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Ravenscourt Park W6 · House refurbishment

House refurbishment in Ravenscourt Park

Terraces and villas behind the park’s edge, street by street

Behind the houses that face the park lie streets with controls of their own. This page covers Nos. 2-20 Paddenswick Road, Dorville Crescent, Wingate Road and Wellesley Avenue in the Ravenscourt and Starch Green Conservation Area, and the separate Westcroft Square Conservation Area near King Street: what the houses are, which directions reach their outsides, and what the council has decided on roofs, rear additions and lower floors there.

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House refurbishment in Ravenscourt Park at a glance

Which outside works need permission here depends on more than a street list. The legal text of Direction No. 1, dated 8 May 1979, applies its Part 1 controls (front roof and dormer changes, alterations to rear roof coverings and painting bare brickwork) to all residential properties with permitted development rights inside the conservation area boundary on its 1979 plan. The council’s summary names houses on Paddenswick Road, Dorville Crescent, Wellesley Avenue and Wingate Road, but it is not the legal text, and land added in 1982, 1990 and 1991 is not shown inside that plan. Check the address with the council.

LBHF: Ravenscourt and Starch Green (No. 1) Article 4 direction summary · LBHF: Ravenscourt and Starch Green Conservation Area character profile, designation and character

For the whole area, including conservation areas, permissions and working hours, read our Ravenscourt Park renovation guide.

Approved guide prices

What does a house refurbishment cost in Ravenscourt Park?

Cost in Ravenscourt Park depends on depth of work. A cosmetic refurbishment that keeps the existing layout runs £650–£1,250/sqm (typically £90,000–£180,000), while a back-to-brick renovation runs £2,250–£3,250/sqm (typically £275,000–£475,000), excluding VAT. A written scope and site assessment are needed before any project price can be fixed.

Scope of workGuide rateTypical total
Cosmetic — existing layout retained£650–£1,250/sqm£90,000–£180,000
Back-to-brick renovation£2,250–£3,250/sqm£275,000–£475,000
Typical programme16–32 weeks on site

Guide rates exclude VAT and are set by depth of work, not by postcode. Compare scopes in our London refurbishment cost-per-square-metre guide or try the cost calculator.

The buildings

The houses behind the park, street by street

The 1997 Ravenscourt and Starch Green profile and the 1998 Westcroft Square profile describe these streets house type by house type. They describe the houses as they were then, so a survey confirms what survives.

Nos. 2-20 Paddenswick Road are, in the profile’s words, generally three-storey mid-Victorian terraced properties with basements, built of stock brick with painted stone dressings to the bay windows and front doors. Dorville Crescent has two faces: on its north side, two-storey late Victorian terraces in red brick with decorative stucco bays and painted stonework; on its south side, mainly three-storey terraces with Corinthian capitals and painted stone reveals to the bays. On both streets the painted dressings are part of the recorded character, so note their condition before outside work is scoped.

LBHF: Ravenscourt and Starch Green Conservation Area character profile, printed pages 8 to 12

Wellington Terrace, 2-34 (even) Wingate Road, is a stuccoed terrace whose decorative parapet is incomplete; the other houses are paired villas in stock brick and stucco, and the profile says their shallow pitched roofs have occasionally been compromised by insensitive dormers. The conservation area boundary runs through Wingate Road, so confirm which side a house is on. The council’s summary of Direction No. 1 also lists Wellesley Avenue and Holly Villas, noting that one villa is now 153 Dalling Road; that road is shared with the Bradmore Conservation Area, on our Brackenbury Village page, so check the address.

LBHF: Ravenscourt and Starch Green Conservation Area character profile, printed pages 8 to 12 · LBHF: Ravenscourt and Starch Green Conservation Area character profile, designation and character · LBHF: Ravenscourt and Starch Green (No. 1) Article 4 direction summary

The separate Westcroft Square Conservation Area is built around identical terraces of three storeys over a semi-basement, with white-painted stucco to the basement and ground floor; its 2001 profile found few alterations to the street fronts, though several curved bay window heads had been made square. The backs are on show: there are open views from Goldhawk Road to the rear of the western terrace, and the other rears are seen from the square and Hamlet Gardens. On its Goldhawk Road side, Nos. 397-399 are a Grade II listed pair of early to mid 19th-century two-storey stuccoed houses with basements.

LBHF: Westcroft Square Conservation Area character profile, designation · LBHF: Westcroft Square Conservation Area character profile, approved 12 October 1998, February 2001 edition, part 3 (character) · Planning Data: 397 and 399 Goldhawk Road, Grade II, list entry 1079818

Permissions and local rules

Directions, roofs, rears and lower floors here

Wellington Terrace’s own direction

What does Direction No. 2 control?

Direction No. 2, headed “Wellington Terrace” and dated 22 February 1982, covers 2-34 (even) Wingate Road. It requires planning permission for enlarging, improving or otherwise altering these houses where the work would alter their external frontal appearance, and for porches outside the front doors. Controls on painting the front and on front gates, fences and walls appear in the draft but are struck through, so they do not form part of it. For a house in that terrace, ask the council before any change that would show on the front, porch included.

LBHF: Ravenscourt and Starch Green (No. 2) Article 4 direction, Wellington Terrace, dated 22 February 1982

Rear additions on Ravenscourt Road

Which houses does the rear-extension control cover?

The legal schedule of Direction No. 1 applies its control on rear extensions, including the rear roof, to 15-19 (odd) and 41-103 (odd) Ravenscourt Road; the council’s summary says 41 to 105, so the owner of No. 105 should ask which applies. The 2018 Planning Guidance SPD says rear and side extensions in conservation areas should have regard to existing building patterns and respect the symmetry of original additions in terraces, and that enlarging back additions further, particularly above ground level, will generally be resisted where the space between them is already at the margins of what is acceptable.

LBHF: Ravenscourt and Starch Green (No. 1) Article 4 direction summary · LBHF Planning Guidance SPD, adopted 28 February 2018

Roof extensions the council refused

What has happened to roof proposals nearby?

A dormer on the front roof slope of a house on Wingate Road was refused in 2010, and the appeal dismissed. In the Westcroft Square Conservation Area, front and rear roof extensions raising the ridge, with brick gable ends, across a group of houses were refused in 2021, and a revised scheme with hip-to-gable ends and side dormers in 2023; that appeal was dismissed too. The register gives no reasons, and each is one decision. The 2018 SPD treats ridge and front-slope changes as unacceptable where they harm a terrace’s uniformity or a building’s proportions.

LBHF: planning, building control and licensing applications search · LBHF Planning Guidance SPD, adopted 28 February 2018

Lower floors, before and after 2018

How have basements been decided here?

In 2015 the council granted planning permission for new basements with front-garden lightwells at a house on Dorville Crescent and one on Paddenswick Road, and in 2017 at a house on Wingate Road with front, side and rear lightwells, before the borough-wide basement direction and the 2018 Local Plan. In 2025 a house on Ravenscourt Road was approved for excavating part of its rear garden, with rear extensions from lower ground floor upwards. Each is one decision. Policy DC11 now permits a new or extended basement only where, among other tests, front or side lightwells are as discreet as possible.

LBHF: planning, building control and licensing applications search · LBHF Local Plan 2018: policy document

Working hours, skips, parking and the conservation area maps for the whole area are in our Ravenscourt Park guide. Local guidance checked ; requirements depend on the address, the building and the complete proposal.

What the work covers

What a whole-house refurbishment takes in here

Brick fronts, paint and front walls

The Ravenscourt and Starch Green profile asks that brick elevations and chimney stacks be maintained and repointed where needed, and that where a brick house has been painted, advice is sought about removing the paint, or it is repainted a brick colour matching the original. The low brick walls of many late 19th-century houses help unite the terraces and should be kept in good condition, it says, though several properties, particularly along Goldhawk Road, have lost theirs. Streets north of it are on our Shepherd’s Bush page: check the address.

LBHF: Ravenscourt and Starch Green Conservation Area character profile, design guidelines, printed pages 20 to 24

Groundwater and the lower floor

Hammersmith and Fulham’s Strategic Flood Risk Assessment of 2016, published as evidence, not policy, says sand and gravel lie over the London Clay from Goldhawk Road towards the Thames and may hold a perched water table, so after heavy rain localised groundwater flooding may occur in excavations and basements. The council’s 2015 surface water study shows a band of increased potential for elevated groundwater across the park itself. Neither speaks for an address, but Policy CC3 says any development with a subterranean element must give details of its structural waterproofing.

LBHF: Strategic Flood Risk Assessment, final, December 2016 (evidence document) · LBHF: Updated Surface Water Management Plan, July 2015 (modelling evidence, not policy) · LBHF Local Plan 2018: policy document

Sashes, glazing and heat pumps

Where timber sashes or casements survive, the council’s retrofit pages describe slim double-glazed units that fit into existing frames without losing their character. Replacing a house’s windows is not generally a planning matter unless the frame material changes, but may become one where an Article 4 direction removes the right, and a listed house also needs listed building consent. A heat pump does not normally need permission, except in cases that include one sitting, in a conservation area, on a wall or roof facing onto a highway.

LBHF climate change and planning: replacement double and triple glazing windows · LBHF climate change and planning: air source heat pumps

How we work

How we run a Ravenscourt Park house refurbishment

  1. Free feasibility visit

    We walk round the house with you and discuss what is feasible.

  2. Survey

    Rooms, levels and features to keep are measured, with opening-up or asbestos checks where needed.

  3. Design and consents

    Our own architects and structural engineers design the layout and structural openings, plan the service routes with them, and identify which consents and party wall notices apply.

  4. Price and contract

    A fixed written price and a JCT contract follow the survey, scope and specification. It records allowances, exclusions and how changes are priced.

  5. On site

    Work is inspected before it is covered, and a director reviews key decisions.

  6. Handover

    Testing, commissioning and snagging. Completed work carries a 12-month defects-rectification period under the JCT contract terms.

Real projects, clearly located

Examples of our house refurbishment work elsewhere in London

None of these projects is in Ravenscourt Park. Each card names where the work was done, so you can judge the finish and the approach before you brief your own.

Your brief

Before you ask for a quotation

  1. Place the house on the right plan

    Ask the council whether the house lies inside Direction No. 1’s 1979 plan boundary, and whether it is one of 2-34 (even) Wingate Road. Note which side of Goldhawk Road, and of the Wingate Road boundary, it stands on, or whether it is in Westcroft Square, so every quotation starts from the same set of controls.

  2. Read the street’s planning record

    Search the council’s planning register for your house and its immediate neighbours. Roof, basement and rear-addition decisions nearby show what owners have asked for and what was refused, though each was decided on its own merits. Send us any decision notices you already hold, with drawings of earlier extensions.

  3. Decide on the roof and the lower floor first

    Settle early whether the roof will change at all and whether the lower floor will be dug out, waterproofed or left as it is. Each brings its own application, survey and structural questions, so room layouts and finishes should wait for those two answers.

Ready to take the next step? Send the address and a short outline of the work.

Book a free feasibility visit

Questions before you begin

House refurbishment in Ravenscourt Park: questions

Does any Article 4 direction cover a Westcroft Square house?

The Westcroft Square profile said in its 2001 edition that the conservation area had no Article 4 directions, and none named for Westcroft Square appears on the council’s current list. The borough-wide basement direction, in force since 26 April 2018, does reach it, as it reaches the whole borough outside the Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation area. Whether another direction now covers a particular house is not known, so ask the council. The profile also wants the railings around the square painted “invisible green”.

LBHF: Westcroft Square Conservation Area character profile, February 2001 edition, part 5 · LBHF: properties affected by Article 4 directions · LBHF: Article 4 directions, including the borough-wide basement direction · LBHF: Westcroft Square Conservation Area character profile, February 2001 edition, part 4 (design guidelines)

Can I turn a house split into flats back into a single home?

The adopted Local Plan supports conversions that increase the number of high quality family-size homes, particularly where a family house is reinstated. The register records such decisions here: a house of two flats on Ravenscourt Square was approved as a single family house in 2015, as was one on Paddenswick Road in 2021, and before the current plan, listed building consent was given in 1998 and 1999 to return listed Ravenscourt Gardens houses of two flats each to single houses. Each is one decision; ask the council.

LBHF Local Plan 2018: policy document · LBHF: planning, building control and licensing applications search

Can I add a roof terrace or build over the back addition?

Both appear in the register at single houses. At two houses on Dorville Crescent, in 2018 and 2024, the council approved a rear roof extension replacing an existing one, with a 1.7 metre obscured-glazed screen or balustrade around the back addition’s flat roof for use as a terrace. In the Westcroft Square Conservation Area, a second-floor rear extension on top of a house’s back addition was approved in 2019. The SPD says terraces likely to harm neighbours through noise or extra overlooking will not be granted permission, though sensitively designed screening may be acceptable.

LBHF: planning, building control and licensing applications search · LBHF Planning Guidance SPD, adopted 28 February 2018

How far can a rear extension go on these terraces?

The Ravenscourt and Starch Green profile’s broad guideline, covering its whole conservation area, says extensions should not visibly affect a terrace’s scale, rhythm and massing seen from the street or any public space, and should not be excessive. The 2018 SPD adds a measurable test: an extension should generally stay within a 45-degree angle measured from the rear boundary, at ground level if the neighbouring garden is shorter than 9 metres and at a height of 2 metres if it is longer; beyond those lines, on-site judgement becomes a determining factor.

LBHF: Ravenscourt and Starch Green Conservation Area character profile, design guidelines, printed pages 20 to 24 · LBHF Planning Guidance SPD, adopted 28 February 2018

What if earlier owners altered the house without approval?

For unapproved work started on or after 11 November 1985, Hammersmith and Fulham’s building control service will consider a regularisation application. Its guide lists loft conversions and structural changes, removing a chimney breast for instance, among the common alterations that the Building Regulations have to take into account, and says such work may need opening up so that it can be inspected. Raise any doubt about past work early, so the survey and the order of work allow for it.

LBHF: guide to building control applications

How much does a house refurbishment cost in Ravenscourt Park?

It depends on scope. In Ravenscourt Park, a cosmetic refurbishment keeping the existing layout runs £650–£1,250/sqm (typically £90,000–£180,000); a back-to-brick renovation runs £2,250–£3,250/sqm (typically £275,000–£475,000), excluding VAT. A written scope and site assessment come before any fixed price.

Book a free feasibility visit

Talk to us about your Ravenscourt Park house

Tell us the address and what you want to change in your Ravenscourt Park house. We reply within one working day, Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm.

Or call 020 7101 3168. We serve Ravenscourt Park from our studio at Unit 3, Palace Court, 250 Finchley Road, London NW3 6DN.

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