Basement conversion in Tufnell Park

Investigate the structure and ground before design.

Start with the basement conversion brief

Distinguish an existing cellar conversion from excavation for a new basement. Record levels, drainage, access and the adjoining structures, and obtain project-specific ground and structural investigations before relying on a design or budget.

Plan temporary works, waterproofing, ventilation, escape and spoil removal as part of the same brief. Ask Hampstead Chartered Surveyors to assess party-wall matters and Hampstead Architecture & Planning to coordinate the design requirements. An area name alone does not establish ground conditions.

The local building context

Islington’s Tufnell Park Conservation Area was designated on 23 June 1970 and last amended or extended on 20 May 1993. Its January 2002 design guidelines describe it as largely the residential estate Lord Tufnell laid out in the 1860s and 1870s, mainly spacious detached and semi-detached villas and terraces of three and four storeys, many designed by the estate’s surveyor, Truefitt, with a variety of styles and a flamboyant use of materials and decoration. They record the area as predominantly residential, with a few houses then providing hotel or bed and breakfast accommodation.

The conservation area’s character, the guidelines explain, rests on surviving 19th century buildings in brick, stone and render, with timber windows and natural slate and tile roofs; only a few 20th century buildings exist. Roofs take the form of gables, mansards, exposed pitches and parapets, and sloping chimney stacks mark the rear of many terraces. Original porticos, porches and canopies are to be kept, as are ornate tiled dadoes in entrance porches, and front boundaries vary from railings on brick walls to engineering-brick finishes, several still carrying original house names. Gaps between houses give views of trees and rear gardens.

Islington’s Hillmarton guidelines describe an area mostly first built in the 1850s and 1860s as pairs of three- and four-storey semi-detached villas or as terraces, and those for Mercers Road/Tavistock Terrace name 6 and 9–21 Tufnell Park Road among the 19th century buildings to retain. In Camden, the Dartmouth Park appraisal describes late Victorian villas and houses on Dartmouth Park Hill either side of a 1950 group of houses and maisonettes, and finds most of that conservation area built between 1840 and 1890, with late 18th century terraces, cottages, mansion blocks and Victorian villas side by side.

Local design and consent context

Islington’s list gives the Tufnell Park Conservation Area (CA11) a designation date of 23 June 1970, a last amendment or extension on 20 May 1993 and current design guidelines adopted in January 2002. The guidelines say the council will operate special policies there to preserve and enhance the area’s character, and that it wishes to retain all statutory and locally listed buildings and all other 18th and 19th century buildings and structures. Read them with the Local Plan Islington adopted on 28 September 2023.

Camden’s heritage Article 4 index lists one direction in the Dartmouth Park Conservation Area: 33 York Rise, NW5, adopted on 7 March 1980 to preserve a painted sign on the north flank wall. Camden’s basement direction is separate and covers the whole borough, so every basement excavation in Camden needs planning permission and is assessed against the council’s policies.

Islington adopted its Local Plan on 28 September 2023 in three parts: the Strategic and Development Management Policies, Site Allocations and the Bunhill and Clerkenwell Area Action Plan. It designates the open space called Tufnell Park as public open space and lists it as a historic green space, and it names the garden of Tufnell Park Primary School as a local Site of Importance for Nature Conservation. Policy DH4 governs basement development, and the plan points to the Basement Development SPD for further guidance.

Access and site planning

Decide where deliveries will stop and where waste will wait. In Islington, scaffolding, hoardings and building materials on the highway need a licence; only a company holding a waste carriers licence can apply for a skip licence, which takes five days to process; and bay suspensions need at least 10 days’ notice for Pay By Phone bays and 14 days for others. Islington cannot suspend yellow lines, and an obstruction on a red route such as Holloway Road needs Transport for London’s permission. In Camden, the skip company itself must apply for the skip licence, at least 5 working days ahead, scaffolds and hoardings need a building licence, and bay suspensions should be booked at least 17 days ahead.

Continue planning

The Tufnell Park area guide · Basement conversion across London · Hampstead Architecture & Planning · Hampstead Chartered Surveyors

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