey garages with timber doors among the changes that have damaged the area, and in some ‘cottage’ type houses it found the ground-floor alcoves apparently filled in, reducing the modelling of the front. The management proposals say alterations fronting the road should respect the original house types. Keeping the garage front, with timber doors, is the safer starting point for any internal change.

Enfield: Meadway Conservation Area Character Appraisal, approved June 2015 (PDF) · Enfield: Meadway Conservation Area Management Proposals, approved June 2015 (PDF)

Can my rear extension be as deep as my neighbour’s?

Not automatically. Enfield’s Development Management Document applies its rear extension limits from the original house, regardless of how deep the adjoining extensions are, and says edges should not be chamfered to get round them, though a single stepped wall may be acceptable. A deeper extension may still be allowed if it is justified to line up with a common alignment of rear extensions. Show the neighbours’ extensions on your drawings so that the council can judge the alignment.

Enfield: Development Management Document, adopted November 2014

Is there an Enfield design guide for house extensions?

Not on the council’s adopted list. The council’s list of adopted supplementary planning documents, as updated in February 2025, names masterplans, planning briefs, section 106 and energy documents and its Heritage Strategy; a householder design guide is not among them. Extensions are judged against the Development Management Document’s policies 11 to 14 and, inside a conservation area, read with that area’s appraisal and management proposals. Treat any older or draft guidance you find as background only.

Enfield: adopted supplementary planning documents · Enfield: Development Management Document, adopted November 2014 · Enfield: conservation areas

Can I add a garden studio or outbuilding?

Possibly, if it stays secondary to the house. Enfield’s DMD 12 requires a garden building to be ancillary to the house, used with it rather than separately, and says it should not normally stand forward of the front building line. The policy also weighs the lie of the land, the gap between building and house, and the building’s height and bulk. On a sloping plot, set the floor level early, because the slope changes how tall the building looks from next door.

Enfield: Development Management Document, adopted November 2014

How should the render on an Abbotshall Avenue house be repaired?

So that the ‘moderne’ detailing stays crisp. Reviewing the group in 2014, the appraisal blamed careless render repairs for obscuring the elevations’ detailing, and Enfield’s management proposals say the council will encourage reinstating that detailing, and the chimneys, when the opportunity arises. Match the smooth original finish, keep the horizontal bands continuous round the side elevations, and leave the canopies’ edges clean. Because the houses are a conservation area group, agree the specification before the scaffold goes up.

Enfield: Abbotshall Avenue Conservation Area Character Appraisal, approved June 2015 (PDF) · Enfield: Abbotshall Avenue Conservation Area Management Proposals, approved June 2015 (PDF)

My N14 house is in Barnet. Does this page apply?

No. Every rule on this page comes from Enfield: its appraisals, its Article 4 directions and its Development Management Document. Some addresses that use the Southgate name and an N14 postcode are in the London Borough of Barnet. Check the council for your exact address with GOV.UK’s finder, and if it is Barnet, ask Barnet Council which of its own rules apply before any design is drawn.

Find the council for the property · Planning Data: Barnet tree preservation order, Osidge, 151 Chase Side, Southgate, N.14 (1971)

How much does a house refurbishment cost in Southgate?

It depends on scope. In Southgate, a cosmetic refurbishment keeping the existing layout runs £650–£1,250/sqm (typically £90,000–£180,000); a back-to-brick renovation runs £2,250–£3,250/sqm (typically £275,000–£475,000), excluding VAT. A written scope and site assessment come before any fixed price.

Book a free feasibility visit

Talk to us about your Southgate house

Tell us the address and what you want to change in your Southgate house. We reply within one working day, Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm.

Or call 020 7101 3168. We serve Southgate from our studio at Unit 3, Palace Court, 250 Finchley Road, London NW3 6DN.

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