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North Kensington W10 and W11 · Houses, flats & bathrooms

Renovations in North Kensington

Gault-brick villas, Edwardian terraces, inter-war cottages

Begin with the building as it was built: a gault-brick villa on Cambridge Gardens or Bassett Road, a red-brick Edwardian terrace on Highlever Road or Wallingford Avenue, an inter-war cottage or cottage-form flat, or a flat in a larger house. Then shape the house, flat or bathroom plan around it, with the Article 4 directions, Neighbourhood Plan policies and lease terms that apply to your address.

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Serving North Kensington from our Hampstead studio · NW3 6DN
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 North Kensington 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 Villas, terraces and cottages

House refurbishment in North Kensington

North Kensington houses change from street to street. RBKC’s 2018 draft appraisal of Oxford Gardens - St Quintin describes double-fronted detached houses on Oxford Gardens and villa pairs on Cambridge Gardens west of Ladbroke Grove, mainly two-storey Edwardian terraces with large original rear outriggers, and an inter-war cottage estate. Survey the brickwork, sashes, roof and outrigger with the rooms, then read the Article 4 directions and, where it applies, the Neighbourhood Plan for the address before any front, roof or rear change is priced.

  • Address checked in RBKC’s Article 4 table
  • Roof, outrigger and front garden surveyed
  • Neighbourhood Plan read where it applies
Read about house refurbishment in North Kensington

02 Maisonettes and flats in houses

Flat renovation in North Kensington

RBKC’s 2018 draft appraisal describes cottage-form flats, and maisonettes with their own front doors and gardens, on the inter-war estate, and records large Victorian houses in the area starting to be subdivided as early as the 1880s. Flats carry no Part 1 householder permitted development rights, and if the lease makes an alteration subject to the landlord’s written consent, that consent must be in hand before work begins.

  • Lease alterations clause and landlord named
  • Soil stack and water supply traced
  • Outside changes checked with RBKC first
Read about flat refurbishment in North Kensington

03 Villa, terrace and maisonette bathrooms

Bathroom renovation in North Kensington

We welcome a standalone bathroom renovation, whether the room is in a gault-brick villa, a two-storey Edwardian terrace house or a cottage-estate maisonette. Before tiles are chosen, settle where the extract will discharge, how much depth the new floor needs and how the waste will fall to the soil stack. GOV.UK’s list of work that may need Building Regulations approval includes plumbing in a new bathroom and altering electrics near a bath or shower, and a flat’s lease may also require the landlord’s consent.

  • Fall from WC to soil stack measured
  • Extract outlet position agreed early
  • Building Regulations items identified
Read about bathroom renovation in North Kensington

Real projects, clearly located

Ideas for your North Kensington 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

RBKC’s 2018 draft appraisal of the Oxford Gardens - St Quintin conservation area traces its housing to two historic estates built up in phases, from Victorian terraces and villas to red-brick Edwardian terraces and an inter-war council cottage estate. Which phase your home belongs to shapes the survey; its exact address decides the controls.

RBKC’s 2021 designation map shows the Oxford Gardens - St Quintin conservation area designated in 1975 and extended in 2002 and 2021, the latest phase along Latimer Road, where a March 2021 RBKC analysis had assessed the traditional terraces between North Pole Road and the Westway. That analysis says the area was first designated in 1975 for the speculative Victorian and Edwardian suburban housing on the Portobello and St Quintin estates. RBKC lists the adopted appraisal in an entry dated October 2021; the street descriptions here come from its October 2018 consultation draft.

RBKC: Oxford Gardens conservation area designation map, 2021 · RBKC: proposed extension of the Oxford Gardens - St Quintin conservation area, analysis, March 2021 · RBKC: conservation area appraisals and proposals statements · RBKC: Oxford Gardens - St Quintin conservation area appraisal, consultation draft, October 2018

The 2018 draft attributes houses in Bassett Road and the western parts of Oxford Gardens and Cambridge Gardens to Henry Currey, architect to the landowner Colonel St Quintin, built between 1867 and 1890 and fronted in pale gault brick, with yellow stock brick to the sides and rear. There, Oxford Gardens is almost entirely double-fronted detached houses, Cambridge Gardens has generously spaced villa pairs and Bassett Road a mixture. Where Oxford Gardens and Cambridge Gardens continue east of Ladbroke Grove, the draft describes four-storey houses over basements, with larger front gardens, mature trees and only small lightwells.

RBKC: Oxford Gardens - St Quintin conservation area appraisal, consultation draft, October 2018

The draft dates the red-brick Edwardian houses to 1905–1914: mainly long two-storey terraces with large original rear outriggers, most with full-height canted bays and one-over-one sashes, and none built with basements. Cottages and flats in cottage form followed in 1919–1926, designed by the LCC architect A. S. Soutar for the Royal Borough of Kensington. Subdivision is older still: the draft records large houses in the area failing to attract wealthy owners and starting to be divided in the 1880s.

RBKC: Oxford Gardens - St Quintin conservation area appraisal, consultation draft, October 2018

The first local check

Settle the council and controls by address

The name North Kensington and the W10 and W11 postcodes are only a starting point: on their own they cannot show who the planning authority is, where a conservation area stops, whether a building is listed or under an Article 4 direction, or what consents a job needs. Parts of the borough line with Hammersmith and Fulham were realigned by a 1995 order that took full effect on 1 April 1996: RBKC says that near Latimer Road the line now runs along the railway’s north-eastern edge, and the Neighbourhood Plan records Bracewell Road, Brewster Gardens and the south side of Dalgarno Gardens joining Kensington and Chelsea that year. So settle first which council the full address falls under; then check the address against the national list, RBKC’s Article 4 table and its conservation area map, with the title or lease and the site’s planning history to hand.

Find the council for the property · The Kensington and Chelsea and Hammersmith and Fulham (London Borough Boundaries) Order 1995 · RBKC: proposed extension of the Oxford Gardens - St Quintin conservation area, analysis, March 2021 · St Quintin and Woodlands Neighbourhood Plan 2015–2030, July 2018 · RBKC: Oxford Gardens conservation area designation map, 2021 · Historic England: listed-building consent · RBKC: 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, householder rights and Article 4

Is planning permission needed, or do householder rights cover it?

Internal alterations, such as new finishes or a rearranged room layout within the same home, are generally not development. Flats fall outside the Part 1 householder rights altogether, because the government’s technical guidance excludes them from its definition of a dwellinghouse. For a house, work through the permitted development limits and conditions, any conditions on past permissions and RBKC’s Article 4 table: at the addresses each schedules, Direction 46 removes rights for alterations to street-facing elevations and to the roof of the original house, Direction 69 for front hard surfaces and Direction 88 for rear extensions and for buildings within the curtilage.

When planning permission is required · Householder permitted development technical guidance · RBKC: Article 4 directions in conservation areas · RBKC: Article 4 direction no. 46, St Quintin streets, sealed 23 October 1984 · RBKC: Article 4 direction no. 69, front hard surfaces, confirmed 28 April 1997 · RBKC: Article 4 direction no. 88, made by Hammersmith and Fulham for Brewster Gardens and Bracewell Road, dated 13 November 1979

Listing, inside and out

What changes if the building is listed?

Where a building is listed, consent can be needed for work inside as well as outside if it affects the special interest, and it is applied for separately from planning permission. Planning Data records St Charles’ Hospital and the Church of St Michael and All Angels at Grade II, as it does 105–123 St Mark’s Road and 1–3 Cowper Terrace, an entry that takes in their front boundary walls, access steps and railings; Trellick Tower and Kensal House are recorded at Grade II*. Being inside a conservation area is a separate matter again, since that designation applies to an area rather than to one building.

Historic England: listed-building consent · Planning Data: St Charles’ Hospital, Grade II · Planning Data: Church of St Michael and All Angels, Grade II · Planning Data: 105–123 St Mark’s Road and 1–3 Cowper Terrace, Grade II · Planning Data: Trellick Tower, Cheltenham Estate, Grade II* · Planning Data: Kensal House, Grade II* · RBKC: conservation area appraisals and proposals statements

Building Regulations approval

Which items need building control sign-off?

Building Regulations approval answers a question of its own, about building standards, which no planning permission, listed building consent or landlord’s consent can answer for you. GOV.UK lists installing a bathroom that involves plumbing, and changing electrics near a bath or shower, among alterations that may need approval, and the same list covers other work, so go through a North Kensington scope item by item, deciding who will sign each part off and who keeps the certificates.

When Building Regulations approval is needed · LEASE: alterations and home improvements

The lease, the freeholder and next door

Who apart from the council has a say, or must be told?

Where a lease says an alteration needs written consent, LEASE is clear that it must be obtained before the work starts. For a leasehold cottage-estate maisonette or a flat in a larger house, read the alterations clause and confirm who the current landlord is. Notice under the Party Wall Act arises only for the work the Act names, such as work on an existing party wall or excavation near next door that goes below its foundation level.

LEASE: alterations and home improvements · Party-wall work requiring notice

Local facts that affect the brief

Apply the controls to the work you actually need

Phases of 1975, 2002 and 2021

Oxford Gardens - St Quintin: the adopted appraisal and its 2018 draft

RBKC lists an Oxford Gardens Conservation Area Appraisal among its adopted appraisals, with the 2021 designation map, in an entry dated October 2021, and keeps the older Oxford Gardens St Quintin proposals statement and a draft appraisal under its old documents. The appraisal descriptions on this page come from the consultation draft that RBKC consulted on from 31 October to 12 December 2018, so read the adopted appraisal for the wording that applies now.

RBKC: conservation area appraisals and proposals statements · RBKC: Oxford Gardens conservation area designation map, 2021 · RBKC: Oxford Gardens - St Quintin conservation area appraisal, consultation draft, October 2018 · RBKC: Oxford Gardens - St Quintin conservation area appraisal consultation, 31 October to 12 December 2018

On roofs, the 2018 draft describes valley roofs behind continuous parapets on Chesterton Road, Latimer Road, Calderon Place and the streets east of Ladbroke Grove, and, in most Edwardian streets, modern dormers on the main roofs, some oversized, while the outrigger roofs have remained undeveloped and are often clearly seen across gardens from the street. It finds the west side of the conservation area leafy and suburban, and the part east of St Mark’s Road more heavily built up and urban.

RBKC: Oxford Gardens - St Quintin conservation area appraisal, consultation draft, October 2018

RBKC adopted its Colville appraisal on 17 February 2015, for an area designated on 7 December 2004, and its Avondale and Avondale Park Gardens appraisal on 14 December 2015, which records that in the Avondale conservation area the vast majority of dwellings form terraces, with only a small number built as flats in the latter part of the 20th century. Kensal Green Cemetery’s appraisal was published as a draft in May 2017, and the cemetery itself appears on the register of parks and gardens at Grade I.

RBKC: Colville conservation area appraisal, adopted 17 February 2015 · RBKC: Avondale and Avondale Park Gardens conservation area appraisal, adopted 14 December 2015 · RBKC: Kensal Green Cemetery conservation area appraisal, draft, May 2017 · Planning Data: Kensal Green (All Souls) Cemetery, registered park and garden, Grade I

Directions dated 1979 to 1997

Directions 46 and 62, 69 and 88 in RBKC’s Article 4 table

RBKC’s table lists Directions 46 and 62, with a start date of 23 October 1984, for scheduled house numbers in the Edwardian St Quintin streets, Balliol Road, Finstock Road, Highlever Road, Kelfield Gardens, Kingsbridge Road, Oxford Gardens, St Helen’s Gardens, St Quintin Avenue and Wallingford Avenue, though not always for every number: Kingsbridge Road, for example, has only 1–23 odd. The scanned Direction 46, made under the 1977 General Development Order, removes householder rights for alterations to elevations fronting a highway and to any part of the roof of the original house. Sources differ at the ends of some ranges, so confirm those numbers with RBKC.

RBKC: Article 4 directions in conservation areas · RBKC: Article 4 direction no. 46, St Quintin streets, sealed 23 October 1984

Direction 69, made on 29 January 1997 and confirmed on 28 April 1997, removes the right to lay or extend a hard surface fronting a highway at homes in wholly residential use at its addresses, among them numbers in Bassett Road, Cambridge Gardens and Oxford Gardens and parts of Barlby Road, Dalgarno Gardens, St Charles Square, St Mark’s Road and St Quintin Gardens.

RBKC: Article 4 direction no. 69, front hard surfaces, confirmed 28 April 1997 · RBKC: Article 4 directions in conservation areas

Direction 88 is a Hammersmith and Fulham direction dated 13 November 1979 that RBKC still lists. At 1–55 (odd) Brewster Gardens and 2–56 (even) Bracewell Road it removes rights for all rear extensions, rear roof extensions included, and for buildings or structures within the curtilage.

RBKC: Article 4 direction no. 88, made by Hammersmith and Fulham for Brewster Gardens and Bracewell Road, dated 13 November 1979 · RBKC: Article 4 directions in conservation areas

Neighbourhood Plan confirmed July 2018

The St Quintin and Woodlands Neighbourhood Plan

RBKC confirmed the St Quintin and Woodlands Neighbourhood Plan 2015–2030 in July 2018, and it forms part of the development plan for its area, which covers 42 hectares and includes some 1,700 households. When the plan was written, almost all the area’s streets were in the Oxford Gardens conservation area, Latimer Road and the streets off it being the exception. Its policies guide decisions on planning applications. Policy C1 supports dormers for loft rooms on the rear main roofs of houses, subject to details, except on the cottage properties of Oakworth Road, Methwold Road, Hill Farm Road, the east side of Pangbourne Avenue, the south side of Barlby Road and the west side of St Mark’s Road, and on London or butterfly roofs.

RBKC: St Quintin and Woodlands neighbourhood plan · St Quintin and Woodlands Neighbourhood Plan 2015–2030, July 2018

Policy C2, in the streets and part streets covered by Directions 46 and 62, supports minor ridge-height changes for insulation that do not materially affect the roof’s appearance or create an uneven terrace roofline, and requires main chimney stacks to be kept; C3 resists non-permeable front-garden surfaces above the permitted development limits; C4 makes no requirement for a set-back where a ground-floor rear or side extension takes in the original side passage; C5 resists such extensions that are over 3m high at the party wall, have a roof slope over 45 degrees or infringe neighbours’ rights of light; C6 seeks to limit rear-garden outbuildings to 12 square metres of coverage, with 2.5m eaves and a 3m ridge; and C7 asks for discreet bin stores, flues, dishes and meter boxes on house fronts where permission is needed. Ask RBKC how these sit with the Local Plan 2024 for your proposal.

St Quintin and Woodlands Neighbourhood Plan 2015–2030, July 2018

Local Plan 2024 · basements direction 2016

The Local Plan 2024 and the borough-wide basement direction

The Local Plan 2024 is made up of the October 2022 Publication Policies, the Inspector’s Main Modifications of 5 July 2024, the January 2024 Additional Modifications and the Policies Map. RBKC adopted it on 24 July 2024, and, as the adoption statement records, it now has full weight when planning applications are considered. Within the St Quintin and Woodlands area, read it alongside the Neighbourhood Plan.

RBKC: Local Plan 2024 adoption statement · RBKC: St Quintin and Woodlands neighbourhood plan

For basements, one direction covers the whole of Kensington and Chelsea. RBKC made it on 15 April 2015 and confirmed it on 2 March 2016, and since it came into force on 28 April 2016 there have been no householder permitted development rights for basements, lightwells or any other development below the dwellinghouse or its curtilage.

RBKC: borough-wide basement Article 4 direction, confirmed 2 March 2016

Before any sash is ordered, roof or outrigger work is agreed or a lower floor is dug, find out which consents the exact North Kensington address needs. An Article 4 direction tells you whether a householder right has been removed there; planning permission under the Local Plan 2024 and, in its area, the Neighbourhood Plan, listed building consent, Building Regulations approval, the landlord’s consent and Party Wall notice are each settled separately, and clearing one does not settle another. The 2018 draft appraisal quoted here describes streets; it is not adopted policy, and it decides nothing about your proposal.

RBKC: Article 4 directions in conservation areas · RBKC: Local Plan 2024 adoption statement · RBKC: St Quintin and Woodlands neighbourhood plan · Historic England: listed-building consent · When Building Regulations approval is needed · LEASE: alterations and home improvements · Party-wall work requiring notice · RBKC: conservation area appraisals and proposals statements · RBKC: Oxford Gardens - St Quintin conservation area appraisal, consultation draft, October 2018

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, outriggers, front gardens, half basements and roofs

Sashes, canted bays and front doors

On most Edwardian houses the 2018 draft notes full-height canted bays with one-over-one sashes. Survey each sash and the front door, then specify window by window: repair, secondary glazing or, for a decayed sash, replacement. The 2018 Neighbourhood Plan records that RBKC’s conservation policies then in force did not permit replacements that made a material difference to appearance, plastic or PVC frames included, and required sash windows to be in wood. At the addresses RBKC lists under Directions 46 and 62, Direction 46 removes householder rights for alterations to elevations fronting a highway.

St Quintin and Woodlands Neighbourhood Plan 2015–2030, July 2018 · RBKC: Article 4 direction no. 46, St Quintin streets, sealed 23 October 1984 · RBKC: Article 4 directions in conservation areas · RBKC: Oxford Gardens - St Quintin conservation area appraisal, consultation draft, October 2018

Wet rooms, soil stacks and flues on the front

In a flat or maisonette the soil stack may serve other homes, so the fall from the WC to it limits how far a bathroom can move; find it, and agree access with the landlord, before the room is planned. Agree the waterproofing and the depth of the new floor before anyone orders tiles. Within the St Quintin and Woodlands area, where an outlet or flue on a house front needs planning permission, Neighbourhood Plan Policy C7 asks for flues, meter boxes and similar items to be visually discreet.

When Building Regulations approval is needed · LEASE: alterations and home improvements · St Quintin and Woodlands Neighbourhood Plan 2015–2030, July 2018

Outriggers, floor joists and sound insulation

The 2018 draft records large original outriggers behind the Edwardian terraces, giving more rooms per floor, and villas built in pairs or detached. Before removing a wall or moving a bathroom, have the joist direction, any load-bearing partitions and old service notches checked, and where homes are stacked above one another, check the floor depth and sound insulation against the lease. Approved Document E sets the standard for resistance to sound between homes where it applies.

RBKC: Oxford Gardens - St Quintin conservation area appraisal, consultation draft, October 2018 · When Building Regulations approval is needed · GOV.UK: Approved Document E, resistance to sound · LEASE: alterations and home improvements

Front gardens, lightwells and railings

Direction 69 removes the right to lay or extend a hard surface fronting a highway at its addresses, among them numbers in Bassett Road, Cambridge Gardens and Oxford Gardens, and, in the St Quintin and Woodlands area, Neighbourhood Plan Policy C3 resists non-permeable front-garden surfaces above the permitted development limits, apart from replacing the main path. The Plan also records that RBKC then operated a policy for the Oxford Gardens - St Quintin conservation area that did not allow railings or balustrades round front lightwells unless a semi-basement was an original feature of the house.

RBKC: Article 4 direction no. 69, front hard surfaces, confirmed 28 April 1997 · St Quintin and Woodlands Neighbourhood Plan 2015–2030, July 2018

Half basements, new excavation and garden trees

Know which lower floor you have: the 2018 draft describes four-storey houses over basements on Oxford Gardens and Cambridge Gardens east of Ladbroke Grove, half basements at the red-brick west end of Bassett Road and no original basements in the Edwardian terraces. Under the borough-wide direction, a new basement or lightwell needs a planning application. The draft adds that few rear-garden trees have their own preservation order, though the conservation area protects them; under section 211, certain work on such a tree needs six weeks’ notice to the council, unless an exception applies.

RBKC: Oxford Gardens - St Quintin conservation area appraisal, consultation draft, October 2018 · RBKC: borough-wide basement Article 4 direction, confirmed 2 March 2016 · Tree preservation orders and conservation-area trees

Insulation, roofs and chimneys

Insulating the walls or roof of an older house changes where moisture collects, so design the heating and ventilation at the same time. In the streets under Directions 46 and 62, Neighbourhood Plan Policy C2 supports minor adjustments to ridge heights for insulation where this neither materially affects the roof’s appearance nor leaves an uneven roofline in the terrace, and requires main chimney stacks to be kept. Direction 46 removes householder rights for alterations to any part of the roof of the original house there, so check roof work with RBKC first.

Historic England: a whole-building approach · St Quintin and Woodlands Neighbourhood Plan 2015–2030, July 2018 · RBKC: Article 4 direction no. 46, St Quintin streets, sealed 23 October 1984 · RBKC: Article 4 directions in conservation areas

A practical plan for the street and building

Working hours, deliveries and shared access

Bay suspensions, skips and scaffolds on RBKC streets

A resident parking bay can be suspended only on at least 10 full working days’ notice, and RBKC asks for any suspension to be applied for before the licences themselves. The applicant for a highways licence must be a registered company; RBKC reviews each application within 10 working days of payment, and nothing may start on the street until it has given written approval. Scaffolding and hoardings count as temporary structures, licensed three months at a time, while a skip on the road needs a licence issued for a month at a time, and roll-on, roll-off storage containers are not allowed anywhere in the borough.

RBKC: parking suspensions and highway licences · RBKC: skip licences · RBKC: temporary structure licences for scaffolds and hoardings · RBKC: apply for a highways licence

RBKC’s weekday hours and life at home during the work

RBKC’s Code of Construction Practice keeps building work to weekdays between 8am and 6pm, never at weekends or on public holidays, and allows demolition and concrete-breaking only in two weekday windows, 9am to noon and 2pm to 5.30pm. Sequence the work within those hours, let the neighbours on both sides know before the noisy stages, check whether the lease or the building’s regulations restrict hours further, and work out early whether you will live at home while the bathroom or kitchen is out of action.

RBKC: Code of Construction Practice and permitted working hours · Find the council for the property · LEASE: alterations and home improvements

A clear scope before a price

Plan your renovation budget and quotation

Price a North Kensington project from a measured survey and one written scope that every contractor quotes against. Show repairs, such as brickwork, sashes, roof coverings, front walls and railings, as lines of their own, separate from the rooms, and list anything that depends on an Article 4 answer, the landlord or a neighbour as a further separate item.

Existing condition

Survey the fabric before anyone prices it, so each line of the quotation describes something seen.

  • A measured survey with room-by-room photographs
  • Brickwork, sashes, roof and outrigger to repair
  • Areas of damp or movement to open up

Rooms, finishes and services

Write down every room’s scope, quantities included, so that all the quotations price identical work.

  • Layouts and named finishes, room by room
  • Pipework, heating, wiring and ventilation
  • Client-supplied items and when they arrive

Approvals and site arrangements

Name each consent, notice and licence the job requires, and who is responsible for it.

  • Article 4, listing and Neighbourhood Plan answers
  • Any Party Wall notices the Act requires
  • Bay suspension, skip and scaffold licences

Written allowances and sequence

Show open items as allowances, and order the work around RBKC’s weekday hours.

  • Allowances, exclusions and VAT in writing
  • Sash, door and sanitaryware lead times
  • Building control inspections and certificates

Nothing is added to a price simply because the home is in North Kensington, and the location does not fix the programme either. Ask each contractor to make clear whether VAT and any professional fees are included, and how defects found during opening up will be priced. One standalone bathroom means one quotation, written for that room only.

From an idea to a workable scope

Prepare your brief and renovation budget

  1. Describe the home

    Tell us the address in full and what the home is: a detached or paired villa, an Edwardian terrace house, a cottage or cottage-form flat on the inter-war estate, or a maisonette or flat in a larger house, and for a flat, its floor. Add pictures of the front, back and roof, any lightwell and any damp, and say which rooms are to change.

  2. Collect the papers

    Find the papers that already answer questions: the title register and, for a flat or maisonette, the lease and any building rules; decision notices and drawings from earlier planning or listed building consent applications; and completion certificates issued by building control. Say which of RBKC’s Article 4 table, its conservation area map, the national list and the Neighbourhood Plan you have checked, and point out any tree near the work.

  3. Keep decided and open items apart

    Keep two lists: what is decided, such as repairs you know about and finishes you have chosen, and what still depends on an engineer, a drainage survey, the landlord or RBKC. Each item on the second list then becomes a written allowance that every quotation prices on the same basis.

  4. Name who does what, and when

    Put a name against every consent application, notice, licence and inspection. Plan deliveries to match any bay suspension and RBKC’s weekday working hours, let us know if you mean to live in the home during the work, and settle how changes to the scope will be recorded and what the handover file will contain.

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

Discuss your North Kensington project

Our Hampstead base, serving North Kensington

Talk to our Finchley Road studio

Our studio is in Hampstead on Finchley Road, at NW3 6DN. We serve North Kensington 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 North Kensington: practical answers

Do you renovate a single bathroom in North Kensington as a standalone job?

Yes. A bathroom on its own is a complete job for us, whether it serves a villa, an Edwardian terrace house, a cottage-estate maisonette or a flat. To scope it we look first at the soil stack and the floor build-up, so photographs of the room, with a note of its size, its floor and any second bathroom you can use during the work, are a good start.

How do I tell whether my North Kensington street falls in a conservation area?

Check the full address on RBKC’s maps rather than relying on the postcode. The Oxford Gardens - St Quintin conservation area takes in streets including Oxford Gardens, Bassett Road, Cambridge Gardens and the Edwardian St Quintin streets, and was extended in 2002 and 2021. RBKC also has appraisals for the Colville, Avondale and Avondale Park Gardens conservation areas, and its draft appraisal for the Kensal Green Cemetery conservation area places it beside conservation areas in Hammersmith and Fulham and Brent.

RBKC: Oxford Gardens conservation area designation map, 2021 · RBKC: Oxford Gardens - St Quintin conservation area appraisal, consultation draft, October 2018 · RBKC: Article 4 directions in conservation areas · RBKC: Colville conservation area appraisal, adopted 17 February 2015 · RBKC: Avondale and Avondale Park Gardens conservation area appraisal, adopted 14 December 2015 · RBKC: Kensal Green Cemetery conservation area appraisal, draft, May 2017 · Find the council for the property

Which Article 4 directions and listed buildings matter in North Kensington?

RBKC’s table lists, among others, Directions 46 and 62 for numbers in the Edwardian St Quintin streets, where Direction 46 covers alterations to street-facing elevations and to the roof of the original house; Direction 69 for front hard surfaces at numbers in streets including Bassett Road, Cambridge Gardens and Oxford Gardens; and Direction 88, a 1979 Hammersmith and Fulham direction on rear extensions and outbuildings at numbers in Brewster Gardens and Bracewell Road. Basements anywhere in the borough come under a separate direction. Listed buildings here range from St Charles’ Hospital to Trellick Tower.

RBKC: Article 4 directions in conservation areas · RBKC: Article 4 direction no. 46, St Quintin streets, sealed 23 October 1984 · RBKC: Article 4 direction no. 69, front hard surfaces, confirmed 28 April 1997 · RBKC: Article 4 direction no. 88, made by Hammersmith and Fulham for Brewster Gardens and Bracewell Road, dated 13 November 1979 · RBKC: borough-wide basement Article 4 direction, confirmed 2 March 2016 · Planning Data: St Charles’ Hospital, Grade II · Planning Data: Trellick Tower, Cheltenham Estate, Grade II* · Historic England: listed-building consent

What should I check before replacing sashes or glazing?

Check the policy and the controls at the address. The 2018 Neighbourhood Plan records that RBKC’s conservation policies then in force did not permit replacements that made a material difference to a window’s appearance, plastic or PVC frames included, and required sash windows to be in wood; ask RBKC how the Local Plan 2024 treats yours. At its addresses, Direction 46 removes householder rights for alterations to elevations fronting a highway; householder permitted development rights do not extend to flats; and any window change affecting a listed building’s special interest needs listed building consent.

St Quintin and Woodlands Neighbourhood Plan 2015–2030, July 2018 · RBKC: Article 4 direction no. 46, St Quintin streets, sealed 23 October 1984 · Householder permitted development technical guidance · Historic England: listed-building consent · RBKC: Local Plan 2024 adoption statement

Do I need the landlord’s consent to change my flat’s layout?

The lease decides. If it makes an alteration subject to the landlord’s written consent, LEASE says the consent has to be obtained before anything starts. Purely internal work is generally not development, but flats have no Part 1 householder rights for outside changes, listed building consent can reach internal work in a listed building, and a new bathroom with plumbing may still need Building Regulations approval.

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

Can I take out a wall or move the bathroom to another room?

That depends on the wall’s structural role and where the waste can run. Have a structural engineer check what loads the wall carries and the direction of the joists around it; for a bathroom, check the fall to the soil stack, which in a flat may serve the homes above and below. Work to a party wall can need notice under the Party Wall Act, a flat’s lease may call for consent, a listed building may need listed building consent, and a new bathroom may need Building Regulations approval.

When Building Regulations approval is needed · Party-wall work requiring notice · LEASE: alterations and home improvements · Historic England: listed-building consent

Can I dig out a basement or deepen the lower floor I have?

Not as permitted development. Under RBKC’s borough-wide direction, in force since 28 April 2016, development below a house or its curtilage, whether a basement, a lightwell or anything else, needs a planning application. The Neighbourhood Plan counted 50 properties in the red-brick St Quintin streets, as at 2015, where basements had been built or approved, and records that RBKC then had a policy for the conservation area against railings round front lightwells unless a semi-basement was original. Re-fitting the lower floor you already have is a separate question from digging a new one.

RBKC: borough-wide basement Article 4 direction, confirmed 2 March 2016 · St Quintin and Woodlands Neighbourhood Plan 2015–2030, July 2018

Which days and times are builders allowed to work in North Kensington?

Builders working under Kensington and Chelsea’s code may start at 8am and must stop by 6pm, Monday to Friday, and may not work at weekends or on public holidays. RBKC treats demolition and concrete-breaking as high-impact activities and confines them to 9am to noon and 2pm to 5.30pm on those weekdays. These hours apply only where Kensington and Chelsea is the council, so settle that from the full address first; a lease or a block’s regulations can narrow them further.

RBKC: Code of Construction Practice and permitted working hours · Find the council for the property · LEASE: alterations and home improvements

What should I look for when comparing quotations?

Ask every contractor to price one written scope, then read the quotations side by side: room work, repairs to brickwork, sashes and roofs, allowances for what opening up may reveal, exclusions and VAT. Then compare how each deals with street licences, protecting a shared hall or stair, any conditions the landlord sets and RBKC’s rule against weekend work. The postcode itself should not appear as a reason for extra cost or a promised finish date.

Where is your studio, and what goes in a first enquiry?

Our studio is at Unit 3, Palace Court, 250 Finchley Road, London NW3 6DN, and we serve North Kensington from this office. To start, send a few photographs with the full address, a note of the rooms to be changed and the kind of home: a villa, an Edwardian terrace house, a cottage-estate home or a flat. A lease, earlier drawings or planning papers help if you have them, and so does a note of your budget priorities.

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Guides for your property and project

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

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I would like to thank Ross and his team for their consistent commitment to quality and their unerring reliability. They delivered our property to specification and on time, proving to be an extremely effective, experienced, and proactive contractor.

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James WardInvestment Director, Belgravia
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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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Cirus RehmanFinance Director, Grosvenor Street, Mayfair
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A company where you get value for your money while at the same time achieving excellent quality. Their work is carried out on time and within budget. We've worked with them on multiple projects and they never disappoint.

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