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Temple Fortune NW11 · House refurbishment

House refurbishment in Temple Fortune

Doors, garages, hedges and gates on Temple Fortune’s Suburb houses

This page is for the houses on Temple Fortune Hill and Temple Fortune Lane, two Hampstead Garden Suburb streets that carry the Temple Fortune name. A whole-house refurbishment here rarely stops at the front wall: it reaches the front door, the garage, the gate and the hedge, and Barnet and the Trust have written guidance on each. For the rest of the Suburb, our Hampstead Garden Suburb pages apply.

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

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House refurbishment in Temple Fortune at a glance

Temple Fortune Lane’s houses were laid out to mark the edge of the Suburb. Barnet’s 2010 character appraisal describes a square and three crescents set behind walls, gate piers, gates and steps, with many houses standing above the road on gardens held up by retaining walls. The gates have all gone, although some piers and hinge pins survive. On Temple Fortune Hill the hedges are beech on the south side and mainly privet and box on the north, and the appraisal says wrought iron gates fitted in place of wooden ones have a negative impact. Plan the front boundary together with the house, not after it.

Hampstead Garden Suburb character appraisal: Temple Fortune Lane and Willifield Way (Area 3), October 2010 · Hampstead Garden Suburb character appraisal: Artisans’ Quarter (Area 2), October 2010

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

Approved guide prices

What does a house refurbishment cost in Temple Fortune?

Cost in Temple Fortune 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

The houses of Temple Fortune Hill and Temple Fortune Lane

Two chapters of the 2010 appraisal describe these houses: the Artisans’ Quarter for Temple Fortune Hill, and the Temple Fortune Lane and Willifield Way area for the Lane. Their detail is the starting point for a refurbishment.

Temple Fortune Hill mixes cottage groups with brick-edged twitten arches, ‘drawbridge’ door canopies and prominent Arts and Crafts chimneys. Each of the two brick half quadrangles holds six houses, and the gables facing the road carry catslide roofs with weatherboarded side dormers and broad six-light casements. At the Willifield Way junction, Crickmer’s houses of 1909 to 1910 have M-shaped gables behind a circular hedged path, and higher up the hill stand Sutcliffe’s substantial houses of 1912, one of which the appraisal describes as successfully extended.

Hampstead Garden Suburb character appraisal: Artisans’ Quarter (Area 2), October 2010

Many architects built Temple Fortune Lane. In Albert Lakeman’s group some houses have catslide roofs over their porches, diamond and brick patterning in the gables and arched timber door hoods on brackets, and the appraisal regrets one enclosed porch. Palser Square’s houses have large leaded windows, yet several front doors have been replaced in modern styles and two pairs of garages are called unsympathetic. Around the group known as Dawber Crescent, three garages between the houses are described as sensitively designed, while a large 1960s extension in one back garden shows from the front and the side footpath.

Hampstead Garden Suburb character appraisal: Temple Fortune Lane and Willifield Way (Area 3), October 2010

Along the Lane the appraisal also records inappropriately replaced front doors, badly designed garages and painted hanging tiles that detract from its character. Across its whole character area it lists, among the negative features, metal up-and-over garage doors instead of hinged wooden ones, and roof repairs in mass-produced tiles that do not match the existing roof tiles. It adds that overgrown hedges on Temple Fortune Lane narrow the pavement and hide the architecture. Settle each of these details in the specification before anything is ordered.

Hampstead Garden Suburb character appraisal: Temple Fortune Lane and Willifield Way (Area 3), October 2010

Permissions and local rules

What Barnet and the Trust ask of a Temple Fortune house

Front doors and garage doors

The joint Design Guidance asks for surviving original front doors to be kept and upgraded; where that is not possible, it says a joiner can make a copy that meets modern security needs, and it calls mass-produced doors almost always unsuitable. Where a garage door was designed to complement the front door, the replacement should match the original style. Barnet’s register has related decisions on Temple Fortune Hill: a new timber garage door approved at one house in 2018, and the reinstatement of a front door, garden gate and internal fireplaces approved at another in 2021.

Hampstead Garden Suburb Conservation Area Design Guidance, Barnet and the Trust · Barnet planning register: public access search (planning, building control and licensing)

Windows on Temple Fortune Hill

Many houses on Temple Fortune Hill are listed at Grade II, and Barnet’s register shows how window work has been decided at individual houses there. In 2024 Barnet granted listed building consent at one house for repairing the existing timber windows, with alterations to replace their casements with slimline double-glazed panes, and a conservation rooflight on the rear slope. In 2025 it approved new double-glazed timber windows and a heat pump in an acoustic enclosure on the side elevation of another. Read these as single decisions, not a general rule.

Historic England: 5–11 Temple Fortune Hill, Grade II, list entry 1259558 · Hampstead Garden Suburb character appraisal: Artisans’ Quarter (Area 2), October 2010 · Barnet planning register: public access search (planning, building control and licensing)

Plant, meters and alarm boxes

The Design Guidance says all air conditioning plant needs consent from Barnet and the Trust, must be placed out of sight of the street and neighbouring gardens and can be screened by planting or timber housings. Meter cabinets can go to the side of a house or in a discreet semi-underground box once the Trust has advised on the position, and alarm boxes should not be sited on decorative gables. On Temple Fortune Hill, Barnet approved a side-elevation gas meter box in 2014 and an air-conditioning unit in a timber enclosure in 2026, at different houses.

Hampstead Garden Suburb Conservation Area Design Guidance, Barnet and the Trust · Barnet planning register: public access search (planning, building control and licensing)

Extensions and the Decoy Brook drainage area

Barnet’s Local Plan asks, among other things, that an extension complements the house’s style, form and materials and stays subordinate to it. Barnet’s register lists the Decoy Brook Critical Drainage Area among the constraints of application sites on Temple Fortune Hill, and Policy ECC03 seeks a site-specific flood risk assessment for sites in such an area, among other cases. Ask early whether your scheme needs one. The appraisals describe one Sutcliffe house on Temple Fortune Hill as successfully extended, and note a 1960s extension on the Lane that can be seen from the front and from the side footpath.

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) · Hampstead Garden Suburb character appraisal: Artisans’ Quarter (Area 2), October 2010 · Hampstead Garden Suburb character appraisal: Temple Fortune Lane and Willifield Way (Area 3), October 2010

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 house refurbishment covers

Doors, porches and garages

Repair of original front doors, door hoods and porch canopies, or joinery copies where the old door cannot be saved; hinged timber garage doors in place of later metal ones; and reopening a porch that an earlier owner enclosed, where the consents allow. Each item is drawn and specified before the Trust and Barnet are asked, so the joiner works from an approved design.

Hampstead Garden Suburb Conservation Area Design Guidance, Barnet and the Trust · Hampstead Garden Suburb character appraisal: Temple Fortune Lane and Willifield Way (Area 3), October 2010

Roofs, tiles and hanging tiles

Re-roofing and repairs in tiles that match the existing roof, careful repointing, and the removal of paint from hanging tiles or brickwork where that can be done without damage. Barnet’s Local Plan expects alterations in its conservation areas normally to use materials matching the original, so the survey records the tile type and size before any are stripped.

Barnet Local Plan 2021–2036, adopted 4 March 2025: the plan and its adoption documents · Hampstead Garden Suburb character appraisal: Temple Fortune Lane and Willifield Way (Area 3), October 2010

Services inside, plant outside

New heating, wiring and plumbing routed inside the house, redundant pipes removed from the walls, and any heat pump, air-conditioning unit, meter cabinet or alarm box positioned and screened with the guidance in mind. Positions go on the application drawings, so the outside of the house is decided once rather than altered later.

Hampstead Garden Suburb Conservation Area Design Guidance, Barnet and the Trust

How we work

How we run a Temple Fortune 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 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. Photograph the boundary and the front

    Send photographs of the hedge, any gate piers or retaining wall, the front door, porch and garage door, and the roof slopes you can see. Say which parts you believe are original; the survey then checks them against the appraisal’s description of your group of houses.

  2. Gather the earlier consents

    Search Barnet’s planning register for your address and collect any Trust consents, listing details and building control certificates. Earlier decisions show what has already been accepted at the house and what conditions still apply to it.

  3. List the plant you want

    Tell us whether you want a heat pump, air conditioning, a new meter position, an alarm or outside lighting. Siting these early means they appear on the first set of drawings instead of becoming separate applications later.

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 Temple Fortune: questions

Does Barnet’s house extension guide apply on Temple Fortune Hill or Temple Fortune Lane?

Not as written for these streets. Barnet says Part 4 of its 2026 design guidance, on residential extensions and alterations, is not intended for properties in conservation areas or locally or nationally listed buildings, though it may be pertinent in certain instances. In the Suburb, the Local Plan says the conservation area’s character appraisals and its design guidance are used in assessing applications, so the 2010 appraisals and the joint Design Guidance are the documents to read.

Barnet Sustainable Design and Development Guidance SPD, adopted 15 June 2026: Part 4, guidance on residential extensions and alterations (not intended for conservation areas or nationally or locally listed buildings) · Barnet Local Plan 2021–2036, adopted 4 March 2025: the plan and its adoption documents · Hampstead Garden Suburb Conservation Area Design Guidance, Barnet and the Trust

Can I put an air-conditioning unit or heat pump outside the house?

Sometimes, with consent and careful siting. The joint guidance says air-conditioning units must not be seen from the street or neighbouring gardens and must not create a noise nuisance for neighbours. Barnet has approved units in timber or acoustic enclosures on Temple Fortune Hill, so plan the position, the pipe runs and the screening before you choose the equipment.

Hampstead Garden Suburb Conservation Area Design Guidance, Barnet and the Trust · Barnet planning register: public access search (planning, building control and licensing)

Is my house in a flood risk area?

Barnet’s planning register lists the Decoy Brook Critical Drainage Area among the constraints of application sites on Temple Fortune Hill and on Temple Fortune Parade. That is a register constraint, not a flood map, so check your own address. Where a scheme adds hard surfaces or an extension, ask early whether a flood risk assessment and drainage details will be needed.

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

What should I do about an overgrown hedge at the front?

Cut it back rather than remove it. The Design Guidance says hedges should always be retained and the original species kept where they survive, so match any gaps to the neighbouring hedges in your group. The Lane’s appraisal notes overgrown hedges narrowing the pavement.

Hampstead Garden Suburb Conservation Area Design Guidance, Barnet and the Trust · Hampstead Garden Suburb character appraisal: Temple Fortune Lane and Willifield Way (Area 3), October 2010

Can a replaced front door be put back to the original design?

It can be. The joint guidance favours repairing original doors or having a joiner copy them, and Barnet’s Local Plan says reinstating lost traditional features in its conservation areas will be considered where there is enough evidence for an accurate replacement. Look at matching doors in your group of houses, old photographs and any surviving hinges or frames, and we will draw the door for approval before it is made.

Hampstead Garden Suburb Conservation Area Design Guidance, Barnet and the Trust · Barnet Local Plan 2021–2036, adopted 4 March 2025: the plan and its adoption documents

How much does a house refurbishment cost in Temple Fortune?

It depends on scope. In Temple Fortune, 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 Temple Fortune house

Tell us the address and what you want to change in your Temple Fortune house. 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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