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Stoke Newington N16 · House refurbishment

House refurbishment in Stoke Newington

Terraces built to the pavement, so most change happens behind

In the Stoke Newington Conservation Area, Hackney’s 2004 appraisal finds that most buildings are terraces standing at the back of the pavement. A whole-house refurbishment here therefore changes the inside, the back and the roof far more than the front. This page sets out the local rules for rear extensions, roofs, chimneys, sashes and doors, the houses that carry a listing or a local listing, and the drainage evidence to read before you dig.

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House refurbishment in Stoke Newington at a glance

Because the conservation area’s buildings mostly sit on the back of the pavement, the 2004 Stoke Newington appraisal says the chance to extend them is almost totally restricted to the rear, usually out of public view. Height matters too. On the east side of the High Street and at the eastern end of Church Street, terraces of three or four storeys hide their roofs behind parapets at a fairly even height, and there the appraisal judges that a roof storey would have a very adverse effect on the group. Heights vary more on the west side of the High Street and at the western end of Church Street.

Stoke Newington Conservation Area Appraisal, November 2004, linked from the council’s Stoke Newington conservation area page

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

Approved guide prices

What does a house refurbishment cost in Stoke Newington?

Cost in Stoke Newington 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

Stoke Newington houses: roofs, chimneys and older survivors

Three things about the houses themselves shape a whole-house job here: what the roofs were first covered with, the chimneys along the side streets, and which houses carry a statutory or a local listing.

Before the railways brought cheap Welsh slate, the 2004 appraisal says, the conservation area’s buildings were roofed with handmade clay tiles made locally, and slate took over after the 1850s. Where concrete tiles have since replaced slate, it shows most where the roofs are visible, as on the gabled houses of Summerhouse Road and Fleetwood Road. Chimneys are particularly prominent in the residential side streets, and the appraisal asks for original stacks and pots visible from the street to be kept. The 2014 boundary map may not include every one of those side streets, so check your house on it.

Stoke Newington Conservation Area Appraisal, November 2004, linked from the council’s Stoke Newington conservation area page · Stoke Newington conservation area map, dated 24 July 2014, linked from the council’s conservation area page

Some houses are far older than the Victorian side streets. In the Clissold Park Conservation Area, Sisters’ Row at 171 and 173 Church Street is a pair of three-storey houses built in 1714. They are double-pile in plan, with tiled roofs behind a parapet and a shared central chimney stack, and the 2004 Clissold Park appraisal calls them a particularly fine and unaltered example of their period. Both fall within the Grade II list entry for 169–173 Church Street, so alterations affecting their character, inside or out, need listed building consent, though Hackney says like-for-like repairs normally do not.

Clissold Park Conservation Area Appraisal, November 2004, linked from the council’s Clissold Park conservation area page · Planning Data: 169-173 Stoke Newington Church Street N16, Grade II, list entry 1235426 · Hackney Council: listed buildings and listed building consent

Hackney’s local list, updated on 14 May 2025, adds houses without statutory listing. On the Albion Road edge it includes 68 Albion Road, 78 to 86 (even), 92 to 104 (even) and 180 to 184 (even) Albion Road, and 2 to 16 (even) Albion Grove. Near Church Street it names 40 to 46 (even), 68 and 70 Yoakley Road, with the forecourt wall and railings of no. 70, and 42 Clissold Crescent. The list shows all of these outside any conservation area. It also names 10 and 12 Lordship Road, which it places inside the Stoke Newington one.

Hackney Council: locally listed buildings and Hackney’s local list 2025

Permissions and local rules

Local checks on the outside of a Stoke Newington house

Rear extensions under the 2025 guidance

How deep and how high can a rear extension go?

Hackney’s December 2025 Residential Extensions and Alterations SPD, in effect since January 2026, sets the current limits. A single-storey rear extension to a terraced house should be no deeper than 3 metres from the original back wall, keep at least half of the original rear garden and have a roof visibly lower than the first-floor window sills. Where a house has an original rear outrigger inside a conservation area, generally only the side infill is possible, not a wrap-around, unless wrap-arounds already mark the terrace. Two-storey rear extensions are approved only where they form part of the area’s dominant character.

Hackney Residential Extensions and Alterations SPD (December 2025, in effect since January 2026)

The appraisal’s principles for extending

What does the 2004 appraisal add?

The 2004 Stoke Newington appraisal sets out principles of its own. An extension should repeat the general form of the original building, including its roof materials, parapet, eaves and verge details and roof pitch, and flat roofs are rarely appropriate when an historic building is extended. Back extensions should not dominate the original house, gardens should be protected from over-development, and original brick boundary walls and all existing trees should be preserved. Read these as 2004 guidance for the conservation area, alongside the 2025 SPD, which is the borough’s current document.

Stoke Newington Conservation Area Appraisal, November 2004, linked from the council’s Stoke Newington conservation area page · Hackney Residential Extensions and Alterations SPD (December 2025, in effect since January 2026)

Dormers, mansards and the rear roof slope

Where does the council expect new roof space to go?

The 2025 SPD says dormers and rooflights will normally be acceptable on the rear roof slope, and asks that the number and size of rooflights should not visually dominate the roof plane; its separate conservation-area rules still apply. For a Victorian house with a butterfly roof outside a conservation area, it names a mansard as the most appropriate roof extension. Inside the conservation area, the 2004 appraisal says roof extensions are rarely appropriate, although a modest, well-designed mansard may be allowed where it does not harm the original building’s architectural quality or the uniformity of the group.

Hackney Residential Extensions and Alterations SPD (December 2025, in effect since January 2026) · Stoke Newington Conservation Area Appraisal, November 2004, linked from the council’s Stoke Newington conservation area page

Basements near Lordship Road and Grazebrook Road

What does the drainage evidence say before you dig?

Hackney’s Surface Water Management Plan, a 2013 Drain London study marked as a final draft, not adopted policy, and linked from the council’s flood page, names Lordship Road, Stoke Newington, as a critical drainage area. It says homes on Lordship Road and Grazebrook Road are at greater risk of worse surface water flooding than the roads, because of the road camber and because properties there contain basements. For any new or extended basement, Local Plan Policy LP53 asks you to show that groundwater flooding will not increase, using site survey or borehole data first.

Hackney Surface Water Management Plan (Drain London study, final draft v2.1 of 4 March 2013; not adopted policy), linked from the council’s flood page · Hackney Local Plan 2033 (LP33), adopted 22 July 2020

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

What the work covers

What a Stoke Newington house refurbishment covers

The back of the house

Most of the change happens at the rear: opening up or rebuilding the back addition, a rear extension sized to the 2025 limits, and a kitchen and garden room arranged around the light a terrace plot allows. The survey records the outrigger, the garden walls and any trees before design starts, because the appraisal asks for original brick boundary walls and existing trees to be kept and for the extension not to dominate the house.

Stoke Newington Conservation Area Appraisal, November 2004, linked from the council’s Stoke Newington conservation area page · Hackney Residential Extensions and Alterations SPD (December 2025, in effect since January 2026)

Roof, chimneys and rainwater

A whole-house job is the moment to deal with the roof once. That can mean re-covering in natural slate where concrete tiles went on later, repairing stacks and pots rather than taking them down, renewing lead flashings, gutters and downpipes, and adding insulation with the ventilation an old roof needs. Where a parapet hides the roof, the gutter behind it deserves as much attention as the slopes, since leaks there show up inside long before outside.

Stoke Newington Conservation Area Appraisal, November 2004, linked from the council’s Stoke Newington conservation area page

Rooms, services and finishes inside

Inside, the work usually covers new wiring, plumbing and heating, a new kitchen and bathrooms, and changes to the room layout. Cornices, skirtings, shutters and fireplaces are recorded before strip-out so that what survives can be repaired or matched. In a listed house such as Sisters’ Row, those interior features are part of what listed building consent protects, so the layout is settled with them in place, not after they have gone.

Hackney Council: listed buildings and listed building consent

How we work

How we run a Stoke Newington 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 Stoke Newington. 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. Look the house up three ways

    Before any design, check the council’s conservation area maps, the statutory list and Hackney’s 2025 local list. A house can be outside the conservation area yet locally listed, as on parts of Albion Road, or inside one and listed, as at Sisters’ Row. Each answer changes what the back, the roof and the windows may become.

  2. Decide how far back and how high

    Settle what the back of the house must hold: a deeper kitchen, an infill beside the outrigger or a second storey. Then measure the original rear wall, the garden and the first-floor sills, because the 2025 limits are set from those points, and note the extensions already built on both sides.

  3. Choose between roof and ground

    If you want more space, decide where it should come from: a rear dormer, a mansard or a basement. Each meets its own test here, and a basement near Lordship Road starts with ground evidence. List the chimneys, slate slopes and boundary walls you would rather repair than replace.

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 Stoke Newington: questions

Can I add a mansard to a terrace house in Stoke Newington?

It depends on where the house is. Inside the Stoke Newington Conservation Area the 2004 appraisal sets a high bar: modest, well-designed mansards may be allowed only where neither the building’s architectural quality nor the group’s uniformity is harmed, and on the even parapet terraces of the High Street’s east side and eastern Church Street a roof storey would be very harmful. Outside a conservation area, Hackney’s 2025 guidance names a mansard as the most appropriate roof extension for a Victorian house with a butterfly roof.

Stoke Newington Conservation Area Appraisal, November 2004, linked from the council’s Stoke Newington conservation area page · Hackney Residential Extensions and Alterations SPD (December 2025, in effect since January 2026)

Can the original sash windows be kept and made warmer?

Often, yes. The 2004 Stoke Newington appraisal says original sashes can often be refurbished, and that inserting additional brushes and new parting beads improves their sound and heat insulation. Where a window has to be renewed, it asks for the deeper reveal, the set-back between the front wall and the frame, which is usually about 150 mm, to be copied.

Stoke Newington Conservation Area Appraisal, November 2004, linked from the council’s Stoke Newington conservation area page

What kind of front door suits a house here?

The 2004 appraisal describes original doors as typically four- or six-panel timber, with mouldings or raised and fielded panels, and always painted rather than stained. If a door has to be replaced, it asks for a purpose-made, matching timber door, and for uPVC and off-the-shelf doors with false fanlights to be avoided. In 2004 an unlisted family house in the conservation area needed no permission for a new front door, so treat this as design advice; a listed house needs listed building consent.

Stoke Newington Conservation Area Appraisal, November 2004, linked from the council’s Stoke Newington conservation area page · Hackney Council: listed buildings and listed building consent

My house is on Hackney’s local list. Does that stop changes?

No, but it adds weight to how the council judges them. A local listing is not statutory listing, so it does not bring listed building consent. Under Local Plan Policy LP4, Hackney weighs a locally listed building’s significance when it decides a planning application, for example for an extension or a roof change. The type descriptions in the 2025 list are there only to help identify each entry and do not form part of the designation.

Hackney Council: locally listed buildings and Hackney’s local list 2025 · Hackney Local Plan 2033 (LP33), adopted 22 July 2020

Where can an air source heat pump go on a Stoke Newington house?

Where planning permission is needed for one, Hackney’s 2025 SPD asks for the unit to sit on a non-prominent elevation, such as the ground-floor rear, away from main street frontages, heritage facades and key views. It also asks for it to be kept away from windows, balconies and neighbouring homes to reduce noise. On a narrow terrace plot, that usually points to the rear garden side, clear of the shared boundary.

Hackney Residential Extensions and Alterations SPD (December 2025, in effect since January 2026)

How much does a house refurbishment cost in Stoke Newington?

It depends on scope. In Stoke Newington, 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 Stoke Newington house

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

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

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