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Kew TW9 · Houses, flats & bathrooms

Renovations in Kew

Georgian Green, Victorian terraces, villas and flats

Richmond upon Thames describes Kew’s houses as more densely arranged than in many other parts of the borough, with shorter set-backs and less space between them. Georgian houses stand around Kew Green, the mainly Victorian Priory Estate lies east of it, and villas and cottages surround Kew Gardens Station, with blocks of flats among them. Plan your house, flat or single bathroom from the actual building and its address.

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020 7101 3168

Hampstead Renovations design and build studio on Finchley Road
Our Hampstead studio · Finchley Road, NW3 6DN

Start with your project

Choose the work your Kew 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 Priory Estate and villa houses

House refurbishment in Kew

Kew’s houses range from the late 19th and early 20th century semi-detached and terraced houses of the Priory Estate to the double-fronted villas with attics on Lichfield Road and the Edwardian pairs of Burlington Avenue and Ruskin Avenue. Read the roof guidance before drawing a loft: the Kew Green appraisal calls the large box dormers behind Bushwood Road out of character, and Richmond’s 2015 extensions guidance will not encourage turning a hipped roof into a gable.

  • House number checked on the conservation map and Article 4 list
  • Roof form and dormer guidance read before design
  • Sashes, slate or clay roofs and front walls recorded
Explore house refurbishment across London

02 Mansion blocks and later flats

Flat renovation in Kew

Flats in Kew sit in several kinds of building: mansion blocks on the eastern side of the Green, 20th-century flats west of Kew Bridge, blocks between the villas of Kew Road, infill flats on Ennerdale Road and contemporary apartments at Kew Riverside. The Kew Green appraisal reminds owners that flats do not benefit from permitted development rights, so changes to the outside need planning permission, and the lease may also call for the landlord’s consent.

  • Lease checked for an alterations clause
  • Route to the block’s shared stack found
  • Any outside change listed for a planning application
Explore flat refurbishment across London

03 Cottage, villa and flat bathrooms

Bathroom renovation in Kew

We welcome a standalone bathroom renovation, whether the room is in a two-storey cottage off Sandycombe Road, a three-storey house on Ennerdale Road or a flat in a mansion block by the Green. Fitting new plumbing can make the room subject to Building Regulations approval, according to GOV.UK. For a roof-level bathroom in the Kew Green Conservation Area, its appraisal resists new rooflights on front slopes, or side slopes seen from the street, where they would break the uniformity of a group or terrace.

  • Point where the new waste joins the stack found
  • Extract fan route to the outside fixed
  • Rooflight slope checked with the Kew Green appraisal
Explore bathroom renovation across London

Real projects, clearly located

Ideas for your Kew 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.

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Completed Projects
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In-House Chartered Architects
Structural
Engineering Calculations
Planning
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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

Kew is in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, whose 2014 planning guidance for the village names conservation areas at Kew Green, Kew Road, Kew Gardens and Lawn Crescent, besides the Royal Botanic Gardens; two further areas in East Kew were designated in 2017.

Kew Green Conservation Area was designated on 14 January 1969 for the Green and the riverside, then extended in 1982 along the Kew Road approach and in 1988 over the residential streets east of the Green. Its appraisal, adopted on 8 February 2024, finds Georgian houses around the Green and a mainly Victorian Priory Estate to the east, where Forest, Maze, Gloucester and Priory Roads were being built in 1866. The east side of the Green itself mixes cottages, mansion blocks and terraces, and west of Kew Bridge stand 20th-century flats set among riverside greenery and deep rear gardens.

Richmond: Kew Green conservation area statement (No. 2) · Richmond: Kew Green conservation area appraisal, adopted 8 February 2024

Kew Gardens Conservation Area began in 1969 as the Lichfield Road Conservation Area and lies around Kew Gardens Station; its statement records five extensions, the latest on 9 February 2017. It describes substantial detached and semi-detached villas of two to two and a half storeys in large plots behind continuous walls or railings, built in red or yellow stock brick with timber sliding sashes. Ennerdale Road has three-storey Victorian and Edwardian houses with some infill flats, while the two-storey cottages of Clarence Road, Elizabeth Cottages and Victoria Cottages are small and closely packed.

Richmond: Kew Gardens conservation area statement and map (No. 15) · Richmond: conservation area study for Kew Road (No. 55), Kew Gardens (No. 15) and Lawn Crescent (No. 20), undated · Richmond: Kew Village Planning Guidance SPD, July 2014

Lawn Crescent, designated on 17 September 1974 and enclosed by the Kew Gardens area, is a group of two-and-a-half-storey houses in originally tuck-pointed red brick under steep slate mansard roofs. Along Kew Road, the Kew Road Conservation Area has Victorian villas between larger modern blocks, then tighter Edwardian terraces and pairs towards Richmond. In East Kew, Burlington Avenue and West Park Road, and Ruskin Avenue and part of Defoe Avenue, are both areas of paired Edwardian houses. The North Road, Dancer Road and Darell Road terraces sit in the 2014 guidance’s Chilton Road character area, not in a conservation area.

Richmond: Lawn Crescent conservation area statement (No. 20) · Richmond: Kew Road conservation area statement (No. 55) · Richmond: Burlington Avenue and West Park Road conservation area statement (No. 73) · Richmond: Ruskin Avenue and part Defoe Avenue conservation area statement (No. 74) · Richmond: Kew Village Planning Guidance SPD, July 2014

The first local check

Check the address: the name Kew and TW9 settle nothing alone

Kew is the name of a ward, of a Local Plan place strategy and of several conservation areas, but neither the name nor a TW9 postcode shows which council decides an application, whether a conservation area or the World Heritage Site covers the house, whether it is listed or whether an Article 4 direction names it. The river is a boundary as well: the bank opposite Kew is in Hounslow. Look up the house number on the council’s conservation area map, search the list for an entry and read the Article 4 directions, then turn to the title or lease and the planning history.

Richmond upon Thames Electoral Changes Order 2020: schedule of wards · Richmond Local Plan 2024–2039: interim version for adoption, October 2025 · Richmond: conservation area statements · Richmond: Kew Green conservation area appraisal, adopted 8 February 2024 · Richmond: listed buildings · Richmond: Article 4 directions in conservation areas · 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 permission and householder rights

Is a planning application needed for work inside a Kew home?

Usually not for the inside alone, because GOV.UK’s guidance places interior alterations outside the meaning of development. The Kew Green appraisal points out that flats have no permitted development rights, so changes to the outside of a Kew flat need planning permission. For a house, test each item against the limits and conditions in the householder guidance, remembering that conservation areas and World Heritage Sites are article 2(3) land, where those rights are narrower, and that Article 4 directions cover named houses on several Kew streets.

When planning permission is required · Householder permitted development technical guidance · Richmond: Kew Green conservation area appraisal, adopted 8 February 2024 · Richmond: Article 4 directions in conservation areas

Listed buildings, local listing and conservation areas

If my Kew house is listed, is indoor work controlled too?

Yes. In Richmond the need for listed building consent goes past the front door: internal and external alterations, and works affecting a listed building’s setting, are all covered. In the Kew Green Conservation Area, the list includes the Grade II* Parish Church of St Anne, 29 and 31, 52–56 and 62 and 64 Kew Green and 352 Kew Road, all Grade II, and 356 and 358 Kew Road at Grade II*; in the Kew Gardens area, 2 Branstone Road is Grade II. The appraisal says most buildings in the Kew Green area are listed or locally listed. A locally listed building keeps normal permitted development rights, and conservation area status is a separate control.

Richmond: listed buildings · Planning Data: Parish Church of St Anne, Kew Green, Grade II* · Planning Data: 29 and 31 Kew Green, Grade II · Planning Data: 52–56 Kew Green, Grade II · Planning Data: 62 and 64 Kew Green, Grade II · Planning Data: 352 Kew Road, Grade II · Planning Data: 356 and 358 Kew Road, Grade II* · Planning Data: 2 Branstone Road, Kew, Grade II · Richmond: Kew Green conservation area appraisal, adopted 8 February 2024 · Richmond: locally listed buildings (Buildings of Townscape Merit)

Building Regulations

When does work in Kew need Building Regulations approval?

Building Regulations approval stands on its own: planning permission, listed building consent or the landlord’s agreement does not supply it. A new bathroom with its own plumbing is one of the jobs GOV.UK says can need it. Richmond’s building control accepts three kinds of application, a Building Notice, Full Plans or Regularisation, and issues a completion certificate only after the Building Surveyor has signed off the works. Settle who applies before work starts, and keep the certificate with the property papers.

When Building Regulations approval is needed · Richmond: how to make a Building Regulations application

The lease, the freeholder and the Party Wall Act

Whose consent or notice can a Kew job need besides the council’s?

Where the home is a flat, the lease is the starting point: LEASE explains that a lease can make alterations subject to the landlord’s permission, whatever planning or Building Regulations approval is already held. Digging a basement brings in the freeholder as well: Richmond’s basement guidance requires their consent in every case, before any planning application is made. The Party Wall Act is separate again and applies only to notifiable work, such as cutting into a wall shared by two terraced or semi-detached houses on the Priory Estate, or digging below and near a neighbour’s foundations.

LEASE: alterations and home improvements · Richmond: basement developments · Party-wall work requiring notice · Richmond: Kew Green conservation area appraisal, adopted 8 February 2024

Local facts that affect the brief

Apply the controls to the work you actually need

Appraisal 2024; areas from 1969

Kew’s conservation areas and the documents that describe them

The Kew Green appraisal was adopted on 8 February 2024 after consultation from 18 September to 27 October 2023. It reads the area as four character areas, Kew Road, The Green, Riverside and the Priory Estate, and counts 38 listed buildings, 223 Buildings of Townscape Merit and two Grade II listed bridges; the national list includes Kew Bridge and Kew Railway Bridge, both Grade II. It places the conservation area under the buffer zone of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew World Heritage Site, inscribed on 3 July 2003, with some parts of the Site itself inside the boundary, and records two Archaeological Priority Areas over it, Kew Gardens at Tier I and Kew Green at Tier 2.

Richmond: Kew Green conservation area appraisal, adopted 8 February 2024 · Planning Data: Kew Bridge, Grade II · Planning Data: Kew Railway Bridge, Grade II · Richmond: Kew Village Planning Guidance SPD, July 2014

The other Kew areas are described in council statements. Kew Gardens (No. 15) was designated on 14 January 1969 and extended on 7 September 1982, 14 June 1988, 26 October 1998, 27 April 2004 and 9 February 2017; its undated study predates the 2004 direction it proposed. Lawn Crescent (No. 20) dates from 17 September 1974 and Kew Road (No. 55) from 20 September 1988, extended on 23 September 2003. The 2014 guidance says the Kew Road area includes every building fronting Kew Road between Broomfield Road and Christ Church except Nos 234–240, and to the north the Kew Green area also takes in the approach along Kew Road. So check any Kew Road address on the council’s map. To the south, towards Richmond, the Kew Road area adjoins Kew Foot Road (No. 36). The Royal Botanic Gardens area (No. 63) was designated on 29 January 1991, and the two East Kew areas (Nos. 73 and 74) on 9 February 2017.

Richmond: Kew Gardens conservation area statement and map (No. 15) · Richmond: conservation area study for Kew Road (No. 55), Kew Gardens (No. 15) and Lawn Crescent (No. 20), undated · Richmond: Lawn Crescent conservation area statement (No. 20) · Richmond: Kew Road conservation area statement (No. 55) · Richmond: conservation area studies and appraisals · Richmond: conservation area statements · Richmond: Burlington Avenue and West Park Road conservation area statement (No. 73) · Richmond: Ruskin Avenue and part Defoe Avenue conservation area statement (No. 74) · Richmond: Kew Village Planning Guidance SPD, July 2014 · Richmond: Kew Green conservation area appraisal, adopted 8 February 2024

Article 4: 1977, 1995, 2003, 2004

Article 4 directions in the Kew Green, Lawn Crescent and Kew Gardens areas

The Kew Green appraisal explains that the Article 4 directions in its area affect only unlisted houses in single occupation, and only elevations facing a highway, waterway, private street or other public space. The February 1977 direction, which the council’s register lists, covers roof changes including dormers, window changes including removing bay windows, and rendering or painting brickwork at Nos 1 to 21 Watcombe Cottages, Medina Cottage, The Toll House, 1 and 2 York Villas, 1 to 6 Thetis Terrace and 1 to 7 Willow Cottages. The direction dated 17 February 1995 varies by street: at Priory Road (1–59 odd) it covers only hard surfaces, satellite antennae, gates, fences and walls, and means of access; for Cambridge Cottages (1–36), The Green (28–46 even) and Gloucester Road (1–41 and 53–91 odd) it covers enlargement and roof changes among other items, with exterior painting added at Cambridge Cottages and The Green.

Richmond: Kew Green conservation area appraisal, adopted 8 February 2024 · Richmond: Kew Green Article 4 direction, February 1977 · Richmond: Article 4 directions register · Richmond: Kew Green Conservation Area Article 4 direction, 17 February 1995

The Lawn Crescent direction of 2003 covers 1–41 (odd) and 2–16 and 20–42 (even) Lawn Crescent, removing several permitted development rights for work that fronts a highway, and for chimneys whether or not they face one. The Kew Gardens direction dated 13 July 2004 covers 1–16 Elizabeth Cottages and 1–12 and 14–26 Victoria Cottages in eight categories, including enlargement, roofs, porches and exterior painting where the work fronts a highway, with chimneys covered in any case; 13 and 13A Victoria Cottages have only the hard-surface and boundary categories. The 2014 guidance proposed reviewing the 1995 direction, so ask the council whether anything has changed. A separate 2022 direction concerns turning commercial premises on parades such as 1–16 Kew Green and 1–9 Mortlake Terrace into homes, not alterations to houses.

Richmond: Lawn Crescent Kew Conservation Area Article 4 direction 2003 · Richmond: Kew Gardens Conservation Area Article 4 direction 2004, dated 13 July 2004 · Richmond: Kew Village Planning Guidance SPD, July 2014 · Richmond: Article 4 directions in conservation areas · Richmond: Article 4 direction on commercial to residential change of use, in force 31 July 2022

PBS7 and the 2025 Local Plan

The Local Plan, the Kew strategy and the guidance documents

The Richmond Local Plan 2024–2039 and its Policies Map were adopted on 7 October 2025, after submission in January 2024 and hearings in June and July 2024; the council has so far published an interim text, with minor modifications to follow, so confirm exact wording once the final version appears. Its place-based strategy for Kew, PBS7, aims to conserve the character of residential Kew while enhancing features where appropriate, and supports street trees and planted front gardens. Policy 32 protects the World Heritage Site, its buffer zone and its wider setting.

Richmond: adopted Local Plan 2024–2039, adopted 7 October 2025 · Richmond Local Plan adoption statement, 2025 · Richmond Local Plan 2024–2039: interim version for adoption, October 2025

The Kew Village Planning Guidance is dated July 2014, though the council’s list shows no adoption date for it, and it was written against the 2009 Core Strategy and 2011 Development Management Plan, so read it for its account of local character rather than for current policy. The front-garden parking SPD of 2006 it refers to was withdrawn from 3 June 2020. The House Extensions and External Alterations SPD, adopted on 1 June 2015, discourages hip-to-gable roof extensions and says hipped or gabled dormers are often preferable to flat-roofed ones, with rooflights as an alternative.

Richmond: Kew Village Planning Guidance SPD, July 2014 · Richmond: supplementary planning documents and guidance · Richmond: House Extensions and External Alterations SPD, adopted 1 June 2015

Ordering sashes, stripping a slate or clay roof and digging are steps that cannot easily be taken back in Kew, so a consent found missing afterwards is hard to cure. First work out, for the exact address, which of these regimes apply, and deal with each on its own terms: planning permission, which the borough-wide directions have required for basements since 1 April 2018; listed building consent; conservation area controls and Policy 32 on the World Heritage Site; an Article 4 direction naming the house, if there is one; Building Regulations approval; any consent the lease or freeholder requires; notice to neighbours where the Party Wall Act applies; and, for a tree in a conservation area without a preservation order, any section 211 notice the council requires, which it decides within six weeks.

When planning permission is required · Richmond: Article 4 directions on basements, together covering the whole borough · Richmond: listed buildings · Richmond Local Plan 2024–2039: interim version for adoption, October 2025 · Richmond: Article 4 directions in conservation areas · When Building Regulations approval is needed · LEASE: alterations and home improvements · Party-wall work requiring notice · Richmond: protected trees and conservation-area trees

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, roofs, front walls, basements and energy

Sash windows and glazing

Painted timber sashes are the most common window in the Kew Green area, six panes over six on Georgian houses and mostly two over two on Victorian ones. The appraisal asks for originals to be kept and repaired first, any replacement to be a timber sash copying the original glazing pattern, and it presents secondary glazing as an unobtrusive way to save energy and reduce noise. The 1977 direction listed in the council’s register also covers window changes, including removing bay windows, at Nos 1 to 21 Watcombe Cottages and the other groups it names.

Richmond: Kew Green conservation area appraisal, adopted 8 February 2024 · Richmond: Kew Green Article 4 direction, February 1977 · Richmond: Article 4 directions register

Bathroom stacks, extract and loft rooms

In a mansion block, an infill block or a divided house, the bathroom waste may join a stack that serves other flats; find where it runs and what the lease says before moving the room. Agree the extract route at the same stage, and remember that new bathroom plumbing can need Building Regulations approval. Where a bathroom goes into the roof in the Kew Green Conservation Area, its appraisal resists new rooflights on front slopes, and on side slopes seen from the street, where they would break the uniformity of a group or terrace.

LEASE: alterations and home improvements · When Building Regulations approval is needed · Richmond: Kew Green conservation area appraisal, adopted 8 February 2024

Walls, floors and roof structure

Before a wall comes out, our structural engineers check what it carries; in a divided house or block, sound insulation between flats is planned when a floor is opened. Roofs matter too: Lawn Crescent has steep slate mansards with decorative bargeboards, the Kew Green appraisal asks for original clay tiles to be kept and repaired in kind, and on Kew Road the earlier study says removing chimneys or adding large front or side dormers should be resisted. In a conservation area, relevant demolition, of a building of 115 cubic metres or more, needs planning permission.

Richmond: Lawn Crescent conservation area statement (No. 20) · Richmond: Kew Green conservation area appraisal, adopted 8 February 2024 · Richmond: about conservation areas · Richmond: conservation area study for Kew Road (No. 55), Kew Gardens (No. 15) and Lawn Crescent (No. 20), undated

Front gardens, walls and railings

The Kew Gardens, Kew Road and Lawn Crescent statements all aim to keep front boundaries and discourage more hard surfacing of front gardens, and the Kew Green appraisal names front-garden parking on Priory Road as a threat. That appraisal also treats most boundary walls in its area as protected where they are listed, or over one metre high and facing a street. The earlier Kew Gardens study notes fine walls on Ennerdale Road and does not encourage painted brickwork or second-hand bricks in new walls.

Richmond: Kew Gardens conservation area statement and map (No. 15) · Richmond: Kew Road conservation area statement (No. 55) · Richmond: Lawn Crescent conservation area statement (No. 20) · Richmond: Kew Green conservation area appraisal, adopted 8 February 2024 · Richmond: conservation area study for Kew Road (No. 55), Kew Gardens (No. 15) and Lawn Crescent (No. 20), undated

Basements, archaeology and trees

New basements across the borough have needed planning permission since 1 April 2018, and Policy 54 resists basements deeper than one storey or under more than half the garden; every scheme needs a Construction Management Statement. Check the flood zone for the address first, since Table 16.5 rules basements out in Flood Zone 3b. Raise archaeology early near the Green, where two Archaeological Priority Areas cover the conservation area. Work on a protected tree with a trunk over 7.5cm across at 1.5m generally needs an application, which takes up to eight weeks.

Richmond: Article 4 directions on basements, together covering the whole borough · Richmond Local Plan 2024–2039: interim version for adoption, October 2025 · Richmond: basement developments · Richmond: Kew Green conservation area appraisal, adopted 8 February 2024 · Richmond: protected trees and conservation-area trees

Insulation, solar panels and heat pumps

Work out roof, wall and window improvements as a single package before buying any one of them. In a listed building, Richmond warns that most internal and external changes for energy, including new windows, solar panels and heat pumps, are likely to need listed building consent. For unlisted houses in the Kew Green area, the appraisal says solar panels and similar equipment are most suitably placed on rear or side elevations hidden from public view, and any roof insulation should be planned around the original clay tiles it asks owners to keep.

Richmond: listed buildings · Richmond: Kew Green conservation area appraisal, adopted 8 February 2024

A practical plan for the street and building

Working hours, deliveries and shared access

Skips, scaffolding and parking bays

On closely packed streets, such as the cottage rows off Sandycombe Road, plan where a skip, scaffold and deliveries will go before work is booked. A skip on a path or road needs a licence, valid for up to three weeks, that only a registered skip company with public liability insurance can obtain, and a skip in a controlled parking bay also needs a bay suspension. Scaffolding, hoardings and stored materials need a licence issued only after a site meeting with an Inspection and Enforcement Officer, and no licence is granted just because the council has not replied. For a bay suspension, allow at least 10 working days’ notice, the longer of the two periods the council’s page gives; suspensions can be enforced even outside controlled hours.

Richmond: Kew Gardens conservation area statement and map (No. 15) · Richmond: apply for a skip licence · Richmond: scaffolding, hoarding and materials licences · Richmond: parking suspensions

Loud stages, neighbours and whether to move out

Noisy work in Richmond is limited to 8am–6pm on weekdays and 8am–1pm on Saturdays, with Sundays and bank holidays off-limits. Scaffolders keep to the same limits: in the council’s Construction Code of Practice, scaffolding is noisy work. Tell neighbours on both sides, and the managing agent of a block, when the loud stages fall, check the lease for any stricter rules, and decide early whether your household will stay at home through the noisiest stages.

Richmond: construction noise and permitted hours · Richmond: Construction Code of Practice, January 2022 · LEASE: alterations and home improvements

A clear scope before a price

Plan your renovation budget and quotation

Have work on a Kew home priced from a record of the building as it is and one written scope, so that every builder is quoting for the same job. Keep the outside items, such as sashes, roof coverings, chimneys and front walls, apart from the room-by-room work, and mark the items that wait on a consent, a landlord’s answer, a tree decision or a Party Wall notice.

Existing condition

Survey the house or flat before anyone prices it, and give every bidder the same drawings and pictures so each starts from the same facts.

  • Survey drawings showing every ceiling height
  • Sashes, roof, chimneys and front wall described
  • Concealed parts to be exposed and checked

Rooms, finishes and services

Write a schedule for each room covering strip-out, new work and the finishes for walls, floors, joinery and fittings.

  • Sanitaryware and tiles schedule per room
  • Drainage falls and fan ducts drawn
  • Goods you buy yourself listed separately

Approvals and site arrangements

List every consent and street licence the job relies on, who applies for each and the date it must be in place.

  • Listing and other controls on the house noted
  • Dates set for freeholder and Party Wall steps
  • Street licences and bay suspensions booked in order

Written allowances and sequence

Before you sign, get the hidden-work allowances, the exclusions and the running order of the work set down in writing.

  • Provisional sums itemised with what each covers
  • VAT stated line by line
  • Completion certificate step written in

The TW9 postcode brings no surcharge with it and sets no programme; those depend on the house or flat itself and the agreed scope. Ask each builder how VAT is treated and which professional fees, such as structural or drawing fees, sit outside the price. Quotes for a standalone bathroom are separate, worked out from a survey of that room alone and your chosen fittings.

From an idea to a workable scope

Prepare your brief and renovation budget

  1. The address and the building

    Send the full address with the house or flat number, since Article 4 directions in Kew name individual numbers and listing goes building by building. Tell us if it is a whole house, a flat in a mansion or purpose-built block, or one part of a divided house, and the floor it is on; pictures of the front, the roof and the rooms help.

  2. Documents you already have

    Paperwork saves guesswork: send the lease or title register, any planning or listed building decision you know of, building control certificates and earlier drawings. For a flat, add the building’s rules for alterations and the managing agent’s details, and mention anything you have found already, such as a list entry, a tree preservation order or a past basement application.

  3. Fixed choices and open questions

    Some decisions will be settled, such as a chosen suite or the rooms to redecorate; others depend on the survey, our structural engineers or a council decision. Mark the open ones clearly so each builder prices them as a named allowance on the same basis.

  4. Timing, occupation and responsibilities

    Say when the house or flat must be ready, which rooms you need meanwhile, and whether you will move out. Settle in writing whether you or the builder handles the skip and scaffold licences, bay suspensions, tree notices, freeholder consent 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 Kew project

Our Hampstead base, serving Kew

Talk to our Finchley Road studio

Our studio is in Hampstead on Finchley Road, at NW3 6DN. We serve Kew 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

Find our studio on Google Maps

Questions before you begin

Renovating in Kew: practical answers

Will you take on one Kew bathroom by itself?

Yes. A single bathroom is welcome as a standalone renovation, in a Kew house or a flat, with no other room touched. To start, describe the room: its floor, what is underneath, where the waste seems to meet the stack, and its window and fan. Rough sizes and a few pictures are enough. If the plan is a bathroom in the roof with a new rooflight, say which slope: in the Kew Green Conservation Area, the appraisal resists new rooflights on front and visible side slopes where they would break up a group.

Richmond: Kew Green conservation area appraisal, adopted 8 February 2024

Kew has several conservation areas; which one, if any, covers my address?

The street name alone will not tell you; the council’s map will. Kew has Kew Green, Kew Gardens, Kew Road, Lawn Crescent and Royal Botanic Gardens conservation areas, plus two East Kew areas from 2017. Lichfield Road and Ennerdale Road are in the Kew Gardens Conservation Area; the 2014 guidance dates Ennerdale Road’s inclusion to 2004, but the statement map puts one side of much of the road in the 1988 extension. The North Road, Dancer Road and Darell Road terraces lie in a character area of the 2014 guidance, not a conservation area.

Richmond: conservation area statements · Richmond: Kew Gardens conservation area statement and map (No. 15) · Richmond: Kew Village Planning Guidance SPD, July 2014 · Richmond: Burlington Avenue and West Park Road conservation area statement (No. 73) · Richmond: Ruskin Avenue and part Defoe Avenue conservation area statement (No. 74)

How do I find out if my Kew house is listed or named in an Article 4 direction?

Each listed building has its own list entry, such as 29 and 31 Kew Green, Grade II. The directions work house by house: in Kew they cover numbers on The Green, Priory Road, Gloucester Road, Cambridge Cottages, Watcombe Cottages, Medina Cottage, The Toll House, York Villas, Thetis Terrace and Willow Cottages, every house from 1 to 42 Lawn Crescent except No. 18, and Elizabeth and Victoria Cottages. The Kew Green appraisal says those in its area affect only unlisted houses in single occupation, so check the direction and the list entry against your house number.

Planning Data: 29 and 31 Kew Green, Grade II · Richmond: listed buildings · Richmond: Kew Green Article 4 direction, February 1977 · Richmond: Kew Green Conservation Area Article 4 direction, 17 February 1995 · Richmond: Lawn Crescent Kew Conservation Area Article 4 direction 2003 · Richmond: Kew Gardens Conservation Area Article 4 direction 2004, dated 13 July 2004 · Richmond: Kew Green conservation area appraisal, adopted 8 February 2024

Can old sashes in a Kew house or flat be replaced?

Survey them before deciding. In the Kew Green Conservation Area, the appraisal asks for timber sashes to be kept and repaired first, with any replacement a timber sash matching the original glazing pattern, and suggests secondary glazing as an unobtrusive upgrade. The 1977 Kew Green direction covers window changes, including removing bay windows, at the groups it names, and a listed building needs listed building consent. A flat has no permitted development rights, so new windows that change its outside appearance need planning permission; check the lease for the landlord’s consent as well.

Richmond: Kew Green conservation area appraisal, adopted 8 February 2024 · Richmond: Kew Green Article 4 direction, February 1977 · Richmond: Article 4 directions in conservation areas · Richmond: listed buildings · LEASE: alterations and home improvements

Does refitting a Kew flat need anyone’s consent?

The lease’s alterations clause is the first document to read. Where it makes changes subject to the landlord’s consent, LEASE points out that this still applies after planning permission or Building Regulations approval has been granted. Inside the flat, the likelier approvals are Building Regulations for new bathroom plumbing and, if the building is listed, listed building consent for internal work; planning permission rarely arises, because work confined to the inside is generally not development.

LEASE: alterations and home improvements · When planning permission is required · When Building Regulations approval is needed · Richmond: listed buildings

Is knocking through or repositioning a bathroom feasible in a Kew house?

Often, with checks first. Our structural engineers confirm what a wall carries before it is removed, and where a wall is shared, as between the terraced and semi-detached houses of the Priory Estate, cutting into it can require Party Wall notice. A moved bathroom needs a workable fall to the stack, and in a mansion block or divided house that stack may serve other flats, so read the lease. New plumbing can call for Building Regulations approval, and in a listed house the work may also need listed building consent.

Party-wall work requiring notice · Richmond: Kew Green conservation area appraisal, adopted 8 February 2024 · LEASE: alterations and home improvements · When Building Regulations approval is needed · Richmond: listed buildings

Can I dig a basement beneath a house in Kew?

Only with planning permission: two Article 4 directions that together cover the whole borough have required it for basements since 1 April 2018. Under Policy 54 the council resists a basement deeper than a single storey or covering more than half the garden, Table 16.5 rules basements out in Flood Zone 3b, and every scheme needs a Construction Management Statement. The council’s basement guidance adds that the freeholder must always consent. Two Archaeological Priority Areas cover the Kew Green Conservation Area, and digging near a neighbour’s foundations can need Party Wall notice.

Richmond: Article 4 directions on basements, together covering the whole borough · Richmond Local Plan 2024–2039: interim version for adoption, October 2025 · Richmond: basement developments · Richmond: Kew Green conservation area appraisal, adopted 8 February 2024 · Party-wall work requiring notice

Is there a limit on when Kew builders can make noise?

Under Richmond’s published hours, noisy work may run from 8am to 6pm on weekdays and from 8am to 1pm on Saturdays, and not at all on Sundays or bank holidays. Scaffolding is no exception, under the council’s Construction Code of Practice. In a flat, the lease or the building’s rules may set tighter hours, so read them and tell neighbours before the loud stages begin.

Richmond: construction noise and permitted hours · Richmond: Construction Code of Practice, January 2022 · LEASE: alterations and home improvements

How should builders set out their quotations for a Kew project?

Beyond the rooms, look for sash and front-wall repairs, roof and chimney work, the skip licence and any bay suspension, the scaffold licence and its site meeting, and provisional sums for what cannot yet be seen. Compare like with like: every builder should price one written scope, with VAT and professional fees set out on the same basis. Ask who prepares the Construction Management Statement if a basement is involved, and who makes the Building Regulations application.

Richmond: apply for a skip licence · Richmond: parking suspensions · Richmond: scaffolding, hoarding and materials licences · Richmond: basement developments · Richmond: how to make a Building Regulations application

Where are you based, and how do we begin on a Kew project?

Our studio is at Unit 3, Palace Court, 250 Finchley Road, London NW3 6DN, and we serve Kew from this office. Begin by sending the address with the house or flat number, a short list of the rooms you have in mind and a few pictures; the lease, past consents and older drawings can follow later, when the scope has firmed up.

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We have worked with Ross and his company many times. They are extremely professional and hardworking individuals who can work under any circumstances. There was no variation to the works.

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