Earl's Court Renovations & Design-Build — SW5

Find the appraisal or profile for the address

Kensington and Chelsea adopted appraisals for Courtfield on 14 December 2015, Earl’s Court Square on 6 June 2016 and Earl’s Court Village on 16 February 2017. Courtfield’s first part was designated in 1971 around Collingham Gardens; Earl’s Court Village dates from 1973, with extensions in 1978, 2002 and 2005; Earl’s Court Square from 1975, extended in 1985, 1998 and 2002. RBKC has no conservation area called simply Earl’s Court.

RBKC: conservation area appraisals and proposals statements · RBKC: Courtfield conservation area appraisal, adopted 14 December 2015 · RBKC: Earl’s Court Square conservation area appraisal, adopted 6 June 2016 · RBKC: Earl’s Court Village conservation area appraisal, adopted 16 February 2017 · RBKC: conservation area maps

The Philbeach and Nevern Square appraisals were both adopted on 4 October 2018. Philbeach was designated in January 1993, gained Warwick Road additions in February and June 1997, and is split in two by the former Earl’s Court Exhibition Centre; Nevern Square was first designated in May 1985 and extended in February 1997 and April 1998. Brompton Cemetery’s conservation area adjoins, still covered by an older proposals statement while its appraisal remains in draft.

RBKC: Philbeach conservation area appraisal, adopted 4 October 2018 · RBKC: Nevern Square conservation area appraisal, adopted 4 October 2018 · RBKC: conservation area appraisals and proposals statements

On the Hammersmith and Fulham side, Olympia & Avonmore was designated on 10 February 1988, with West Cromwell Road as its southern boundary, and The Billings & Brompton Cutting was designated on 2 July 2002 to recognise the transfer to Hammersmith and Fulham of part of a conservation area that Kensington and Chelsea designated in March 1979. The council notes that some areas may have been extended since their character profiles were written, so rely on its current maps.

LBHF: Olympia & Avonmore Conservation Area character profile · LBHF: Olympia and Avonmore Conservation Area and current boundary map · LBHF: The Billings & Brompton Cutting Conservation Area character profile · LBHF: conservation areas, character profiles and maps

Article 4 directions on both sides of the line

Kensington and Chelsea has taken away householder rights for basement development, lightwells and other work below a house or its curtilage across the whole borough, by a direction made on 15 April 2015, confirmed on 2 March 2016 and in force from 28 April 2016. Hammersmith and Fulham made its own on 25 April 2017, confirmed it on 16 April 2018 and brought it into force on 26 April 2018, covering the borough apart from the Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation area.

RBKC: Article 4 directions · RBKC: borough-wide basement Article 4 direction, confirmed 2 March 2016 · LBHF: Article 4 directions, including the borough-wide basement direction · LBHF: borough-wide basement Article 4 direction, in force 26 April 2018

Among RBKC’s conservation-area directions are painting controls here. One, sealed on 15 November 1978, covers specified houses in Earl’s Court Square and removes the right to paint the exterior. Another, made on 5 May 1999 and in force from 30 July 1999, covers 1–110 Philbeach Gardens, 1–63 Nevern Square, Eardley Crescent and Kempsford Gardens, and removes the right to paint any exterior; the Philbeach appraisal confirms that painting a house there needs permission. A third, listed from 23 July 1976, covers 1–18 Collingham Gardens among other addresses, and removes rights covering enlargement of the house, porches, boundary walls and fences, means of access and painting of the exterior.

RBKC: Article 4 directions in conservation areas · RBKC: Article 4 direction on painting, specified houses in Earl’s Court Square, sealed 15 November 1978 · RBKC: Article 4 direction on painting, Philbeach Gardens, Nevern Square, Eardley Crescent and Kempsford Gardens, 1999 · RBKC: Philbeach conservation area appraisal, adopted 4 October 2018 · RBKC: Article 4 direction no. 12 (Collingham Gardens)

Hammersmith and Fulham lists its minor-alteration directions by name, each with the properties affected, and none is named for Olympia & Avonmore or The Billings & Brompton Cutting. That is no proof that a given property is free of every direction, so check the council’s property list, or RBKC’s table on the other side, for the exact address before relying on householder rights.

LBHF: properties affected by Article 4 directions · RBKC: Article 4 directions in conservation areas

Use the adopted plan for each side

Kensington and Chelsea adopted its Local Plan 2024 on 24 July 2024, and it now carries full weight; appraisals that cite chapters of earlier plans should be read with it. Under Policy CD12 the council resists adding a storey to a complete terrace whose roofline is unimpaired by extensions, or to a mansion block where the addition would substantially increase its bulk or upset its architectural composition. CD13 resists extensions that go beyond the general rear building line or rise to or above the main eaves.

RBKC: Local Plan 2024, adopted 24 July 2024 · RBKC: Local Plan 2024 adoption statement · RBKC Local Plan 2024: policy document

Hammersmith and Fulham’s Local Plan was adopted on 28 February 2018 and carries full weight. Its Policy DC4 expects alterations to be compatible with the scale and character of existing development, integrated into the building’s architectural design and subservient to it. The council consulted on a draft Regulation 18 plan, dated October 2025 and looking ahead to 2042, from 29 October to 10 December; it is emerging, not adopted policy.

LBHF: Local Plan, adopted 28 February 2018 · LBHF: Local Plan adoption statement · LBHF Local Plan 2018: policy document · LBHF: draft Local Plan, Regulation 18 consultation (emerging, not adopted) · LBHF: draft Local Plan introduction, October 2025

Both plans also deal with the Earl’s Court and West Kensington Opportunity Area: RBKC’s site allocation SA2 covers its share of the former exhibition land, between the railway and the rear of Philbeach Gardens, and LBHF applies strategic site policy FRA1. The exhibition centre has been demolished, and RBKC records that the approved scheme was not built. These policies govern that development site, not alterations to existing homes.

RBKC Local Plan 2024: policy document · LBHF Local Plan 2018: policy document

An existing lower floor or a new basement

Fitting out a lower ground room that already exists is one thing; excavating under the house or garden is basement development, which each council controls through its own policy, and whether deepening an existing room counts is a question for the council. Kensington and Chelsea’s CD11 keeps a basement to a single storey under no more than half of each garden, bars a further floor where one exists or is permitted, forbids digging beneath a listed building and calls for a pumped device against sewer flooding, since a non-return valve alone will not do. Its Basements SPD asks for an engineer’s construction method statement.

RBKC Local Plan 2024: policy document · RBKC: Basements Supplementary Planning Document, April 2016

Hammersmith and Fulham’s DC11 permits a new or extended basement only where it reaches under the garden no further than half the depth of the house, nor more than half the depth of the garden, is set back from neighbouring boundaries wherever it extends beyond the house’s footprint, is one storey except on large sites, keeps at least a metre of soil over any part beneath a garden and uses SuDS and active drainage devices to minimise the risk of sewer flooding. A Construction Method Statement by a qualified structural or civil engineer, with a construction traffic management plan, is required.

LBHF Local Plan 2018: policy document