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Brook Green W6 and W14 · House refurbishment

House refurbishment in Brook Green

Roofs, stucco and railings under two conservation area profiles

A Brook Green house can fall under either of two Hammersmith and Fulham character profiles: the Brook Green one, approved in 2004 and updated to 2007, or the Lakeside / Sinclair / Blythe Road one, adopted in 2017. This page sets out what each records about the roofs, fronts and boundaries of houses, what the council decided in one recent case, and the choices to make before a whole-house scheme is drawn.

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House refurbishment in Brook Green at a glance

For a house here, the roof is often where the first design decision lies. The 2004 Brook Green profile warns that in some cases a highly visible rear roof may rule out a roof extension, where one would harm the character of the conservation area. Its guidelines were written under the old Unitary Development Plan, so read them with the council’s Local Plan and Planning Guidance SPD, both adopted on 28 February 2018. Before planning rooms upstairs, find the address on the current conservation area map and see how much of the back of the house can be seen from the street.

LBHF: Brook Green Conservation Area character profile, approved 8 March 2004 · LBHF Local Plan 2018: policy document · LBHF Planning Guidance SPD, adopted 28 February 2018 · LBHF: conservation areas, character profiles and maps

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

Approved guide prices

What does a house refurbishment cost in Brook Green?

Cost in Brook Green 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

Brook Green houses, street by street, in the profiles’ words

These descriptions are the profiles’ own, dated 2004 to 2007 for the Brook Green Conservation Area and 2017 for the Lakeside / Sinclair / Blythe Road one. Check what survives on your house today.

North of the Green, the 2004 profile describes Applegarth Road, Aynhoe Road and much of Caithness Road as three-storey houses, mostly in continuous uniform terraces of stock brick. Facing the Green, Nos. 26 to 39 are a locally listed group of mid-19th-century houses of three storeys and a semi-basement, in twos and fours, and it notes that losing some front walls has detracted from them. At Nos. 52 to 54 and 55 to 57, a massive chimney stack divides each house at roof level across almost the whole party wall. No. 56 is Grade II listed, its neighbours locally listed.

LBHF: Brook Green Conservation Area character profile, approved 8 March 2004 · LBHF: Local Register of Buildings of Merit, as at August 2015 · Planning Data: 56 Brook Green, Grade II, list entry 1079846

South of the Green, the profile describes the Grade II terrace at 8 to 46 (even) Rowan Road as early-to-mid-19th-century linked villas of two storeys in yellow stock brick under shallow hipped slate roofs, and 3 to 11 (odd) Bute Gardens as detached and semi-detached villas of the same period, two storeys in stucco, also with hipped slate roofs. Luxemburg Gardens is a late-19th-century terrace of three-storey houses with red-brick fronts. On the listed villas, altering the roof needs listed building consent, and the 2018 SPD resists losing hipped roofs where hips form part of an area’s original pattern.

LBHF: Brook Green Conservation Area character profile, approved 8 March 2004 · Planning Data: 8–46 Rowan Road, Grade II, list entry 1192849 · Planning Data: 3 Bute Gardens, Grade II, list entry 1191600 · Planning Data: 5 and 7 Bute Gardens, Grade II, list entry 1079807 · Planning Data: 9 Bute Gardens, Grade II, list entry 1079808 · Planning Data: 11 Bute Gardens, Grade II, list entry 1358565 · LBHF: statutory listed buildings · LBHF Planning Guidance SPD, adopted 28 February 2018

The 2017 profile calls the area centred on Masbro Road the oldest part of the Lakeside / Sinclair / Blythe Road Conservation Area. The three-storey Nos. 5 to 13 Masbro Road have a later mansard storey of uniform style, the two-storey, stucco-fronted Nos. 47 to 53 have later mansards with dormers, and on two two-storey houses further along an extra brick storey has been built above the parapet. On Irving Road, a two-storey terrace has later mansards behind rendered parapets. These describe changes already made; they are not a guide to what the council would allow now.

LBHF: Lakeside / Sinclair / Blythe Road Conservation Area character profile, adopted by Cabinet July 2017

Permissions and local rules

What the two profiles ask of a Brook Green house

Rear roofs seen from the street

When does the back of the roof count?

Among its roof guidance for conservation areas, Hammersmith and Fulham’s 2018 SPD says rear roof extensions should be sympathetic, with special attention to their design where they can be seen from the street and surrounding properties. The 2017 Lakeside / Sinclair / Blythe Road profile shows how exposed some backs are: Dunsany Road gives significant views of the rear of houses on Blythe Road, Dewhurst Road and Sterndale Road, where many have dormers in the rear roof slope and other extensions, some of which it says harm the conservation area. Design a visible rear roof as part of the street.

LBHF Planning Guidance SPD, adopted 28 February 2018 · LBHF: Lakeside / Sinclair / Blythe Road Conservation Area character profile, adopted by Cabinet July 2017

Slate, lead and roof details

What should a re-roof keep?

Where traditional roof materials survive, the 2004 Brook Green profile asks that repairs or alterations to roofs and dormers use matching slate, lead and timber, and it encourages reinstating traditional materials. It wants original features kept, such as decorative ridge tiles, finials, crestings, cast iron gutters and downpipes, and the original roofing and its pattern; the 2018 SPD adds that original chimney pots should be retained wherever possible. On a Hazlitt Road terrace, in the 2017 profile’s Sub Area 6, cornices are missing on some houses and most survivors are disfigured by lead flashings; check the current map there.

LBHF: Brook Green Conservation Area character profile, approved 8 March 2004 · LBHF Planning Guidance SPD, adopted 28 February 2018 · LBHF: Lakeside / Sinclair / Blythe Road Conservation Area character profile, adopted by Cabinet July 2017 · LBHF: conservation areas, character profiles and maps

Stucco, paint and front windows

Repair or replace?

The 2004 profile asks that original features such as timber sashes or casements, panelled doors, decorative stucco and door cases be maintained and repaired wherever possible, and encourages exact replicas where renewal is unavoidable. Unpainted stucco should preferably stay as it is; painted render or stucco should be repainted a matt, stone-like colour in a breathable paint. Council guidance says slim double-glazed units can go into existing timber frames. In 2022 a scheme approved at a house on Addison Gardens included double-glazed timber sashes of similar appearance at front and rear: one decision at its date, not a rule.

LBHF: Brook Green Conservation Area character profile, approved 8 March 2004 · LBHF climate change and planning: replacement double and triple glazing windows · LBHF: planning, building control and licensing applications search

Railings, walls and front lightwells

What does the front boundary need?

The 2004 profile describes boundaries from railings on a stone plinth to low brick walls with stone copings, railings and capped piers, asks that originals be kept and repaired, and favours black or dark green for most metal railings. Where a front lightwell is acceptable, it says railings round its edge would not be appropriate; one used for escape needs a metal ladder and a grille that opens with one hand. The 2018 SPD’s model lightwell should not exceed 800mm from front to back, under a flush grille, and may be relaxed only for front gardens over 6 metres deep.

LBHF: Brook Green Conservation Area character profile, approved 8 March 2004 · LBHF Planning Guidance SPD, adopted 28 February 2018

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

What the work covers

What a whole-house scheme here takes in

The roof, opened up and recorded

The survey records the slates, leadwork, dormers, chimneys, pots, gutters and cornices as found, and marks which are original. Coverings are lifted where decay is suspected, so repairs in matching materials are priced with the scheme rather than found once the scaffold is up. Where a mansard or dormer already exists, its condition and its planning history are checked before any work to it is designed.

LBHF: Brook Green Conservation Area character profile, approved 8 March 2004

Front elevation and boundary, item by item

Each window, door, stretch of stucco, door case, railing, pier and coping on the front is listed as keep and repair, or renew to match, with the reason written beside it. Existing paint on stucco is tested before a breathable finish is specified, and railings are scraped back to find their first colour. Any change to the front or the boundary is then matched against the Article 4 schedule for that exact number.

LBHF: Brook Green Conservation Area character profile, approved 8 March 2004 · LBHF: properties affected by Article 4 directions, list last amended 1 October 2011

Ground, drainage and any lower floor

The council’s 2016 flood risk assessment, an evidence document rather than policy, describes clay and silt of the Langley Silt Member over the London Clay around Brook Green and Hammersmith Road. That is a borough-scale summary, not a site investigation, so trial holes and a drain survey come before any lower-floor design. The 2018 Local Plan requires any development with a subterranean element to give details of the structural waterproofing that will prevent more groundwater flood risk on or off the site.

LBHF: Strategic Flood Risk Assessment, final, December 2016 (evidence document) · LBHF Local Plan 2018: policy document

How we work

How we run a Brook Green 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 Brook Green. 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. Pin down the conservation area

    Give the full address, then find it on the council’s current conservation area map, because boundaries have moved since the Brook Green profile was written. Note which profile describes your street and, in Lakeside / Sinclair / Blythe Road, which of its sub-areas. For a W14 address, confirm with the council that the house is in Hammersmith and Fulham.

  2. Show the roof from every side

    Send pictures of the front, the back and the roof slopes, including any view of the rear from a neighbouring street, and point out the dormers, mansards, chimney stacks and original features you want to keep. If earlier owners changed the roof, windows or basement, say what you know of their consents.

  3. Say how the house will be lived in

    Tell us who will live in the house, which rooms must stay in use during the works, and whether a loft, rear room or lower floor is part of the plan. Those answers shape the structure, the order of work and which consents are sought first.

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 Brook Green: questions

If a neighbour has a mansard, can I add one?

Not by itself. The 2017 Lakeside / Sinclair / Blythe Road profile says the front mansards on several Fielding Road houses are prominent and make them look top-heavy, and the council’s 2018 SPD calls front roof extensions generally unacceptable for the borough’s typical building styles. The 2004 Brook Green profile permits one only within a terrace already significantly impaired by them, a test of the whole terrace, not one neighbour. Where a mansard is original, as in the extra storey of Nos. 85 to 105 Shepherd’s Bush Road, it is part of the design.

LBHF: Lakeside / Sinclair / Blythe Road Conservation Area character profile, adopted by Cabinet July 2017 · LBHF Planning Guidance SPD, adopted 28 February 2018 · LBHF: Brook Green Conservation Area character profile, approved 8 March 2004

How close can a rear extension come to the house next door?

The council’s 2018 SPD sets several tests, among them a 45-degree line: as a general rule an extension should not cross it, measured at ground level from the rear boundary if the neighbouring garden is under 9 metres long or at 2 metres high if it is longer, with on-site judgement a determining factor for any part beyond it. Where the gap between back additions is already only just acceptable, further extension to them, particularly above ground level, will generally be resisted. Check both on a measured survey before the design is set.

LBHF Planning Guidance SPD, adopted 28 February 2018

Do a heat pump or solar panels need planning permission?

Not normally, but there are exceptions. The council’s retrofit guidance, undated web guidance rather than adopted policy, says a heat pump needs permission in several cases, among them where the unit with its housing exceeds 1.5 cubic metres for a house or, in a conservation area, sits on a wall or roof fronting a highway; it suggests siting one at the rear, away from neighbours. Solar panels need permission in cases that include standing above the highest part of the roof, chimney excluded, a listed building, or an Article 4 direction removing the right.

LBHF climate change and planning: air source heat pumps · LBHF climate change and planning: solar panels

Does a locally listed house change a refurbishment?

Several groups facing the Green are on the council’s local register of Buildings of Merit. Such a building needs no listed building consent, but the Climate Change SPD adopted on 25 October 2023 says planning permission to retrofit one will be granted only where the proposals conserve it, unless public benefits outweigh any harm. Find out early whether your house is on the register and shape any visible energy work around that test.

LBHF: Local Register of Buildings of Merit, as at August 2015 · LBHF: Climate Change Supplementary Planning Document, adopted 25 October 2023

What if earlier owners did work without approval?

The council’s building control guide lets owners apply to regularise work that started on or after 11 November 1985. It singles out loft conversions and structural changes like taking out a chimney breast as common alterations the Building Regulations must cover, and warns that finished work may need opening up so it can be inspected. For new work, it issues a completion certificate once, among other things, the plans have passed, inspections are done and a completion notice has come in, and it calls that certificate very important when a property is sold.

LBHF: guide to building control applications

Can gas or electricity meters go on the front wall?

The 2004 Brook Green profile says that placing gas and electricity meters on the outside walls of buildings in conservation areas should be avoided. Where the council accepts bin, cycle or meter enclosures in a front garden, its 2018 SPD asks that their design be proportionate to the boundary and the size of the garden, and that no new opening be made in a boundary wall, hedge or railing to reach them. Agree meter positions with the supplier early, before walls are finished.

LBHF: Brook Green Conservation Area character profile, approved 8 March 2004 · LBHF Planning Guidance SPD, adopted 28 February 2018

How much does a house refurbishment cost in Brook Green?

It depends on scope. In Brook Green, 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 Brook Green house

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

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

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