Basement conversion in Ravenscourt Park

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

The council’s profile, approved on 2 July 1997, calls the park a remnant of the former grounds of the manor of Palingswick, surrounded by a street layout that has evolved from the 18th century, and the council’s park page says the lake at its centre, fed by Stamford Brook, was part of the manor’s moat. George Scott, owner of Ravenscourt House and Park, encouraged house building on the park’s sides while keeping strong control over their style: a plan of 1830 shows 78 houses within the park, and by 1845 there were 330.

On the east side, Ravenscourt Road is a relatively wide street of terraces and semi-detached villas, and the rear of its western side is highly visible from the park. Nos. 41–93 form a three-storey terrace with basements whose stucco detailing, frontage walls and piers the profile singles out, while Nos. 86–98 (even) and 95–101 (odd) are mid-Victorian two-storey pairs in stock brick with Doric-columned porches. Paddenswick Road has terraces and paired villas of 1830–1860 in stock brick with stucco detailing, and the profile calls their front gardens particularly important to their mature and relaxed character.

The profile describes the listed houses of Ravenscourt Gardens as two-storey stuccoed semi-detached houses of the mid to late 18th century whose original front railings have been removed, and Stamford Court as dominating the corner of the site north of Ravenscourt Gardens. On the park’s west side, Ravenscourt Square is built on three sides and opens east into the park; most of its houses are stock brick, and No. 17 is a Gothic cottage of about 1840. Ravenscourt ward, which contains the park, had 3,077 dwellings in 2021, most of them flats or maisonettes.

Local design and consent context

First designated on 20 February 1974, the Ravenscourt and Starch Green Conservation Area was enlarged in September 1982, January 1990 and March 1991, and it appears as number 8 in the Local Plan’s table of conservation areas; the boundary changes that took effect on 13 November 2018 did not include it. The council’s Planning Applications and Transport Sub-Committee approved its character profile on 2 July 1997 as supplementary planning guidance, and the printed copy carries the date December 1999. The council publishes it in eight parts with a boundary map and warns that the profile’s lists of Article 4 directions and Buildings of Merit are not complete.

Separately, borough-wide Article 4 directions in place since April 2018 restrict permitted development rights for basement excavation, and the council says any basement excavation now needs planning permission.

Planning decisions rest on the Local Plan adopted on 28 February 2018. It classes the park as a District Park of 13.60 hectares, 8.55 hectares of it a nature conservation area of borough-wide importance. Policy DC4 expects an alteration or extension to be subservient, never dominating the parent building in bulk, scale, materials or design, and Policy DC11 limits a new or extended basement to one storey except on large sites. The council has also consulted on a draft replacement plan, but a draft is not adopted policy, so ask the council what stage it has reached.

Access and site planning

Work out early where a skip, a scaffold or a delivery vehicle can stand. Hammersmith and Fulham accepts skip, scaffold and building-material licence applications only from the firms concerned, not from residents. A skip licence lasts 14 days at minimum and a skip may never sit on the footpath; a scaffold licence lasts a month at minimum and must keep a footway at least 1.2 metres clear; and materials or plant left on the road need a building contractor’s licence and can go on the carriageway only. To suspend up to six parking bays for up to three days, allow at least eight days’ notice, counting Saturdays and Sundays.

Continue planning

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

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