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Stamford Brook W6 · Flat refurbishment

Flat refurbishment in Stamford Brook

Mansion blocks by the common and flats in older houses

Hounslow’s appraisal describes blocks of flats along Stamford Brook Avenue and at its Goldhawk Road end; on Hammersmith and Fulham’s stretch of Stamford Brook Road, flats have been formed inside houses. A flat refit here depends on the lease, any landlord and the council for the address. This page sets out what the councils’ documents say about the blocks, about converted houses and about sound and fire between homes.

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Flat refurbishment in Stamford Brook at a glance

Hounslow’s appraisal names one threat aimed at the flats: they are visible landmarks because of their height and rooflines, and alterations to these buildings should be in keeping. It also notes that the sides and rears of some blocks can be seen from adjoining streets and are often surprisingly detailed, some with wrought iron balconies running the height of each block, so work at the back is on show too. Inside, a flat’s lease and its landlord decide much of what you may change, and in a converted house on Hammersmith and Fulham’s stretch of Stamford Brook Road, that council’s rules apply instead of Hounslow’s.

Hounslow: Stamford Brook Conservation Area Appraisal, adopted January 2021 · LEASE: alterations and home improvements · LBHF: Local Plan, adopted 28 February 2018

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

Approved guide prices

What does a flat refurbishment cost in Stamford Brook?

A flat refurbishment in Stamford Brook runs £900–£1,700/sqm excluding VAT, and a full two-bedroom refurbishment typically lands between £60,000 and £110,000. Most programmes take 16–32 weeks on site. A written scope and site assessment are needed before any project price can be fixed.

Scope of workGuide rateTypical total
Full flat refurbishment (2-bed)£900–£1,700/sqm£60,000–£110,000
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 blocks along Stamford Brook Avenue and the flats in houses

Hounslow’s appraisal describes its mansion blocks group by group, while Hammersmith and Fulham’s register shows how flats came about inside houses on Stamford Brook Road. Which rules apply depends on the building, not the postcode.

On Stamford Brook Avenue, only the central section of the north block of the Ranelagh Gardens group reaches five storeys, the appraisal notes; its flanking sections are of four, and the south block is of four and then three storeys, so the group is asymmetrical. Ranelagh Gardens and Hauteville Court Gardens frame the views along the avenue towards the common, and the original design set out to relate the blocks to the scale of their surroundings. The appraisal’s schedule lists Hauteville Court Gardens under both South Side and Stamford Brook Avenue, so check how your own address is listed.

Hounslow: Stamford Brook Conservation Area Appraisal, adopted January 2021

At the south end of the avenue, by its junction with Goldhawk Road, stand Linkenholt Mansions and Stamford Brook Mansions, which the appraisal says share several design elements yet remain distinct. Hammersmith and Fulham’s register records that Hounslow consulted it in 2014 on a roof extension to Linkenholt Mansions forming a two-bedroom flat, with no decision shown. In February 2023 Hounslow’s Planning Committee resolved to approve a scheme to extend one of the two Linkenholt blocks and add flats, subject to conditions and a legal agreement. A resolution is not an issued permission.

Hounslow: Stamford Brook Conservation Area Appraisal, adopted January 2021 · LBHF: planning, building control and licensing applications search · Hounslow: search planning applications (the council’s route to its planning register)

On Hammersmith and Fulham’s stretch of the road, the register records certificates of lawfulness for flats in two houses: a whole building as two self-contained flats in 2011, and a first floor as two flats in 2005. A certificate confirms an existing use as lawful; it does not permit a new conversion. In 1984 the council approved continued use of a ground floor there as a one-bedroom flat, and in 1985 refused a first-floor one-bedroom flat and bedsitter. In 2026 it approved a timber outbuilding for a ground-floor flat in a house there.

LBHF: planning, building control and licensing applications search

Permissions and local rules

Consents for a flat: the lease, the landlord and the council

When Hounslow Council is the landlord

What must a Hounslow council leaseholder do before work starts?

Check your lease to see who your landlord is. If it is Hounslow Council, its leaseholder page says you need its written permission before altering the flat, and counts changing the internal layout, a new central heating system and altering services for a new kitchen or bathroom as structural alterations. That consent comes on top of any planning permission or building control approval the work needs. The council says it will not withhold consent without good reason, though the lease may need to be varied to include the alteration.

Hounslow: making alterations to your home as a council leaseholder

Windows, floors and the building’s fabric

Who controls the windows and the floor structure?

Hounslow’s guidance for its own leaseholders says it will not consent to replacing windows, because under the lease the frames are owned and maintained by the freeholder, and that floorboards and tiles are the leaseholder’s while joists, wall plates and the concrete floor slab are the council’s. Under a private freeholder, your lease decides. For a flat on Hammersmith and Fulham’s side, replacement windows need no planning permission if they are identical like-for-like in appearance and material, permission is likely where they differ, and the freeholder’s permission may still be needed to change the exterior.

Hounslow: making alterations to your home as a council leaseholder · Hounslow: council leaseholders’ repair responsibilities (general guidance; the individual lease decides) · LBHF climate change and planning: replacement double and triple glazing windows

Converting a house, or reinstating one

What do the councils expect when a house is divided?

For a Hounslow house, Policy SC6 of the 2015 Local Plan expects at least 130 square metres of net original floor area before conversion is considered, will not support a house that reaches it only through earlier extensions or outbuildings, and expects a family-sized unit at ground floor unless the location is not considered suitable for families. Hammersmith and Fulham’s 2018 Local Plan supports conversions that increase high-quality family-size homes, particularly where a family house is reinstated, and its SPD sets a minimum of 32.5 square metres for a converted flat with a separate bedroom.

Hounslow Local Plan 2015–2030, Volume One · LBHF Local Plan 2018: policy document · LBHF Planning Guidance SPD, adopted 28 February 2018

Sound and fire between flats

What do the councils say about noise and fire separation?

Hammersmith and Fulham’s SPD deems the Building Regulations usually adequate on sound, but says poor installation and inappropriate stacking cause frequent complaints in conversions, so it expects better, and calls good impact sound insulation essential in apartment blocks given the fashion for hardwood floors. Hounslow’s Policy EQ5 expects conversions to limit noise through insulation and by stacking rooms of similar use. In Hounslow’s council buildings, flat entrance doors count as crucial to fire compartmentation, and in buildings below 11 metres GOV.UK says the responsible person must make sure all fire doors, flat entrance doors included, can give adequate protection.

LBHF Planning Guidance SPD, adopted 28 February 2018 · Hounslow Local Plan 2015–2030, Volume One · Hounslow: flat entrance fire door upgrades in council buildings · GOV.UK: Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022, fact sheet on fire doors (regulation 10)

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

What the work covers

What a flat refurbishment here covers

Layout and services inside the flat

Rewiring, heating, the kitchen and the bathroom are usually renewed together, with any change to walls agreed with the freeholder or landlord first. In a mansion block, find out which walls carry the floors above and which pipes and flues serve other flats before the layout is fixed, and keep new service runs inside the flat where you can.

Floors and the flat below

If you want hard floors, allow for an acoustic layer beneath them and read what the lease says about floor coverings. Lifting boards is also the time to look at the joists and the ceiling below, and to record anything the managing agent should know before the floor is closed again.

Windows, balconies and the entrance door

On some blocks the sash windows and balconies show from behind as well as from the street. Repair before replacing, find out who owns the frames and the balcony under the lease, and make sure a new or upgraded entrance door meets the fire rating the building’s responsible person sets. For its own buildings Hounslow states FD30s, 44 mm solid doors with intumescent strips.

Hounslow: flat entrance fire door upgrades in council buildings

How we work

How we run a Stamford Brook flat refurbishment

  1. First visit

    We see the flat, then the entrance, stairs or lift that serve it.

  2. Lease and consents

    We go through the lease’s consent requirements with you and the managing agent at the start.

  3. Survey and design

    Drainage and services are traced on site. Our own architects and structural engineers design the layout and any structural change around those routes, and any new external vent or window is checked for planning.

  4. Price and contract

    A fixed written price and a JCT contract follow the survey, scope and specification. The price names its allowances and exclusions, with consent fees and any common-parts work shown separately.

  5. Working in the building

    Common parts are protected and their condition recorded; deliveries keep to the building’s rules, and noisy work to those rules and the council’s permitted hours; key decisions go to a director.

  6. Handover

    Commissioning, drawings, certificates and any managing-agent close-out. Completed work carries a 12-month defects-rectification period under the JCT contract terms.

Real projects, clearly located

Examples of our flat refurbishment work elsewhere in London

None of these projects is in Stamford Brook. 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. The lease and who your landlord is

    Send the lease, or at least its alterations and repair clauses, and tell us who the freeholder and managing agent are. If Hounslow Council is your landlord, say so: its application asks, among other things, for clear before-and-after sketches and your contractor’s contact details.

  2. The block and where the flat sits

    Name the block and the floor, and describe what lies above and below. Photographs of the windows, balcony, entrance door and any shared pipes inside the flat help separate what belongs to the flat from what belongs to the building.

  3. What you want changed

    List the rooms and what is wrong with each now, and mark anything that would change the outside, such as windows, vents or a balcony door. Keep wishes that depend on someone else’s consent apart from work that stays inside the flat.

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

Flat refurbishment in Stamford Brook: questions

Does Hounslow Council own Stamford Brook Mansions?

The council pages we rely on do not say who owns the block or any flat in it. Hounslow’s estate information page lists Stamford Brook Mansions and Stamford Brook Avenue among the places its estate inspections cover, with a housing and tenancy officer for the estate, which shows only that its housing service inspects there. Your lease and title tell you who your landlord is.

Hounslow: Stamford Brook and British Grove estates, estate information and inspection schedule

My flat is in a converted house on Stamford Brook Road: what should I check?

Ask for the conversion’s planning history, any certificate of lawfulness, the lease plan and building control sign-off for earlier work. If the house is listed, ask Hammersmith and Fulham whether the internal changes you have in mind need listed building consent. Note also whether Direction No. 1 or No. 4 names the house number, and ask the council how that applies to a building in flats.

LBHF: statutory listed buildings · LBHF: properties affected by Article 4 directions, list last amended 1 October 2011

Can a flat without a garden have a heat pump?

Hounslow’s home retrofit guide, citing the government’s Electrification of Heat demonstration project, says flats without outdoor space can have a heat pump installed inside that draws air through a duct, if the heat load is small enough. For a flat on Hammersmith and Fulham’s side, its guidance says planning permission is needed, among other cases, where the unit including its housing exceeds 0.6 cubic metres. A duct or unit changes the outside, so ask the freeholder too.

Hounslow: improving the sustainability of your home, heat pumps (undated guidance) · LBHF climate change and planning: air source heat pumps

Can I change or add a balcony on a mansion block?

Expect a planning application, and ask the freeholder first. Hounslow’s Part A5 says balconies and roof terraces need planning permission and that roof terraces will normally be refused because of loss of privacy, and in conservation areas new or enlarged terraces or balconies will normally be refused. Where a block keeps its original balconies, repair them on the evidence of what survives rather than redesigning them.

Hounslow SPD Part A5: Residential Extension Guidelines, May 2024

What if a previous owner altered the flat without consent?

If Hounslow Council is your landlord, its leaseholder page says the current leaseholder is liable for the breach and must take action to remedy it, which may mean applying for retrospective consent or reinstating the property to its original condition. With a private freeholder, the lease sets the position. Either way, ask your solicitor about earlier works when you buy, and raise anything doubtful before new work starts.

Hounslow: making alterations to your home as a council leaseholder

How much does a flat refurbishment cost in Stamford Brook?

Guide rates in Stamford Brook are £900–£1,700/sqm excluding VAT, with a full two-bedroom refurbishment typically between £60,000 and £110,000, over a 16–32 weeks programme. A written scope and site assessment come before any fixed price.

Book a free feasibility visit

Talk to us about your Stamford Brook flat

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

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

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