Flat renovation and refurbishment in St John's Wood, NW8
Architects, Engineers, Surveyors & Builders Under One Roof.
One Studio. One Contract. One Team.
Independent surveying by our sister practice, Hampstead Chartered Surveyors (RICS Firm No. 923064)Many St John's Wood flats are in the Victorian, Edwardian and interwar mansion blocks that run along Wellington and Circus Roads, and in those the lease and the landlord shape a refurbishment as much as the rooms themselves do.
Mansion blocks along Wellington and Circus Roads
Westminster's 2008 audit picks out Victorian, Edwardian and interwar mansion and flat blocks as typical of St John's Wood, set in a swathe through the centre on Wellington and Circus Roads and around the edges.
Flats in these blocks tend to have generous rooms, solid floors and a service corridor or back stair behind the kitchen. They also share risers, soil stacks and a roof with every other flat, so a refurbishment is planned around what belongs to the flat and what belongs to the building.
The same audit regards mansion blocks as already out of scale with their neighbours, so raising their roofs is unlikely to be appropriate; more space in a flat usually comes from a better plan, not an added floor.
Source: Westminster City Council: St John's Wood Conservation Area Audit SPD
The lease, the landlord and Westminster
LEASE advises that, depending on its terms, a lease may require the landlord's permission before any alteration, even when planning permission or building regulations approval is already in hand.
Even a lease that allows alterations can restrict them in other clauses: one requiring carpeted floors, for example, could rule out timber or laminate.
So we read the lease before drawing anything, list which works need the landlord's licence, and prepare the drawings, specification, method statement and insurance details a licence application normally needs. Planning permission is rarely needed for work inside a flat that is not listed, but we confirm it for each address.
Source: LEASE: alterations and home improvements
Flats in listed buildings
Westminster's 2004 mini guide counts some 470 listed buildings in the St John's Wood Conservation Area.
Where the building is listed, City Plan Policy 44 asks that its special interest is preserved, with original or significant detail and historic fabric protected and, where appropriate, restored.
Inside a listed flat that can mean keeping cornices, doors and shutters, running new pipes and cables without cutting decorative plaster, and agreeing the details with Westminster before work starts. We check whether the work needs listed building consent, which can apply to changes inside as well as outside.
Sources: Westminster City Council: St John's Wood conservation area mini guide, Westminster City Plan 2019-2040 (2026, adopted January 2026)
Sash windows in flats and villas
Windows on the terraces and classical villas are usually single-glazed timber sashes, double hung and set back in the reveal, the audit notes.
Where windows or doors have to be replaced wholesale, it asks that the new ones match the originals' glazing pattern and the way they open.
In a mansion block the windows often belong to the landlord rather than the flat, so draught-proofing, repair or slim secondary glazing inside is usually the leaseholder's route to a warmer home; we check the lease before suggesting any of them.
Source: Westminster City Council: St John's Wood Conservation Area Audit SPD
Heating, wiring and water in a mansion flat
Older blocks often have communal heating or hot water, shared risers and ageing wiring. We survey what feeds the flat, where each supply is isolated and who maintains it, before a new layout moves a bathroom or kitchen away from the existing stacks.
Gov.uk lists most repairs and replacements, and new power and lighting points, among the jobs that need no building regulations approval; heating systems, fuse boxes and glazing units are exceptions.
Electrical and gas work is carried out by appropriately registered engineers. Where the flat is rewired, we replace the consumer unit, add circuits for the kitchen and bathrooms, and leave the cables in a route the next electrician can follow.
Source: GOV.UK: when you don't need building regulations approval
Floors, sound and the flats above and below
Replacing carpet with timber, or moving a bathroom over a neighbour's bedroom, changes how sound travels between flats. We lay new floors on an acoustic layer, isolate pipe runs from the structure and, where a lease sets a standard for sound, design to it.
Before work starts we agree working times, lift protection and the route for materials with the managing agent, and write to the neighbours on the same floor and those above and below.
Working hours, lifts and deliveries in Westminster
Westminster's building hours run from 8am until 6pm Monday to Friday and from 8am until 1pm on Saturday; noisy work on a Sunday or bank holiday needs special permission.
On Saturdays the council's Code also sets lower noise thresholds for every permitted activity.
A parking bay outside the block can be suspended for a skip or building works, with 10 working days' notice to the council.
Where a block sets its own shorter hours for noisy work, we work to the stricter of the two, and we book the lift and protect the common parts each day materials come in.
Sources: Westminster City Council: noise problems we can investigate, Westminster City Council: Code of Construction Practice (May 2026), Westminster City Council: parking bay suspensions
Which level of Westminster's Code a flat falls under
Projects outside the Code's other levels are Level 4: they are expected to follow its principles, with no formal requirement to agree working practices and a communication strategy with the council.
A Level 4 project can be raised to Level 3 where local environmental sensitivity or the combined effect of nearby work justifies it.
Either way, Westminster expects every contractor to follow the spirit of the Code: its hours, keeping disruption down, telling neighbours and reporting incidents.
Source: Westminster City Council: Code of Construction Practice (May 2026)
Kitchens and bathrooms inside the flat
A flat refurbishment usually renews the kitchen and every bathroom at once, because their pipes, waste and extract routes run through the same floors. We plan them together, then hand the detail to the teams behind our kitchen and bathroom pages.
Built-in storage is drawn at the same stage, so wardrobes, hall cupboards and bookcases fit the new walls rather than being added once the plaster is dry.
Preparing a St John's Wood flat for a quotation
Send us the lease, or at least its alterations clause and plan, the managing agent's contact details, any floor plan and photographs of each room. Tell us which rooms you want to change, which fittings you want to keep, and whether the building is listed.
After the feasibility visit we set out the consent route, the likely scope and the order of work. A written quotation follows once the scope is agreed, and no deposit is required.
St John's Wood flat refurbishment: questions
Do I need my landlord's permission to refurbish a St John's Wood flat?
Often, yes. LEASE advises that a lease may require the landlord's permission for alterations, whatever planning or building regulations approval you hold, so we read the lease first.
Can I lay timber floors in a mansion flat?
Check the lease: LEASE notes that a clause requiring carpeted floors could rule out timber or laminate, even where alterations are otherwise allowed.
Can a mansion block's roof be raised for an extra floor?
Westminster's audit considers mansion blocks already out of scale with their neighbours, so raising their roofs is unlikely to be appropriate.
Can I replace the sash windows in my flat?
If the lease makes them yours, the audit asks that new windows match the originals' glazing pattern and way of opening; repair and secondary glazing are often simpler.
When can work happen in a St John's Wood flat?
From 8am to 6pm on weekdays and 8am to 1pm on Saturdays; noisy work outside those hours needs prior consent under Section 61 of the Control of Pollution Act 1974.
What does a flat refurbishment in St John's Wood cost?
A St John's Wood mansion flat is priced around its building. The licence to alter and the lease, the managing agent's rules on lifts and working hours, where the stacks and extract can run, and how materials reach the flat decide the scope long before finishes do. We look at all of this on a feasibility visit, agree the scope and specification with you, and provide a written quotation.
Sources: LEASE: alterations and home improvements, Westminster City Council: St John's Wood Conservation Area Audit SPD, Westminster City Council: noise problems we can investigate, Westminster City Council: Code of Construction Practice (May 2026)
A St John's Wood flat we have refurbished
Rooms and elevations typical of St John's Wood
Design, joinery and the build, under one contract in St John's Wood
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. 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
What clients have said about the work
I would like to thank Ross and his team for their consistent commitment to quality and their unerring reliability.
We have worked with Ross and his company many times. They are extremely professional and hardworking individuals who can work under any circumstances. There was no variation to the works.
Verified Planning, Estate & Conservation Sources
- Westminster City Council: St John's Wood Conservation Area Audit SPD
- LEASE: alterations and home improvements
- Westminster City Council: St John's Wood conservation area mini guide
- Westminster City Plan 2019-2040 (2026, adopted January 2026)
- GOV.UK: when you don't need building regulations approval
- Westminster City Council: noise problems we can investigate
- Westminster City Council: Code of Construction Practice (May 2026)
- Westminster City Council: parking bay suspensions
Related pages
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