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Ealing W5 · Houses, flats & bathrooms

Renovations in Ealing

Victorian and Edwardian houses, conversions, inter-war flats

Ealing Council’s appraisals describe late Victorian and Edwardian houses north of Ealing Common, mainly detached or semi-detached houses on large plots in Mount Park and small terraces on very narrow plots along Haven Lane and Mountfield Road, and the council notes that several larger houses in its conservation areas have been split into flats. Shape plans for a house, a flat or one bathroom around that fabric and the consents its exact address carries.

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020 7101 3168

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Start with your project

Choose the work your Ealing home needs

Choose a focused room renovation or a coordinated refurbishment. Each service page explains the scope in more detail and gives you a direct route to discuss the work.

01 Common-side and Wood Estate houses

House refurbishment in Ealing

Houses here range from the double-fronted Edwardian detached houses of Gunnersbury Avenue to Mount Park, mainly a planned estate of the 1870s and 1880s. Before drawing a loft or rear extension, read the 2009 guidance: Mount Park’s management plan says inset dormers will usually be accepted on rear roof slopes but only very rarely at the front or side, and that rear extensions should not wrap around the back and side, while the Ealing Common appraisal counts bulky dormers among the threats to its character.

  • Conservation boundary and list entry confirmed for the address
  • Dormer and extension guidance read first
  • Original sashes, roofs and boundary walls recorded
Read about house refurbishment in Ealing

02 Conversions and inter-war blocks

Flat renovation in Ealing

Ealing Council notes that several larger houses in its conservation areas have been divided into flats or are now in multiple occupation, and its 2020 update for Mount Park records 45 Eaton Rise as a large Victorian house converted into 8 flats. Montpelier Park also has purpose-built inter-war flats, such as the three-storey Cecil Close. The council’s FAQs state that householder permitted development rights do not apply to flats, so external changes need planning permission, and the lease may add the landlord’s consent.

  • Lease alterations clause read
  • Shared stack and floor build-up located
  • External changes flagged for planning permission
Read about flat refurbishment in Ealing

03 Detached-house and conversion bathrooms

Bathroom renovation in Ealing

We welcome a bathroom on its own as a standalone renovation, whether it serves a family in a Park Hill house, sits in a flat converted from a larger house on Eaton Rise or is a small cloakroom WC. Plumbing a bathroom in can call for Building Regulations approval, according to GOV.UK. If a new bathroom goes into the roof, bear in mind that the 2020 updates for Haven Green and Mount Park list rooflights on front elevations among their ongoing issues.

  • Waste route to the stack checked
  • Fan outlet through wall or roof agreed
  • Rooflight position checked against the guidance
Read about bathroom renovation in Ealing

Real projects, clearly located

Ideas for your Ealing refurbishment

Photographs of our work elsewhere in London

Explore a whole house in Belsize Park, an apartment on Chesterfield Street in Mayfair and a bathroom in Pimlico. Use these examples to discuss the scale of work and finishes you have in mind for your own home.

Completed exterior at Belsize Park Gardens after refurbishment

Whole-house refurbishment · Belsize Park, NW3

Belsize Park Gardens, NW3

Full-house refurbishment in Belsize Park with basement, extension and loft works.

Conservation Area · 5 Storeys · Documented programme: 12 months

Documentary programme, not verified elapsed construction time or a timetable for another project.

View the project

More London project records: Carlton Lodge, Belgravia · King’s Road, Chelsea.

103+
Completed Projects
RIBA
In-House Chartered Architects
Structural
Engineering Calculations
Planning
Applications & Consents
Building Control
Compliance Support
Leasehold
Licence for Alteration
£5M · £10M
Public · employers' liability
Independent
Surveying via Hampstead Chartered Surveyors

Local knowledge with a purpose

Understand the building before changing it

This page draws on four of the borough’s conservation areas, Ealing Common, Haven Green, Mount Park and Montpelier Park, each described in its own appraisal. Those documents describe their own streets only, so for any other address, for instance around Pitshanger, start from the council’s map rather than from this page.

Ealing Common Conservation Area was designated in 1982 and extended in 2004 to take in Grange Park, Kenilworth Road, Grange Road, Hamilton Road, Hamilton Court and part of Warwick Road. Its March 2009 appraisal gives it a mainly Victorian and Edwardian character: late Victorian and Edwardian houses line North Common Road and Hamilton Road, some substantial detached houses of 1910 to 1930 sit on very generous plots south of the Common, and Gunnersbury Avenue has double-fronted Edwardian houses set well back. Stock and red brick in Flemish bond, stucco trim and slate or tile roofs predominate.

Ealing Council: Ealing Common Conservation Area · Ealing Council: Ealing Common Conservation Area Character Appraisal, March 2009

Haven Green, designated in 1982 and extended in 1993, is shaped by the green and the roads branching from it, Haven Lane and Mountfield Road to the east and Castlebar Road and Gordon Road to the west; its March 2008 appraisal finds large-plot detached and semi-detached houses to the west and small rows of terraces on very narrow plots to the east. Mount Park is mainly a planned estate built on the Wood family estate in the 1870s and 1880s, its houses mainly detached or semi-detached on large plots along roads that follow ground rising from south to north.

Ealing Council: Haven Green Conservation Area · Ealing Council: Haven Green Conservation Area Character Appraisal, March 2008 · Ealing Council: Mount Park Conservation Area Character Appraisal, April 2009

Montpelier Park Conservation Area was designated in 1982, extended in 1991 and 1997 to take in Park Hill and Mount Avenue, and in 2004 to add part of Woodfield Road. The park at its centre began as the grounds of Princess Helena College, which opened in Ealing in 1882. The April 2009 appraisal singles out Park Hill as one of the well-preserved streets of the Wood Estate, with large detached houses on narrow but deep plots and large rear gardens with mature trees, and the 2020 update lists Cecil Close, a three-storey block of purpose-built inter-war flats.

Ealing Council: Montpelier Park Conservation Area · Ealing Council: Montpelier Park Conservation Area Character Appraisal, April 2009 · Ealing Council: Montpelier Park Conservation Area update addendum, July 2020

The first local check

The exact address decides, not the W5 postcode

A W5 postcode, or the name Ealing, does not settle which council deals with applications, whether a conservation area covers the house, whether it is listed or which consents the work needs; nor does a ward name such as Pitshanger, one of the 24 wards created for council elections from 2022. Boundaries also change: on 19 November 2025 the planning committee approved changes that extend Ealing Common and Haven Green and reduce Montpelier Park. Check the council’s current map, the statutory list and the Article 4 list for the exact address, then the title or lease and the property’s planning record.

Find the council for the property · The London Borough of Ealing (Electoral Changes) Order 2020 · The London Borough of Ealing (Electoral Changes) Order 2020, Schedule: ward names · Ealing Council: review of conservation areas, including the 19 November 2025 committee decision · Ealing Council: Article 4 directions · LEASE: alterations and home improvements

Separate checks, one coordinated brief

Planning, listed buildings, building control and leases

One approval does not settle every requirement. Identify the applicable routes before ordering work, and record who will prepare submissions, arrange inspections and provide the relevant completion information.

Planning applications and permitted development

Does work on an Ealing house or flat need a planning application?

Planning permission is needed only for development, and GOV.UK places interior alterations outside that definition, so a new kitchen or bathroom inside an Ealing house or flat does not usually call for a planning application. Ealing’s conservation area FAQs point out that flats, including houses converted into flats, fall outside the permitted development rights householders use, so external changes to them require planning permission. For a house, check each item of work against the limits and conditions in the householder guidance and against the council’s Article 4 list; in a conservation area, completely or substantially demolishing an unlisted building of 115 cubic metres or more also needs permission.

When planning permission is required · Householder permitted development technical guidance · Ealing Council: Ealing conservation areas FAQs, 2023–24 consultation · Ealing Council: Article 4 directions

Listing, and what the conservation areas add

Does a listed Ealing house need consent for internal work?

It can. For a building on the statutory list, listed building consent can be needed for alterations inside as well as outside that affect its character. List entries in and around these conservation areas include 6–9 The Common and 42 and 43 The Mall, both Grade II, the Grade II* Church of St Peter, the Abbey Church of St Benedict, 33, 35 and 37 Mount Avenue, 46 Mount Park Road and 28 and 30 Castlebar Road, and the council’s Article 4 list includes a direction titled Listed Buildings in Ealing Borough (1984). The four conservation areas are a different control again, each with its own appraisal and guidance, and a house inside one is not listed for that reason.

Historic England: listed-building consent · Planning Data: 6–9 The Common W5, Grade II, list entry 1358759 · Planning Data: 42 and 43 The Mall W5, Grade II, list entry 1079422 · Planning Data: Church of St Peter, Grade II*, list entry 1079390 · Planning Data: Abbey Church of St Benedict, Grade II, list entry 1079451 · Planning Data: 33, 35 and 37 Mount Avenue W5, Grade II, list entry 1079339 · Planning Data: 46 Mount Park Road, Grade II, list entry 1249985 · Planning Data: 28 and 30 Castlebar Road W5, Grade II, list entry 1189127 · Ealing Council: Generic Management Plan for Conservation Areas, March 2023 · Ealing Council: Article 4 directions

Building Regulations

When does an Ealing job need Building Regulations approval?

Building control is a separate step from every other consent on this page, and a planning decision, a listed building consent or a freeholder’s letter leaves it open. Ealing Council describes building control as the process that makes sure building work complies with the Building Regulations and associated legislation, and GOV.UK names a bathroom installation involving plumbing as one of the alterations that might need approval. Agree before work starts who will submit the Building Regulations application, the builder or your own designer, and ask for the completion certificate when the finished work is handed over.

When Building Regulations approval is needed · Ealing Council: building control

The lease, the freeholder and the Party Wall Act

Besides the council, whose consent or notice can a job involve?

In a flat, whether in a block or a converted house, the lease comes first. Depending on its wording, LEASE explains, you may need the freeholder’s permission before altering your home, even with planning permission or Building Regulations approval already granted. The Party Wall procedure is separate and covers only notifiable work: building on or at the boundary, work on an existing party wall, such as one between the terraced houses of Haven Lane, or digging near to and below the foundation level of a neighbour’s property. Replastering, new sockets and shelf fixings fall outside it.

LEASE: alterations and home improvements · Party-wall work requiring notice · Ealing Council: Haven Green Conservation Area Character Appraisal, March 2008

Local facts that affect the brief

Apply the controls to the work you actually need

Appraisals 2008–2009; review 2025

Four conservation areas, their appraisals and the review of 2025

The council’s pages link appraisals from 2008 and 2009: Haven Green, March 2008; Ealing Common, March 2009, which replaced an appraisal of 1999 and has a management plan of the same month; and Montpelier Park and Mount Park, both April 2009, Mount Park with its own management plan. Each gained an update addendum in July 2020. The Ealing Common update found the fabric generally well conserved since 2009, while the Haven Green update recorded the area on Historic England’s Heritage at Risk register at that date.

Ealing Council: Haven Green Conservation Area Character Appraisal, March 2008 · Ealing Council: Ealing Common Conservation Area Character Appraisal, March 2009 · Ealing Council: Ealing Common Conservation Area Management Plan, March 2009 · Ealing Council: Montpelier Park Conservation Area Character Appraisal, April 2009 · Ealing Council: Mount Park Conservation Area Character Appraisal, April 2009 · Ealing Council: Mount Park Conservation Area Management Plan, April 2009 · Ealing Council: Ealing Common Conservation Area update addendum, July 2020 · Ealing Council: Haven Green Conservation Area update addendum, July 2020 · Ealing Council: Montpelier Park Conservation Area update addendum, July 2020 · Ealing Council: Mount Park Conservation Area update addendum, July 2020

The council’s review of its conservation areas held a final consultation on boundary changes from 16 October 2023 to 31 January 2024. It proposed adding 2–12 and 3–13 Tring Avenue and other properties to Ealing Common, extending Haven Green westwards over land bounded by Gordon Road and Carlton Road, taking the northern section of Mount Avenue out of Montpelier Park and removing the north-eastern part of Eaton Rise from Mount Park. On 19 November 2025 the planning committee approved changes that extend Ealing Common and Haven Green and reduce Montpelier Park; Mount Park does not appear on the council’s list of areas approved for changes. Do not read the 2023 proposals as the outcome: confirm the approved boundary for the address with the council.

Ealing Council: review of conservation areas, including the 19 November 2025 committee decision · Ealing Council: Ealing Common, formal consultation on conservation area designation, 2023 · Ealing Council: Haven Green, formal consultation on conservation area designation, 2023 · Ealing Council: Montpelier Park, formal consultation on conservation area designation, 2023 · Ealing Council: Mount Park, formal consultation on conservation area designation, 2023

Roof and extension guidance 2009

What the 2009 guidance says about roofs and extensions

Mount Park’s management plan of April 2009 says inset dormers will usually be accepted on rear roof slopes but only very rarely on the front or side, depending on how visible they are and on the original design of the house, and that rear extensions should not wrap around the back and side. It warns that side extensions in particular can create a terracing effect that erodes the traditional spatial character, most evidently along Eaton Rise.

Ealing Council: Mount Park Conservation Area Management Plan, April 2009

The Ealing Common appraisal of March 2009 lists comparable threats: extensions that upset the spacing between buildings, sometimes producing a terraced effect where houses were built detached or semi-detached; bulky dormers at the rear, front and side; and the loss of front garden trees, fences and garden walls.

Ealing Council: Ealing Common Conservation Area Character Appraisal, March 2009

Article 4: list of March 2023

Article 4 directions in and around these areas

An Article 4 direction does not prevent development, the council explains; it means planning permission has to be obtained first. The council’s March 2023 list of directions includes Brentham Garden Estate (1976 and 2007), The Grove in Ealing Town Centre (2013) and one titled Listed Buildings in Ealing Borough (1984), but none for Ealing Common, Haven Green, Montpelier Park or Mount Park, and the 2023 consultation report for each of the four recorded no existing direction.

Ealing Council: Ealing conservation areas FAQs, 2023–24 consultation · Ealing Council: Generic Management Plan for Conservation Areas, March 2023 · Ealing Council: Article 4 directions · Ealing Council: Ealing Common, formal consultation on conservation area designation, 2023 · Ealing Council: Haven Green, formal consultation on conservation area designation, 2023 · Ealing Council: Montpelier Park, formal consultation on conservation area designation, 2023 · Ealing Council: Mount Park, formal consultation on conservation area designation, 2023

The July 2020 updates recommended considering directions all the same: at Ealing Common, where no general case was found, for boundary treatments, particularly where they front and disrupt The Common; at Haven Green for hardstandings, lost boundary walls, front rooflights and overpainting; at Montpelier Park for lost front gardens, boundary treatment, rooflights and lost timber or metal windows; and at Mount Park for hardstandings, front boundaries and front rooflights. The council’s 2023–24 FAQs said it would be considering directions for the remaining conservation areas later, so ask whether any has been made since.

Ealing Council: Ealing Common Conservation Area update addendum, July 2020 · Ealing Council: Haven Green Conservation Area update addendum, July 2020 · Ealing Council: Montpelier Park Conservation Area update addendum, July 2020 · Ealing Council: Mount Park Conservation Area update addendum, July 2020 · Ealing Council: Ealing conservation areas FAQs, 2023–24 consultation

Development Plan 2012–2017; draft 2024

The adopted Development Plan and the draft New Local Plan

Ealing’s adopted Development Plan includes the Development (or Core Strategy) DPD of April 2012, the Development Management DPD of December 2013 and the Central Ealing Neighbourhood Plan of October 2017. The council’s March 2023 generic management plan, which is guidance rather than part of the Local Plan, quotes heritage Policy 7C’s call to retain and enhance characteristic features and detailing and to avoid design and materials that undermine a conservation area’s significance, and records SPD 4 on residential extensions as retained interim guidance.

Ealing Council: the adopted Development Plan · Ealing Council: Generic Management Plan for Conservation Areas, March 2023

The New Local Plan remains a draft. The council submitted its final draft to the government on 18 November 2024, and the most recent examination news, dated 26 June 2026, is a letter from the Inspectors on main modifications. As of October 2026 it has not been adopted, so treat its policies as emerging, not as adopted policy.

Ealing Council: New Local Plan, submitted draft · Ealing Council: New Local Plan examination news · Ealing Council: the adopted Development Plan

Some decisions cannot easily be reversed: once sashes are ordered, a roof is opened or a hole is dug, a missing consent is hard to put right. Before any of those, establish for the exact address which permissions apply, and treat each separately: planning permission, which the council’s FAQs say external changes to flats, including houses converted into flats, need; listed building consent; conservation area controls; any Article 4 direction; Building Regulations approval; any consent the lease requires from the landlord; notice under the Party Wall Act if the work falls within it; and six weeks’ notice of tree work in a conservation area. Ealing’s conservation area guidance says most basement proposals will need planning permission.

When planning permission is required · Ealing Council: Ealing conservation areas FAQs, 2023–24 consultation · Historic England: listed-building consent · Ealing Council: Generic Management Plan for Conservation Areas, March 2023 · Ealing Council: Article 4 directions · When Building Regulations approval is needed · LEASE: alterations and home improvements · Party-wall work requiring notice · Ealing Council: tree works in conservation areas

Local guidance checked . The linked sources help you prepare a brief; requirements depend on the address, building and complete proposal.

From retained details to shared services

Sashes, stacks, extensions, front walls, trees and insulation

Sash windows and glazing

The Ealing Common appraisal describes the windows there as mainly white-painted timber sashes, and the Montpelier Park update of 2020 named the loss of timber or metal windows among the matters for a possible Article 4 direction. Survey every sash first so repair can be weighed against replacement, and confirm the listing and Article 4 position. Householder permitted development rights do not apply to flats, and the council’s FAQs say external changes to them need planning permission; a window that alters the appearance is one, and the lease may require the landlord’s consent.

Ealing Council: Ealing Common Conservation Area Character Appraisal, March 2009 · Ealing Council: Montpelier Park Conservation Area update addendum, July 2020 · Ealing Council: Article 4 directions · Ealing Council: Ealing conservation areas FAQs, 2023–24 consultation · LEASE: alterations and home improvements

Stacks, extract and loft bathrooms

Where a large house has been divided into flats, as 45 Eaton Rise has been into 8, a bathroom may drain to a stack that other homes share, so trace the stack and check the lease for consent before the room moves. Settle the extract route at the same stage. In Haven Green or Mount Park, a loft bathroom lit from the front slope runs into the concern their 2020 updates record about rooflights on front elevations, so look first at the rear slope. Its plumbing may also need approval under the Building Regulations.

Ealing Council: Mount Park Conservation Area update addendum, July 2020 · Ealing Council: Haven Green Conservation Area update addendum, July 2020 · When Building Regulations approval is needed · LEASE: alterations and home improvements

Walls, floors and extensions

Before a wall comes out, ask a structural engineer what it supports, and in a divided house allow for sound between flats when a floor is opened. Plan extensions against the 2009 guidance: Mount Park’s plan says rear extensions should not wrap around the back and side and that side extensions can produce a terracing effect, and the Ealing Common appraisal counts extensions that do this between detached or semi-detached houses among its threats. In a conservation area, completely or substantially demolishing an unlisted building of 115 cubic metres or more needs planning permission.

Ealing Council: Mount Park Conservation Area Management Plan, April 2009 · Ealing Council: Ealing Common Conservation Area Character Appraisal, March 2009 · Ealing Council: Ealing conservation areas FAQs, 2023–24 consultation

Front gardens, walls and hardstandings

Front boundaries come up in every one of these areas. The Ealing Common appraisal treats the loss of front garden trees, fences and garden walls as a threat, observing that large portions of original walls and fences have been replaced inappropriately. The 2020 updates raise hardstandings and lost boundary walls at Haven Green, especially on Haven Lane and Mountfield Road, front gardens and boundary treatment at Montpelier Park, and hardstandings and front boundaries at Mount Park. Check any change to a front wall, gate or parking space against this guidance before it is priced.

Ealing Council: Ealing Common Conservation Area Character Appraisal, March 2009 · Ealing Council: Haven Green Conservation Area update addendum, July 2020 · Ealing Council: Montpelier Park Conservation Area update addendum, July 2020 · Ealing Council: Mount Park Conservation Area update addendum, July 2020

Basements, gardens and trees

Ealing’s conservation area guidance says most proposals to build a basement will need planning permission. Gardens need checks too: on Park Hill the appraisal describes large rear gardens with mature trees, and in a conservation area the council needs six weeks’ notice of work to a tree. The council says decisions on work to a tree with a preservation order are issued within eight weeks, and even permitted development can need permission if it would sever the roots or branches of a nearby protected tree. Check long-term flood risk before planning a lower floor.

Ealing Council: Generic Management Plan for Conservation Areas, March 2023 · Ealing Council: Montpelier Park Conservation Area Character Appraisal, April 2009 · Ealing Council: tree works in conservation areas · Ealing Council: tree preservation orders · Check long-term flood risk in England

Insulation, heating and glazing together

Plan energy improvements as one package, following Historic England’s whole-building approach for historic buildings, rather than item by item. The local guidance quoted on this page deals with the outside: Policy 7C, as the generic plan quotes it, asks for characteristic features and detailing to be retained, the Ealing Common appraisal records mainly timber sashes, and the 2020 updates flag front rooflights. Design insulation, heating and ventilation as a set, then test any change to windows, roofs or walls against the consent route for the address.

Historic England: a whole-building approach · Ealing Council: Generic Management Plan for Conservation Areas, March 2023 · Ealing Council: Ealing Common Conservation Area Character Appraisal, March 2009 · Ealing Council: Haven Green Conservation Area update addendum, July 2020 · Ealing Council: Mount Park Conservation Area update addendum, July 2020

A practical plan for the street and building

Working hours, deliveries and shared access

Licences for the street outside

Before work is scheduled, find room on the street for a skip, a scaffold and deliveries. In the London Borough of Ealing, any skip placed on the road needs a licence, which only an authorised skip company can apply for and which runs for 14 days from issue; a skip may not stand on the pavement. Scaffolding or a hoarding on or over a street needs a temporary structure licence backed by public liability cover, and a hoarding usually has to leave at least 1.2 metres of pavement. Apply for a parking bay suspension at least 3 working days ahead; applying 7 working days ahead costs less per bay, per day.

Ealing Council: skip licences · Ealing Council: scaffolding, hoardings and other temporary structures · Ealing Council: apply for or renew a temporary structure licence · Ealing Council: parking bay suspensions

Construction hours, Section 61 and the household

Building work in Ealing follows the council’s standard construction hours: 8am–6pm Monday to Friday, 8am–1pm on Saturday, with no working on Sundays or bank holidays. Work outside them needs the council’s prior approval through Section 61: a new application at least 28 days before works start, or a dispensation for short-term changes at least 14 days ahead. Give neighbours, and the managing agent or freeholder where there is one, the start date and the loud stages in writing, and work out with your household whether to move out for the noisiest part of the job.

Ealing Council: construction impact management and Section 61 consent

A clear scope before a price

Plan your renovation budget and quotation

A useful budget starts from a survey of the building in its current state and a scope written in enough detail for every builder to price the same work. In Ealing’s conservation areas, separate the outside items, such as sashes, roof slopes, chimneys and front boundaries, from the rooms, and note which items cannot be fixed until a consent, a landlord’s reply, a tree notice or a Party Wall notice is resolved.

Existing condition

One set of measured drawings and photographs of the existing house or flat, shared with all bidders, lets every builder price from the same record of the fabric.

  • Floor plans with room heights
  • Condition of sashes, roof and front walls noted
  • Hidden areas to be opened listed

Rooms, finishes and services

Describe each room in turn: what comes out, what goes in, and the finish expected on walls, floors and joinery.

  • Fitting schedule for each room
  • Drainage and extract routes marked
  • Client-supplied items identified

Approvals and site arrangements

Record which permissions and street licences the job depends on, and when each must be in hand.

  • Conservation area and listing status confirmed
  • Freeholder consent and party wall notices scheduled
  • Skip, scaffold and parking applications planned

Written allowances and sequence

Fix the commercial terms on paper: allowances for what cannot yet be seen, exclusions and the order of work.

  • Provisional sums itemised by name
  • VAT treatment stated
  • Building control sign-off included

Neither the cost nor the length of the work is set by the fact that the house or flat is in Ealing; both follow the building and the scope. Clarify with each builder how VAT is treated and which professional fees, for instance for a structural engineer or for drawings, are excluded. A single bathroom is standalone work, quoted on its own from that room’s survey and fittings list.

From an idea to a workable scope

Prepare your brief and renovation budget

  1. The address and the home

    Start with the exact address, including the house or flat number: the boundary changes approved in November 2025 and building-by-building listing make the street name unreliable. For a flat, add the floor and whether the building was purpose-built or is a divided house; photographs of each elevation, the roof and the rooms in question help.

  2. Papers you already hold

    If you have them, share the lease or title register, the planning history you know of, completion certificates from building control and plans from earlier work. A flat brings extra papers: any rules the building sets for works and the managing agent’s contact details. Anything you have already discovered about the house, such as a local list entry or a tree preservation order, belongs here too.

  3. Settled items and those still to decide

    Some choices will be firm from the start, such as a bathroom suite you have chosen or the rooms to be redecorated; others wait on what the survey finds, an engineer’s advice or a council decision. Flag the second group clearly and ask for each to be priced as a named allowance on the same basis by every builder.

  4. Living arrangements and responsibilities

    Tell us the date you need the home back, which rooms must stay usable and how the household will live around the work. Then agree in writing which side arranges each skip and scaffold licence, any parking bay suspension, any Section 61 consent, any tree notice and the Building Regulations application.

Ready to take the next step? Send the property address and a short outline of what you want to change.

Discuss your Ealing project

Our Hampstead base, serving Ealing

Talk to our Finchley Road studio

Our studio is in Hampstead on Finchley Road, at NW3 6DN. We serve Ealing from this office. Bring us the practical questions about your house, flat or bathroom and the result you want to achieve.

Contact the studio to discuss your brief and arrange the next step. If you already have drawings, a lease or planning correspondence, tell us what is available.

Book a free feasibility visit
Hampstead Renovations
Unit 3, Palace Court
250 Finchley Road
London NW3 6DN

020 7101 3168
contact@hampsteadrenovations.co.uk

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Questions before you begin

Renovating in Ealing: practical answers

Do you renovate an Ealing bathroom without any wider refurbishment?

Yes. A bathroom can be renovated as a standalone job in an Ealing house or flat, with no other rooms involved. To begin, tell us which floor the room is on and what lies below it, where the waste seems to meet the stack and how the room is lit and ventilated now; rough dimensions and a few photographs are enough. If the plan is a loft bathroom with a new rooflight, say which slope, since the 2020 updates for Haven Green and Mount Park record front rooflights as an ongoing issue.

Ealing Council: Haven Green Conservation Area update addendum, July 2020 · Ealing Council: Mount Park Conservation Area update addendum, July 2020

Do the Ealing Common, Haven Green, Montpelier Park or Mount Park boundaries take in my home?

Use the conservation area map on the council’s website for the exact address. Ealing Common, Haven Green, Montpelier Park and Mount Park are separate conservation areas, and on 19 November 2025 the planning committee approved changes extending the first two and reducing Montpelier Park, so a boundary taken from an older document may be out of date. Pitshanger is the name of one of the borough’s wards, which tells you nothing about conservation area coverage. Where a boundary runs close to the property, ask the council to confirm.

Ealing Council: review of conservation areas, including the 19 November 2025 committee decision · Ealing Council: Ealing Common Conservation Area · Ealing Council: Haven Green Conservation Area · Ealing Council: Montpelier Park Conservation Area · Ealing Council: Mount Park Conservation Area · The London Borough of Ealing (Electoral Changes) Order 2020, Schedule: ward names

How do listing and Article 4 affect houses in these areas?

Listing applies building by building, for example at 6–9 The Common, 42 and 43 The Mall, 28 and 30 Castlebar Road and 33, 35 and 37 Mount Avenue, all Grade II, and listed building consent may be required for internal work as well as external. For Article 4, the 2023 consultation reports recorded no existing direction in Ealing Common, Haven Green, Montpelier Park or Mount Park, though the 2020 updates recommended considering some. Ask the council whether any has been made since; its list also carries a 1984 direction on listed buildings.

Planning Data: 6–9 The Common W5, Grade II, list entry 1358759 · Planning Data: 42 and 43 The Mall W5, Grade II, list entry 1079422 · Planning Data: 28 and 30 Castlebar Road W5, Grade II, list entry 1189127 · Planning Data: 33, 35 and 37 Mount Avenue W5, Grade II, list entry 1079339 · Historic England: listed-building consent · Ealing Council: Ealing Common, formal consultation on conservation area designation, 2023 · Ealing Council: Haven Green, formal consultation on conservation area designation, 2023 · Ealing Council: Montpelier Park, formal consultation on conservation area designation, 2023 · Ealing Council: Mount Park, formal consultation on conservation area designation, 2023 · Ealing Council: Article 4 directions · Ealing Council: Generic Management Plan for Conservation Areas, March 2023 · Ealing Council: Ealing Common Conservation Area update addendum, July 2020 · Ealing Council: Haven Green Conservation Area update addendum, July 2020 · Ealing Council: Montpelier Park Conservation Area update addendum, July 2020 · Ealing Council: Mount Park Conservation Area update addendum, July 2020

Can old sash windows be swapped for new ones in Ealing?

Possibly, but survey them first. The Ealing Common appraisal describes the windows there as mainly white-painted timber sashes, and the Montpelier Park update named the loss of timber and metal windows among the matters for a possible Article 4 direction. Check the list entry and any direction for the building. Householder permitted development rights do not apply to a flat, and the council’s FAQs say any external change to one needs planning permission; replacements that alter how the windows look are such a change, and the lease may also call for the landlord’s consent.

Ealing Council: Ealing Common Conservation Area Character Appraisal, March 2009 · Ealing Council: Montpelier Park Conservation Area update addendum, July 2020 · Historic England: listed-building consent · Ealing Council: Article 4 directions · Ealing Council: Ealing conservation areas FAQs, 2023–24 consultation · LEASE: alterations and home improvements

Who must agree before a flat in Ealing is refitted inside?

Begin with the alterations clause in the lease. Where that clause makes alterations subject to the freeholder’s or landlord’s consent, LEASE notes that this holds even when planning permission or Building Regulations approval is already in place. A refit that stays inside the flat is generally not development, so planning permission rarely comes into it; new bathroom plumbing, though, can need Building Regulations approval, and in a listed house divided into flats, listed building consent can extend to internal work.

LEASE: alterations and home improvements · When planning permission is required · When Building Regulations approval is needed · Historic England: listed-building consent

Is taking out a wall or repositioning a bathroom straightforward in an Ealing home?

Not always. A structural engineer should confirm what a wall supports before it comes out, and in a terraced house, such as those on Haven Lane and Mountfield Road, or a semi-detached one, cutting into a party wall can mean notice to the neighbour. A moved bathroom needs a workable fall from its waste to the stack; in a house divided into flats, as 45 Eaton Rise is, that stack may be shared and the lease may require consent. The plumbing can need Building Regulations approval, and a listed house listed building consent too.

Party-wall work requiring notice · Ealing Council: Haven Green Conservation Area Character Appraisal, March 2008 · Ealing Council: Mount Park Conservation Area update addendum, July 2020 · LEASE: alterations and home improvements · When Building Regulations approval is needed · Historic England: listed-building consent

Could an Ealing house gain a basement or a deeper lower floor?

It may be possible, but in a conservation area expect to apply for planning permission: Ealing’s guidance for its conservation areas says most proposals to build a basement will need it. Gardens with mature trees, such as those behind Park Hill, add a further check, because tree work in a conservation area needs six weeks’ notice and even permitted development can need permission if it would sever roots of a protected tree. Digging near and below a neighbour’s foundations can require Party Wall notice, and the address’s flood risk should be checked.

Ealing Council: Generic Management Plan for Conservation Areas, March 2023 · Ealing Council: Montpelier Park Conservation Area Character Appraisal, April 2009 · Ealing Council: tree works in conservation areas · Ealing Council: tree preservation orders · Party-wall work requiring notice · Check long-term flood risk in England

Can builders work after 1pm on a Saturday or on a Sunday in Ealing?

Only with the council’s prior approval. Ealing sets standard construction hours of 8am–6pm, Monday to Friday, and 8am–1pm on Saturdays, with Sundays and bank holidays excluded. Work outside those hours needs prior approval under Section 61, applied for at least 28 days ahead for a new application or 14 days ahead for a short-term dispensation. In a flat, also check what the lease requires before works begin, and warn neighbours before the loud stages start.

Ealing Council: construction impact management and Section 61 consent · LEASE: alterations and home improvements

Which items should every quotation for Ealing work show?

Beyond the rooms themselves, look for repairs to sashes or front boundary walls; the skip licence, which only an authorised skip company can apply for; the temporary structure licence for a scaffold on the street and the public liability cover it requires; any parking bay suspensions; and provisional sums for hidden work. Every quotation should price the same written scope and show VAT and professional fees in the same way. If a builder plans work outside Ealing’s standard construction hours, ask whether the Section 61 application is included.

Ealing Council: skip licences · Ealing Council: scaffolding, hoardings and other temporary structures · Ealing Council: apply for or renew a temporary structure licence · Ealing Council: parking bay suspensions · Ealing Council: construction impact management and Section 61 consent

Where is your studio, and what is the first step for an Ealing project?

Our studio is at Unit 3, Palace Court, 250 Finchley Road, London NW3 6DN, and we serve Ealing from this office. The first step is a message with the address and house number, a note of the rooms you want to change and a few photographs; documents such as the lease or old drawings are only needed once the scope is clearer.

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Explore the relevant property guide, then check the current official sources above for your address and proposed work.

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