Basement conversion in Ealing

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

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.

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.

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.

Local design and consent context

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.

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.

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.

Access and site planning

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.

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

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