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West Kensington and Barons Court W14 · Bathroom renovation

Bathroom renovation in West Kensington and Barons Court

One room, from mansion-block flats to listed studio houses

A standalone bathroom is welcome here, whether it serves a mansion-block flat, a terrace house or one of the listed studio houses. This page sets out what Hammersmith and Fulham’s conservation profiles say about pipes, vents and flues on outside walls, the council’s listed building decisions on bathrooms at St Paul’s Studios, sewer flooding below ground, building control routes and help with an adapted bathroom.

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Serving West Kensington and Barons Court from our Hampstead studio · NW3 6DN
020 7101 3168

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Bathroom renovation in West Kensington and Barons Court at a glance

Here a bathroom’s waste and extract routes need planning before its fittings, because several of Hammersmith and Fulham’s profiles cover them. Those for Barons Court and for Fitzgeorge and Fitzjames ask for vents to be as inconspicuous as possible. Those for Barons Court, Queen’s Club Gardens and Olympia & Avonmore say gutters, rainwater pipes and soil pipes should be replaced, when necessary, in their original form and material, and that PVCu is inappropriate on buildings in conservation areas and should be discouraged. Confirm the conservation area and the council for your address, since W14 is used in Kensington and Chelsea too.

LBHF: Barons Court Conservation Area character profile, April 2005 edition, pages 21–32 · LBHF: Fitzgeorge and Fitzjames Conservation Area character profile, March 2000, pages 11 to 15 · LBHF: Queen’s Club Gardens Conservation Area character profile, approved 14 July 2004, updated October 2005 · LBHF: Olympia & Avonmore Conservation Area character profile, approved 10 July 2001, updated to May 2010 · Find the council for the property

For the whole area, including conservation areas, permissions and working hours, read our West Kensington and Barons Court renovation guide.

Approved guide prices

What does a bathroom renovation cost in West Kensington and Barons Court?

A typical bathroom renovation in West Kensington and Barons Court costs £10,000–£30,000 excluding VAT. The final price depends on the scope, the specification and the complexity of the room, and a fixed written price follows the visit and the design.

Scope of workTypical cost
Typical bathroom renovation£10,000–£30,000

The figure excludes VAT. A standalone bathroom gets its own room-specific quotation; try the cost calculator for a first figure.

The buildings

Listed studio houses, and bathrooms below ground

Two kinds of building ask most of a bathroom here: the listed studio houses built for artists, where consent reaches inside, and rooms at basement or semi-basement level, where the drains and the borough’s flood evidence come in.

Three of the listed buildings here were designed for artists: St Paul’s Studios, a Grade II terrace of studios designed in 1891 by Frederick Wheeler; the detached studio at 17 St Dunstan’s Road, built in 1891 by C. F. A. Voysey; and 22 and 22A Avonmore Road, a studio house of 1888-9 by James MacLaren, listed Grade II*. Hammersmith and Fulham points out that a listed building includes ‘any object or structure fixed to the building’, so ask the council about fixed fittings as well as walls and floors.

Planning Data: 135–149 Talgarth Road (St Paul’s Studios), Grade II, list entry 1079780 · LBHF: Barons Court Conservation Area character profile, April 2005 edition, pages 1–10 · Planning Data: 17 St Dunstan’s Road, Grade II, list entry 1261962 · LBHF: Barons Court Conservation Area character profile, April 2005 edition, pages 11–20 · Planning Data: 22 and 22A Avonmore Road, Grade II*, list entry 1079838 · LBHF: Olympia & Avonmore Conservation Area character profile, approved 10 July 2001, updated to May 2010 · LBHF: statutory listed buildings

Hammersmith and Fulham’s planning register shows listed building consent granted for bathroom work inside individual studio houses at St Paul’s Studios: for one of them in 1991, to alter a bathroom, including double glazing and blocking off a door; for another in 1996, for internal alterations that included installing bathrooms, new partitions and a kitchen, and later that year for internal alterations to its kitchen, bathroom and studio. Each was a decision on its own facts at its date, not a rule, so ask the council about your own plans.

LBHF: planning, building control and licensing applications search · Planning Data: 135–149 Talgarth Road (St Paul’s Studios), Grade II, list entry 1079780

Rooms below street level need a different check. Hammersmith and Fulham’s Strategic Flood Risk Assessment of December 2016, an evidence document rather than policy, says Flood Zone 2 covers an area similar to Flood Zone 3, with a few areas where it extends further, and gives West Kensington as one example. It draws no boundary for that name and places no street in it, so before a basement or lower-ground bathroom is designed, check the address on the GOV.UK flood map for planning.

LBHF: Strategic Flood Risk Assessment, final, December 2016 (evidence document)

Permissions and local rules

Pipes, vents and drains: local checks for a bathroom

Vents in Queen’s Club Gardens

Can a new extract vent go on a mansion block’s wall?

The Queen’s Club Gardens profile of 2004, updated in 2005, goes further than the Barons Court and Fitzgeorge and Fitzjames profiles: modern additions such as satellite dishes, aerials, roof-lights and vents should be as inconspicuous as possible, and they will not be permitted where they would be visually obtrusive and where alternative locations are possible. For a bathroom in one of its mansion-block flats, look first for an extract route that avoids a new vent on a visible elevation, and agree it with your landlord or managing agent before the room is drawn.

LBHF: Queen’s Club Gardens Conservation Area character profile, approved 14 July 2004, updated October 2005

Flues, cables and roof tanks in Barons Court

Where can a boiler flue or a water tank go?

In the Barons Court Conservation Area, the profile asks that the routing of external cables, and the siting of alarm boxes, gas flues, air-conditioning units and similar on outside walls, be carefully considered so that they sit away from important architectural details and their visual effect is kept down. It also says enclosed water tanks and air-conditioning units on roofs should be avoided. A bathroom that needs a new boiler flue or a cold-water tank on the roof should be planned with both points in view.

LBHF: Barons Court Conservation Area character profile, April 2005 edition, pages 21–32

Sewer flooding below ground

Does a basement bathroom need protection from the sewer?

Hammersmith and Fulham’s Planning Guidance SPD of February 2018 records Thames Water evidence that W14, like W6 and W12, had recorded incidents of sewer flooding over the previous ten years, with SW6 the most susceptible postcode area; it is district-level evidence, not a street map. Where a bathroom is planned at basement level, the SPD recommends a pumped solution or active drainage devices with non-return valves. The council’s floods page says people in basement flats are more likely to be affected, with flooding from drains and manholes, toilets, sinks, showers and baths.

LBHF Planning Guidance SPD, adopted 28 February 2018 · LBHF: floods, with the Strategic Flood Risk Assessment

Building Notice, inspections and registered installers

Which building control route suits a bathroom?

Hammersmith and Fulham recommends a Building Notice for very small works, but says that for complex work, and for people not very experienced in construction, Building Notices should be avoided, because more of the responsibility for compliance falls on you. The law requires the work to be inspected; in most cases the council needs a day’s notice of each stage, and five days for drainage, occupation and completion inspections. Installers registered with competent person schemes such as NICEIC, NAPIT or Gas Safe can do their work without going through the council’s process.

LBHF: guide to building control applications

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

What the work covers

What a bathroom renovation here covers

The waste route and the outside wall

Before fittings are chosen, the scope traces where the WC, basin, bath and shower will drain and where the extract will leave the room. Keeping new waste pipes inside the building avoids adding to an elevation: the Barons Court profile notes a plaque on one of its houses partly obscured by an unsympathetically positioned waste pipe. Where an outside pipe has to be renewed, its material is checked against the profile and the lease before anything is ordered.

LBHF: Barons Court Conservation Area character profile, April 2005 edition, pages 21–32

Pumps and valves below ground

For a basement or semi-basement room, the scope checks whether the new bathroom can drain to the sewer by gravity. Hammersmith and Fulham’s 2016 flood risk assessment notes that some low-lying properties or basements may not be able to, in which case a pumped installation will be required, and that non-return valves need careful installation and must be regularly maintained. Access to any pump or valve is designed into the room, behind a panel rather than under tiles.

LBHF: floods, with the Strategic Flood Risk Assessment

Room size in a conversion

Where a house is being converted into flats, Hammersmith and Fulham’s 2018 guidance says the bathroom of every converted self-contained flat should have a net floor area of at least 3.7 square metres, whatever the number of bedrooms. The standard is written for conversions, not for refitting an existing bathroom, but it is a useful check when a second bathroom or an en-suite is fitted into a converted flat.

LBHF Planning Guidance SPD, adopted 28 February 2018

How we work

How we run a West Kensington and Barons Court bathroom renovation

  1. Visit

    We see the room, trace where the stack runs, and check which floor it is on and what lies beneath.

  2. Survey

    The drainage falls, the extract route and the floor build-up at the door are measured before a layout is drawn.

  3. Design

    The layout, waterproofing and storage are drawn; where a floor or wall changes, our own architects and structural engineers design it.

  4. Price

    You receive a fixed written price once the design and fittings are agreed.

  5. Installation

    The dates, and any days without a working bathroom, are agreed before work starts.

  6. Handover

    Testing, then care notes for the finishes and fittings. Completed work carries a 12-month defects-rectification period under the JCT contract terms.

Real projects, clearly located

Examples of our bathroom renovation work elsewhere in London

None of these projects is in West Kensington and Barons Court. 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. Say where the room is

    Tell us which floor the bathroom is on and what lies beneath it: another flat, a shop, a basement or the ground. Say whether the house or block is listed or in a conservation area, and whether water has ever come up through a drain, WC or shower at that level.

  2. Photograph the pipes and the wall outside

    Photograph the soil stack, any pipes on the outside walls, the boiler and its flue and any extract grille, from inside and from the street or garden. These let us judge early whether a new layout can drain and vent without adding to an elevation that the council’s profile covers.

  3. Name who else must agree

    Send the lease or the block’s rules and name the freeholder or managing agent. If Hammersmith and Fulham Council is your landlord, say so, because its own consent process then applies, and if anyone in the home needs an adapted bathroom, tell us at the start so that any grant can be decided first.

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

Bathroom renovation in West Kensington and Barons Court: questions

Will you take on a standalone bathroom renovation here?

Yes, a standalone bathroom is a job in its own right, whether it is a shower room in a mansion-block flat, a family bathroom in one of the gault-brick terraces or a bathroom above a North End Road shop. Tell us early if the building is listed, if the room is below street level, or if the council or a management company has a say, because each can add a step before work begins.

Can I get help paying for an adapted bathroom?

Ask the council: Hammersmith and Fulham’s Disabled Facilities Grant page sets out who may apply, but does not name bathrooms. The disabled person must be registered as disabled with Community Services or meet the criteria for registration; the applicant must be an owner occupier, private landlord, private tenant or tenant of a Registered Social Landlord; and an occupational therapist must recommend the work. The disabled person and any partner are means tested, unless the disabled person is under 18. The yearly budget is limited, and no grant is paid towards work done before formal approval.

LBHF: Disabled Facilities Grant · LBHF: private housing grants

I hold a council lease. What does the council need before bathroom work?

These rules are for Hammersmith and Fulham Council’s own leaseholders only. Its consent form says a licence is needed for works that alter the internal layout or affect the electrics, gas or plumbing, combining a bathroom and WC being one example, and that Building Control clearance must be obtained, particularly where the kitchen, bathroom or means of escape are affected, because of the risk of fire. The form adds that any electrical work in a bathroom needs consent and competent contractors, and that DIY will not be accepted.

LBHF: alterations to council properties, for council leaseholders and secure tenants, with the consent form (Rev. 5.1, 15 October 2026)

I rent from the council. Who arranges an adapted bathroom?

Hammersmith and Fulham’s aids and adaptations policy covers residents of council-owned homes and tenants in temporary accommodation it owns and manages. Major adaptations, which make structural changes that permanently alter the home, may include level or ramped access to a bathroom and specially equipped bathrooms or showers, and all need assessment and approval by the council’s occupational therapy team. Because demand is high the council uses a prioritisation system, and where major changes are needed it may discuss a move to a more suitable home.

LBHF: housing services aids and adaptations policy, council-owned homes, last reviewed December 2024 · LBHF: aids and adaptations, for council residents

Does a new flue pipe need any other consent?

Sometimes. Hammersmith and Fulham’s building control guide says certain special or temporary structures, flue pipes among them, require consent to be erected under section 30 of the London Building Act. The guide does not say which flues count, so ask the council’s building control team whether yours does before the route through the wall or roof is fixed. In the Barons Court Conservation Area, the route should also take account of the profile’s guidance on siting gas flues.

LBHF: guide to building control applications · LBHF: Barons Court Conservation Area character profile, April 2005 edition, pages 21–32

How much does a bathroom renovation cost in West Kensington and Barons Court?

A typical bathroom renovation in West Kensington and Barons Court costs £10,000–£30,000 excluding VAT. The final price depends on the scope, specification and complexity of the project. We give a fixed written price after the visit and the design.

Book a free feasibility visit

Talk to us about your West Kensington and Barons Court bathroom

Tell us the address and what you want to change in your West Kensington and Barons Court bathroom. We reply within one working day, Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm.

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

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