Basement conversion in Teddington

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

Teddington Lock Conservation Area was designated in 1977 and spans both banks of the Thames, with most development on the Teddington side and the Ham bank keeping its rural character. Its appraisal, adopted on 30 March 2023, takes in part of the High Street and residential streets such as Twickenham Road, Manor Road and Kingston Road. The lock, built in 1811 and rebuilt in stone in 1857, marks the end of the tidal Thames. At the eastern end of Ferry Road, modest two-storey cottages stand beside four-storey late Victorian semi-detached houses and a timber-clad boathouse.

Broom Water Conservation Area, designated on 15 March 1977, is formed around a river inlet between Broom Road and the Thames, and each house on Broom Water and Broom Water West has direct access to the creek and moorings. The 2017 guidance records the 21 houses on Broom Water as completed in 1899, Broom Water West built in phases, up to No. 12 by about 1907 and Nos. 14 and 16 by 1915, and its remaining houses between 1930 and 1965. The neighbouring Broom Road and Kingston Road character area has houses in pairs or small groups.

Teddington is a ward, but so is Hampton Wick & South Teddington, and a TW11 postcode does not settle the council, the ward, the conservation area, the listing or the Article 4 position. Broom Water abuts the borough’s eastern boundary, and Kingston lies in the neighbouring borough beyond Hampton Wick. Broom Road shows why the street name is no guide: its north-west end, including 4–10, is in Teddington Lock Conservation Area, the houses on its south-west side either side of Atbara Road are in Broom Water Conservation Area, and Broom House on the King Edwards Grove corner is in King Edwards Grove Conservation Area. Check the council’s map, the list, the Article 4 directions, the title or lease and the planning history.

Local design and consent context

The council’s own statement for each of the other areas gives these details. Park Road (No. 22), designated on 10 December 1974, has substantial 18th-century detached houses in mature grounds on its west side; The Grove (No. 26), from 15 March 1977, is a planned estate that the Royal Dutch Shell Co built for its employees after a house there was demolished in the 1920s; Blackmore’s Grove (No. 39), from 1982, is a tightly packed group of two-storey terraced cottages with a few detached and semi-detached houses; Broom Water (No. 28) was extended in 2003 and 2005. Broad Street (No. 84), Church Road (No. 85), Royal Road (No. 81), Wick Road (No. 83) and King Edwards Grove (No. 80) all date from 20 February 2019.

Teddington’s current plan is the Richmond Local Plan 2024–2039, adopted on 7 October 2025, though the text online is an interim version still to receive minor modifications. Its Teddington and Hampton Wick strategy, PBS2, notes the Urban Design Study’s finding that Teddington Residential has uniform street patterns, consistent building quality and prevalent green infrastructure, with a high sensitivity to change, and sets the strategy of conserving its existing character.

The Hampton Wick and Teddington Village Planning Guidance SPD was adopted on 30 June 2017, prepared in light of the existing and emerging Local Plan policy of that time, and its character areas include Teddington Lock, the High Street, Broom Road and Kingston Road, and Broom Water. The 2023 appraisals refer front-garden parking questions to a Transport SPD; the council’s list now shows a Transport SPD adopted on 12 June 2026. For roofs, the borough-wide House Extensions and External Alterations SPD of 1 June 2015 is against turning a hip into a gable, finds hipped or gabled dormers often preferable to a flat-roofed one and suggests rooflights as another option.

Access and site planning

On a compact street such as Watts Lane, or above a shop on the High Street, decide early where materials, a skip and any scaffold can stand. Richmond grants skip licences for a path or road only to registered skip companies with public liability insurance, for no more than three weeks; if the skip sits in a controlled parking bay, that bay must be suspended too. For scaffolding, hoardings or materials, a site meeting with an Inspection and Enforcement Officer comes before any licence is issued, and the council’s silence never counts as consent. Allow at least 10 working days’ notice for a bay suspension, which may be enforced outside controlled hours.

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

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