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Totteridge N20 · Flat refurbishment

Flat refurbishment in Totteridge

Flats in a listed mansion, and the rules for dividing a house

Barnet’s 2008 appraisal of the Totteridge Conservation Area does not describe flats. Barnet’s planning register does record flats at Totteridge Park, a Grade II listed mansion on Totteridge Common, so this page starts there. It then covers what Barnet’s Local Plan asks before a large Totteridge house is divided, and the sound and shared-ground questions a flat owner should settle before work starts.

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Flat refurbishment in Totteridge at a glance

Totteridge Park is described as 10 flats in applications Barnet received in 2009, 2010 and 2015. Applications made in 2015 for planning permission and listed building consent were approved, subject to conditions, for works that included internal alterations to turn the 10 existing flats into 8 and a two-storey extension to the north, on ground and lower-ground floors, providing 2 more homes, so that the site would keep 10. If you own a flat in a listed building like this, check listed building consent as well as the lease before planning any change inside it.

Barnet planning register: public access search (planning, building control and licensing) · Planning Data: Totteridge Park, listed Grade II (list entry 1064825)

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

Approved guide prices

What does a flat refurbishment cost in Totteridge?

A flat refurbishment in Totteridge 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

Totteridge Park and the larger houses

The appraisal names Totteridge Park as one of the 18th-century houses of Totteridge Common whose form and size some later 19th-century developments copied, creating small country estates. Its register history shows repeated proposals to change how the building is divided.

Applications made in 2009 to turn the 10 flats into a single family house were refused, and applications for the same conversion made in 2010 were approved subject to conditions. Later records show the building still divided, and the scheme applied for in 2015 rearranged the flats rather than reducing the number of homes. Ask the freeholder or managing agent which approved drawings now apply to the building before you plan any change to your own flat.

Barnet planning register: public access search (planning, building control and licensing)

The appraisal describes the large, formally laid out gardens of mansion houses such as Totteridge Park, and gives the building as an example of simply aligned high brick walls and of a large gated entrance with open steel gates. Planning Data records a 1994 tree preservation order for Totteridge Park. Among areas of known archaeological importance, the appraisal also names a mound in its garden, rumoured to contain the bodies and weapons of those who fought in the Battle of Barnet, and possibly the site of an old medieval manor house.

Barnet: Totteridge Conservation Area Character Appraisal Statement, adopted May 2008 (PDF) · Planning Data: tree preservation order, Totteridge Park, Totteridge Common (1994)

On Totteridge Common the appraisal records pressure for the subdivision of the larger properties and their grounds. Barnet’s 2026 guidance says Local Plan Policy HOU03 applies to converting single family houses, including their extensions and alterations, into self-contained flats, and expects conversion proposals to follow its guidance. The Local Plan adds that, where a conversion is acceptable, its external alterations should seek to minimise their effect on the property’s appearance and local character, and that conversions must meet London Plan space standards.

Barnet: Totteridge Conservation Area Character Appraisal Statement, adopted May 2008 (PDF) · Barnet Local Plan 2021–2036, adopted 4 March 2025: the plan and its adoption documents · Barnet Sustainable Design and Development Guidance SPD, adopted 15 June 2026: Part 3, flat conversions and HMOs

Permissions and local rules

Consents and conditions for a Totteridge flat

Inside a listed block

The appraisal reminds owners that it is an offence to demolish, alter or extend a listed building without listed building consent, and in 2008 it gave the penalty as an unlimited fine, up to two years’ imprisonment, or both. In a listed building such as Totteridge Park, ask Barnet whether new partitions, a moved kitchen or bathroom, new floor finishes or replacement doors need consent before you order anything, and keep the freeholder’s consent under the lease as a separate step.

Barnet: Totteridge Conservation Area Character Appraisal Statement, adopted May 2008 (PDF) · Planning Data: Totteridge Park, listed Grade II (list entry 1064825)

Conditions on the building and its grounds

The consents applied for in 2015 at Totteridge Park came with conditions whose details then had to be submitted to Barnet. In submissions made in 2017 under the listed building consent, details of an archaeological evaluation and a no-dig construction technique were approved, while one set of tree protection details was refused and a later set approved. Any work to a flat that reaches the garden, the drains or the outside walls can raise the same questions, so ask the freeholder which conditions are still live.

Barnet planning register: public access search (planning, building control and licensing)

Changing an approved scheme

Approval of a scheme does not fix every later detail. An application made in 2017 to vary the approved plans of the permission applied for in 2015 at Totteridge Park was refused, while a non-material amendment applied for the same year, which included moving the approved dormer windows, was approved. Details of all the new windows and doors and the orangery, submitted in 2018, were approved under a condition. If your flat’s windows or entrance form part of such a scheme, work to the approved details.

Barnet planning register: public access search (planning, building control and licensing)

Dividing a house into flats

Barnet’s Local Plan makes the conversion of a house subject to criteria, among them that the scheme provides at least one family-sized home with three bedrooms, capable of four bedspaces, with access to its own private garden, and that the house’s gross internal floor area should be at least 135 square metres where two flats are proposed. Barnet’s 2026 guidance says outbuildings and sheds are normally left out of that measurement, as are unbuilt extensions, and space under 1.5 metres of headroom is not counted unless it is used solely for storage.

Barnet Local Plan 2021–2036, adopted 4 March 2025: the plan and its adoption documents · Barnet Sustainable Design and Development Guidance SPD, adopted 15 June 2026: Part 3, flat conversions and HMOs

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

What the work covers

What a Totteridge flat refurbishment covers

Layout and finishes inside the flat

Kitchen, bathroom and room layouts drawn around the building’s existing plan, with each change checked against the listing, the approved drawings for the building and your lease before it is priced. Partitions, floor finishes and service runs are specified so that historic features such as fireplaces, cornices and doors are kept and protected while the work goes on.

Sound and safety between flats

Floor and wall build-ups designed for sound before the layout is fixed, with Barnet’s guidance that development should give high levels of soundproofing between rooms as well as between dwellings in mind. The flat entrance door, smoke alarms and the shared escape route are reviewed with the freeholder or managing agent, so the work does not weaken the protection the building already has.

Barnet Sustainable Design and Development Guidance SPD, adopted 15 June 2026: Part 2, design and technical guidance

Shared grounds, access and deliveries

An agreed plan with the freeholder or managing agent for access through the gates and drive, delivery times, where materials and waste are kept in the shared grounds, and protection for trees, walls and paths while work is under way. Neighbours above, below and beside the flat are told what to expect before noisy work starts.

How we work

How we run a Totteridge 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 Totteridge. 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. Send the lease and the building’s consents

    Send your lease, any licence for alterations you already hold, and the planning and listed building decisions for the building with their conditions. If the flat is in a listed or converted building, ask the managing agent which approved drawings now apply.

  2. Say which floor and what is below

    Tell us which floor the flat is on, what lies above and below it, where the kitchen and bathroom sit, and which walls you would like to move. Photographs of ceilings, floors and any pipework you can see help us judge sound and drainage routes early.

  3. List the shared parts the work could touch

    Note what the freeholder looks after that the work might reach: the roof, outside walls, windows, entrance, stairs, drains, gardens and parking. Ask how the freeholder wants to be consulted and how long a reply usually takes.

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 Totteridge: questions

Can a flat at Totteridge Park gain rooms in the roof?

It has been refused before. Applications made in 1997 for planning permission and listed building consent for roof alterations with dormer windows in the existing roof space, to create three more flats, were refused. Any new roof proposal would need fresh applications, and the lease decides who owns the roof space and whether you may use it, so read it before you spend money on drawings.

Barnet planning register: public access search (planning, building control and licensing)

Could a large Totteridge house be divided into flats?

Only against Barnet’s criteria. The first test in Local Plan Policy HOU03 is that the site has a public transport accessibility level of 3 to 6, now or planned, or lies within 800 metres’ walk of a station or a town centre boundary. Barnet’s 2026 guidance adds that a conversion is likely to be resisted on a road largely characterised by single family houses, where losing one would unacceptably alter the prevailing character, though it may be acceptable on a road of mixed character or one characterised by existing flat conversions.

Barnet Local Plan 2021–2036, adopted 4 March 2025: the plan and its adoption documents · Barnet Sustainable Design and Development Guidance SPD, adopted 15 June 2026: Part 3, flat conversions and HMOs

What sound insulation will Barnet expect in a conversion?

More than the bare minimum where a new flat adjoins a house. Barnet’s 2026 design guidance says that where a flat conversion shares a party wall with an existing family house, the council will expect sound insulation at least 5dB above the Building Regulations value. Plan the floor and wall build-ups early, because they change ceiling heights and door thresholds.

Barnet Sustainable Design and Development Guidance SPD, adopted 15 June 2026: Part 2, design and technical guidance

How should new flats in a converted house be laid out?

Barnet’s 2026 guidance says each flat should normally have access to the garden, that for upper flats in detached or semi-detached houses it usually recommends side access, and that external staircases will generally not be supported. It also encourages dual aspect homes, particularly in flatted schemes, and says housing should normally avoid single aspect homes. On Totteridge’s large plots, side access and garden division need drawing early.

Barnet Sustainable Design and Development Guidance SPD, adopted 15 June 2026: Part 3, flat conversions and HMOs · Barnet Sustainable Design and Development Guidance SPD, adopted 15 June 2026: Part 2, design and technical guidance

Who should I speak to first about a flat at Totteridge Park?

Your managing agent or freeholder, with your lease to hand. Ask for the building’s planning and listed building history, the approved drawings and any conditions still to be met, then send us those with photographs of the rooms you want to change. We then check what Barnet’s consents and the lease would allow before any design is fixed.

How much does a flat refurbishment cost in Totteridge?

Guide rates in Totteridge 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 Totteridge flat

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

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

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