St John’s Wood NW8 · Houses, flats & bathrooms
Thoughtful changes, from a single bathroom to the whole home.
St John's Wood mixes Italianate villas, the earlier ones typically fully stuccoed, with Victorian, Edwardian and interwar mansion blocks, in a conservation area that has some 470 listed buildings. We plan each house, flat, kitchen or bathroom around the listing, any lease and Westminster's guidance on roofs and basements, starting from what each building can take.
Serving St John’s Wood from our Hampstead studio · NW3 6DN
020 7101 3168
Start with your project
01 Mansion blocks and flats
Mansion blocks of the Victorian, Edwardian and interwar years run through the middle of the area and around its edges, and Westminster's audit, noting that they are out of scale with their neighbours, judges any raising of their roofs unlikely to be appropriate.
Source: Westminster City Council: St John's Wood Conservation Area Audit SPD
See the flat refurbishment page02 Villas and semi-detached pairs
Houses are generally two or three storeys over a basement on large plots, and the audit finds very few buildings here that would accept a full additional storey.
Source: Westminster City Council: St John's Wood Conservation Area Audit SPD
See the house refurbishment page03 Kitchens in villas and flats
In a leasehold flat, LEASE explains, the lease may require the landlord's agreement to a new kitchen layout whatever planning or building control has approved.
Source: LEASE: alterations and home improvements
See the kitchen renovation page04 Bathrooms and en-suites
Gov.uk counts a straight replacement of a bath, WC, basin or sink as exempt from building regulations approval; electrical changes beside a bath or shower are not.
Source: GOV.UK: when you don't need building regulations approval
See the bathroom renovation page05 Fitted storage
Our joinery team draws and makes fitted wardrobes, libraries and storage to suit each room.
See the bespoke joinery pageRecent work in NW8
Two St John's Wood projects, each listed with its street and what the work covered:
Space, light and considered storage
Considering more space or a better use of existing rooms in St John’s Wood? Compare loft conversion, house extension and bespoke joinery options with the building, ownership and local controls before fixing the brief.
Explore a loft bedroom, study or flexible living space in St John’s Wood, starting with a comfortable layout and a roof design suited to the actual building.
Establish the full address and whether the roof belongs to a villa, terrace or flat building. Apply the relevant Camden or Westminster documents to that property.
For a flat or an estate-controlled property, confirm the roof demise and applicable title or lease conditions. An area name does not establish ownership.
Create a brief for a kitchen, dining or garden-facing living-space extension in St John’s Wood, balancing the rooms you need with the outdoor space you value.
Where relevant to the building group, assess the addition against established gardens, boundary treatment and the relationship between villas.
Show adjoining buildings and intended structural work so any relevant Party Wall procedure and building-control design can be identified.
Plan fitted wardrobes, study shelving, media units and discreet household storage for your St John’s Wood home, with the room proportions and everyday use guiding the details.
Check the current Article 4 map and schedule for exterior work; the Westminster index identifies specific Abbey Gardens properties, not all NW8 homes.
Separate wardrobes and libraries from replacement exterior joinery, historic interior alterations and fire-door assemblies. Each needs an appropriate specification.
Tell us how you want to use the space, what needs to stay and which drawings or permissions you already have. A measured brief can connect the roof or extension layout with stairs, storage, lighting and joinery before specifications are priced.
The buildings
Westminster's mini guide calls St John's Wood the first example of suburban residential development in Inner London, built up in the 1820s and 1830s largely on land owned by the Eyre family. Its 2008 conservation area audit describes houses of two or three storeys over a basement, set in large plots with generous front and rear gardens and wide gaps between them.
The earlier Italianate villas tend to be fully stucco rendered with simple classical detail, and the villa design was adapted to semi-detached pairs often meant to look like one large property. Yellow stock-brick and stucco, used across most of the conservation area, give it a coherent character, and the windows of the terraces and classical villas tend to be single-glazed, double-hung timber sashes set back in the reveal.
Mansion and flat blocks from the Victorian, Edwardian and interwar periods form a swathe through the centre, on Wellington Road and Circus Road, and ring the edges of the conservation area.
Sources: Westminster City Council: St John's Wood conservation area mini guide, Westminster City Council: St John's Wood Conservation Area Audit SPD
Rules that shape a project
Most of the tests below come from Westminster's 2004 mini guide and 2008 audit for the St John's Wood conservation area and from its City Plan; which of them applies depends on the address and the work.
The mini guide counts some 470 listed buildings in the conservation area, and under City Plan Policy 44 work to a listed building should protect, or where appropriate restore, its original or significant detail and historic fabric. Alma Square and the Park Road triangle fall under the London Squares Act 1931.
Sources: Westminster City Council: St John's Wood conservation area mini guide, Westminster City Plan 2019-2040 (2026, adopted January 2026)
The audit considers roof extensions in many cases unlikely to be acceptable here because of the harm to the roof profile, and raising a mansion block's roof unlikely to be appropriate. Where doors and windows must be replaced wholesale, the new ones should match the originals' glazing pattern and way of opening.
Source: Westminster City Council: St John's Wood Conservation Area Audit SPD
A direction for Nos. 1-47 (odd) and 2-56 (even) Abbey Gardens controls street-facing external changes, exterior painting other than doors and satellite dishes, among other works. Since 31 July 2016, a direction covering the whole of Westminster has also taken away permitted development rights for basements.
Sources: Westminster City Council: St John's Wood conservation area mini guide, Westminster City Council: Article 4 Directions in Westminster
Side extensions that blocked the open gaps between houses have been especially harmful, in the audit's view, and below-ground work must take existing trees into account and leave room for new ones. Additional forecourt parking will be resisted.
Source: Westminster City Council: St John's Wood Conservation Area Audit SPD
On site
Westminster's rules for the street and the site apply across the city, and the council asks everyone building in Westminster to respect the intent of its construction code, such as keeping to hours, limiting disruption and keeping neighbours informed.
Building may start at 8am on any weekday and must stop by 6pm; on Saturdays the cut-off is 1pm, noise limits are lower, and demolition, excavation or piling needs special permission. Out-of-hours noisy work needs the council's prior consent, which is given through Section 61 of the Control of Pollution Act 1974.
Sources: Westminster City Council: noise problems we can investigate, Westminster City Council: Code of Construction Practice (May 2026)
A bay suspended for a skip or for building works has to be booked 10 working days ahead, with a short-notice fee for any request made less than 10 calendar days before the start. Scaffolding, hoardings and skips standing on the highway are each licensed separately by the council, and any vault under the pavement is weighed up before a skip is placed over it.
Sources: Westminster City Council: parking bay suspensions, Westminster City Council: Code of Construction Practice (May 2026)
A project that is not Level 1 or Level 2 but builds a new basement or extends one, of any scale, is Level 3, which means preparing a Construction Management Plan. Level 4 projects, which fall outside the other levels, have no formal approval step for working practices but are still expected to work to the principles of the Code, and Westminster can reclassify a Level 4 job as Level 3 if the local environment is sensitive or the cumulative impact justifies it.
Source: Westminster City Council: Code of Construction Practice (May 2026)
Questions before you begin
Westminster has a St John's Wood conservation area, one of 56 conservation areas that together cover 78% of the city, which also has more than 11,000 listed buildings and structures. We check whether the address lies inside the conservation area before planning any external change.
Sources: Westminster City Plan 2019-2040 (2026, adopted January 2026), Westminster City Council: St John's Wood Conservation Area Audit SPD
Possibly, though not under permitted development: a city-wide direction removed basement permitted development rights on 31 July 2016. Westminster's plan favours a basement one storey deep, about 2.7m floor to ceiling, under no more than 50% of the garden, and a big plot with space for plant and machinery and suitable construction access without an adverse impact on neighbours may justify an exception.
Sources: Westminster City Council: Article 4 Directions in Westminster, Westminster City Plan 2019-2040 (2026, adopted January 2026)
That depends on the lease. LEASE's guidance is that its terms may oblige you to get the landlord's permission before altering the flat, and getting planning permission or building regulations approval leaves that requirement in place. A separate clause may bar particular work, such as a timber floor where floors must be carpeted.
Source: LEASE: alterations and home improvements
At least 40 working days before any work is scheduled to start, sent to cocp@westminster.gov.uk.
Source: Westminster City Council: Code of Construction Practice (May 2026)
St John's Wood work is priced once the address is understood. Westminster's conservation controls, any listing or Article 4 direction, the terms of a lease or an estate licence, and basement proposals all change what a project involves, and the hours and parking suspensions allowed on site shape how it runs. A feasibility visit pins these down for your home; we then agree a scope and specification and give you a written quotation.
The same team stays with the project from the first visit to handover. Our in-house architects, designers and structural engineers draw and specify the work. Master joiners make the fitted furniture. Building Regulations approval comes from the building control body appointed for the project. Independent surveying is a separate appointment: Hampstead Chartered Surveyors & Building Consultancy, our RICS-regulated sister practice, is a separate firm that a homeowner instructs directly. One JCT contract covers the building work. Electrical and gas work is carried out by appropriately registered engineers. Completed structural work carries a 12-month aftercare/defects period. Cover is £5M public liability, £10M employers' liability and contractors' all risks cover. Main office: 250 Finchley Road, Hampstead, London NW3 6DN. Central London client consultation address: 2 Eaton Gate, Belgravia, London SW1W 9BJ. Telephone 020 7101 3168.
Licence to alter · Independent surveying by our sister practice
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