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Temple Fortune NW11 · Flat refurbishment

Flat refurbishment in Temple Fortune

Gateway flats, 1930s blocks and homes above Temple Fortune Parade

This page covers Temple Fortune’s flats on or just off Finchley Road: above the shops of the listed gateway blocks, in courtyard blocks such as Belmont Court and The Pantiles, in Temple Fortune Court on Temple Fortune Lane, and on the upper floors of Temple Fortune Parade. Most share a roof, an entrance and services with other homes, and several of the buildings are listed. It sets out what Barnet’s records say about each of them.

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Serving Temple Fortune from our Hampstead studio · NW3 6DN
020 7101 3168

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Flat refurbishment in Temple Fortune at a glance

In Arcade House and Temple Fortune House, the flats have rear access. Barnet’s 2010 appraisal describes bold timber-framed external staircases climbing to balconied walkways that give rear access to the flats, and timber balconies at first-floor level above the shops of Temple Fortune House. Those stairs and walkways belong to Grade II buildings. In 2016 Barnet approved, subject to conditions, new double doors, with an entry phone, to the porch and balcony terrace of Arcade House, and a new gate and entry system.

Hampstead Garden Suburb character appraisal: Artisans’ Quarter (Area 2), October 2010 · Historic England: Arcade House, 788–800 Finchley Road, Grade II, list entry 1188691 · Barnet planning register: public access search (planning, building control and licensing)

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

Approved guide prices

What does a flat refurbishment cost in Temple Fortune?

A flat refurbishment in Temple Fortune runs £900–£1,700/sqm excluding VAT, and a full two-bedroom refurbishment typically lands between £60,000 and £110,000. Most programmes take 16–32 weeks on site. A written scope and site assessment are needed before any project price can be fixed.

Scope of workGuide rateTypical total
Full flat refurbishment (2-bed)£900–£1,700/sqm£60,000–£110,000
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

Temple Fortune’s flats, block by block

The 2010 appraisals describe each block in turn, and Barnet’s register adds what owners have since asked to change. Start with the building your flat is in; flats elsewhere in the Suburb are covered on our Hampstead Garden Suburb pages.

The Pantiles, listed at Grade II, was designed as labour-saving flats with fitted kitchens for commuters who wanted a modern home. The flats stand on a raised podium behind a grassed area, reached from Finchley Road by an imposing flight of steps, and brick staircase towers rise above the shallow green pantile roof.

Hampstead Garden Suburb character appraisal: Finchley Road (Area 16), October 2010 · Historic England: The Pantiles, Finchley Road, Grade II, list entry 1096075

Belmont Court, a Neo-Georgian courtyard block of 1933, puts its shops on the ground floor of two wings that project onto the pavement, and the appraisal finds the fascias not always sympathetic to the building. Birnbeck Court is a block of housing association flats for older people on the site of the former Orpheum cinema, built after a 1980 Lands Tribunal hearing ruled for the Trust on the design brief. Along this stretch, the appraisal says the wide pavements and the planting in front of the flats frame each building.

Hampstead Garden Suburb character appraisal: Finchley Road (Area 16), October 2010

Temple Fortune Court, set back along Temple Fortune Lane, was led by Penty, the Artisans’ Quarter appraisal says, in a more restrained style influenced by Lutyens, quite distinct from the cottages nearby. On Temple Fortune Parade, a 2025 outline permission at one building covered a rear extension, a new third storey and changing its existing first- and second-floor flats into an 18-room HMO and three one-bedroom flats.

Hampstead Garden Suburb character appraisal: Artisans’ Quarter (Area 2), October 2010 · Historic England: 1–16 Temple Fortune Court, Temple Fortune Lane, Grade II, list entry 1259494 · Barnet planning register: public access search (planning, building control and licensing)

Permissions and local rules

Consents for a Temple Fortune flat

Small works in a listed block

Temple Fortune Court, The Pantiles, Arcade House and Temple Fortune House are all listed, and Barnet’s register shows consent sought for quite small works. In 2015 Barnet granted listed building consent, with conditions, for replacing two pairs of dormer openers like for like at one Temple Fortune Court flat. At a flat in Arcade House, Barnet approved in 2011, subject to conditions, keeping new kitchen units and tiles and removing ceiling tiles to expose the original ceiling.

Barnet planning register: public access search (planning, building control and licensing) · Historic England: 1–16 Temple Fortune Court, Temple Fortune Lane, Grade II, list entry 1259494 · Historic England: Arcade House, 788–800 Finchley Road, Grade II, list entry 1188691

Roofs, entrances and shared services

Barnet’s register also holds whole-building applications for the parts residents share. At The Pantiles, Barnet refused planning permission and listed building consent in 2007 for forming two flats in the roofspace, and in 2019 it refused listed building consent to replace seven communal entrance doors, while in 2006 it had granted listed building consent, with conditions, for cupboards to house new electrical intake equipment, and new service runs, in the entrance halls. In 2019 it approved, with conditions, re-roofing of the roof areas of Arcade House and Temple Fortune House that face Hampstead Way.

Barnet planning register: public access search (planning, building control and licensing) · Historic England: The Pantiles, Finchley Road, Grade II, list entry 1096075

Homes above the Temple Fortune Parade shops

Barnet’s Local Plan seeks the use of upper floors in its town centres and parades, where suitable, for uses including homes. Barnet’s register lists the constraints of one Temple Fortune Parade site as including a ‘Principle Retail Frontage’ and the borough’s Article 4 direction on small houses in multiple occupation, and lists no conservation area for it. Check the constraints for your own building before planning work above a shop.

Barnet Local Plan 2021–2036, adopted 4 March 2025: the plan and its adoption documents · Barnet planning register: public access search (planning, building control and licensing)

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

What the work covers

What a Temple Fortune flat refurbishment covers

Kitchens and layouts within your own flat

A new kitchen, reworked storage and changes to non-structural partitions, planned around the services you own and the ones your freeholder owns. In a listed block, the survey records original joinery, ceilings and doors first, so the drawings show what stays before an application for listed building consent is made.

Windows and doors you share with the block

Repairs to steel or timber casements, dormer openers and entrance doors are usually matters for the freeholder as well as for you. We prepare the survey, drawings and specification your freeholder or managing agent needs, and the listed building consent drawings where the block is listed, so that one consistent approach is agreed for the building.

LEASE: alterations and home improvements · Barnet planning register: public access search (planning, building control and licensing)

Floors, walls and acoustic layers

Acoustic underlays, resilient layers and insulated partitions chosen for the building and the neighbours below. In 1930s blocks and the older gateway flats the floors may be timber or concrete, and the survey establishes which, and what already lies under the finish, before a flooring system is specified.

GOV.UK: Approved Document E, resistance to sound

How we work

How we run a Temple Fortune flat refurbishment

  1. First visit

    We see the flat, then the entrance, stairs or lift that serve it.

  2. Lease and consents

    We go through the lease’s consent requirements with you and the managing agent at the start.

  3. Survey and design

    Drainage and services are traced on site. Our own architects and structural engineers design the layout and any structural change around those routes, and any new external vent or window is checked for planning.

  4. Price and contract

    A fixed written price and a JCT contract follow the survey, scope and specification. The price names its allowances and exclusions, with consent fees and any common-parts work shown separately.

  5. Working in the building

    Common parts are protected and their condition recorded; deliveries keep to the building’s rules, and noisy work to those rules and the council’s permitted hours; key decisions go to a director.

  6. Handover

    Commissioning, drawings, certificates and any managing-agent close-out. Completed work carries a 12-month defects-rectification period under the JCT contract terms.

Real projects, clearly located

Examples of our flat refurbishment work elsewhere in London

None of these projects is in Temple Fortune. 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. Name the block and the freeholder

    Tell us the building, whether it is Temple Fortune Court, The Pantiles, one of the gateway blocks or a Temple Fortune Parade building, and who your freeholder or managing agent is. Send the lease, especially its alterations clause.

  2. Find the building’s records

    Look up the building on Barnet’s planning register. Whole-building applications for roofs, doors and services show what the freeholder has already done or been refused, and they help us avoid proposing the same thing again.

  3. Describe how you reach the flat

    Say whether you enter by a communal hall, a rear staircase and walkway or a door beside a shop, and where materials could be carried in. Access through shared parts shapes the programme, the protection and the agreements needed.

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

Flat refurbishment in Temple Fortune: questions

Does a new flat above a shop need step-free access?

Not always. In a paragraph on exceptional circumstances, Barnet’s Local Plan quotes the London Plan: homes that are not on the ground floor in minor developments can meet the M4(1) standard, which needs no step-free access, where step-free access would be unfeasible. It applies this to flats above existing shops or garages. That matters if your scheme adds a home on an upper floor of Temple Fortune Parade; ordinary refurbishment of an existing flat is a different case.

Barnet Local Plan 2021–2036, adopted 4 March 2025: the plan and its adoption documents

Can a Temple Fortune Parade flat be turned into a shared house?

Only with planning permission. Barnet’s Local Plan says that, since the 2016 Article 4 direction, any proposal to convert a dwelling into a small or large HMO requires it. On Temple Fortune Parade, Barnet granted permission in 2026 at one building with a ground-floor commercial unit for converting its existing flat into a six-room HMO, with an enlarged rear dormer and two front rooflights.

Barnet Local Plan 2021–2036, adopted 4 March 2025: the plan and its adoption documents · Barnet planning register: public access search (planning, building control and licensing)

Can I change the windows of my flat in The Pantiles?

Plan for your freeholder’s agreement and Barnet’s consent. The Pantiles is listed at Grade II, Barnet’s Local Plan says consent is required for any alterations, including some repairs, that would affect a listed building’s special interest, and the Finchley Road appraisal places the block in a pastiche Italianate style with green metal casement windows. It also says poor maintenance weakens the contrasts between materials and the crisp horizontal lines of the design, so repair is usually the starting point.

Historic England: The Pantiles, Finchley Road, Grade II, list entry 1096075 · Barnet Local Plan 2021–2036, adopted 4 March 2025: the plan and its adoption documents · Hampstead Garden Suburb character appraisal: Finchley Road (Area 16), October 2010 · LEASE: alterations and home improvements

What should I check in my lease before refurbishing?

Read the alterations clause, the rules on floor coverings and noise, who owns the windows and the pipes, and whether the landlord’s written consent is needed before work starts. The Leasehold Advisory Service (LEASE) explains how alterations and landlord’s consent usually work. Send us the lease with your first message and we will scope the work around it.

LEASE: alterations and home improvements

Does the shop below my flat have to keep its old shopfront?

In a conservation area, Barnet’s 2026 shopfront guidance says the whole of an historic shopfront must always be retained, and replacement shopfronts on high streets there should enhance the historic character. That is relevant to the shops in the gateway blocks, which lie inside the Suburb conservation area. For Temple Fortune Parade, check the constraints Barnet lists for the building first.

Barnet Sustainable Design and Development Guidance SPD, adopted 15 June 2026: Part 5, shopfronts and advertisements · Hampstead Garden Suburb character appraisal: Artisans’ Quarter (Area 2), October 2010 · Barnet planning register: public access search (planning, building control and licensing)

How much does a flat refurbishment cost in Temple Fortune?

Guide rates in Temple Fortune are £900–£1,700/sqm excluding VAT, with a full two-bedroom refurbishment typically between £60,000 and £110,000, over a 16–32 weeks programme. A written scope and site assessment come before any fixed price.

Book a free feasibility visit

Talk to us about your Temple Fortune flat

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

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

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