Builders and plumbers in Temple Fortune, NW11

Barnet designated Hampstead Garden Suburb as a conservation area in 1968, and its appraisal for Area 16 covers Finchley Road through Temple Fortune. Only one side of the road falls within that boundary. The appraisal says most of the shops are on the non-Suburb side, while those on the east side combine shops and flats. Facing buildings can therefore sit under different planning controls.

Historic England places Arcade House, on Finchley Road, in the London Borough of Barnet, so Barnet is the planning authority we check against. What matters next is the exact address, not the parade name. We look it up on the conservation area map first. Inside it, we check whether the Article 4 direction applies, as Barnet introduced one for most of the area shortly after designation. Outside, permitted development may still apply to a house, though not to a flat.

The Area 16 appraisal records that the first major buildings here, Arcade House and Temple Fortune House at the junction with Hampstead Way, were completed in 1912. Historic England lists both at Grade II, and both were first listed on 18 March 1965. The Arcade House entry describes projecting three-storey gabled ends.

Listing brings a separate consent. Listed building consent is needed for works that affect a listed building’s special interest, inside or out, and it sits alongside any planning permission. Replacing windows, altering a shopfront, removing an internal wall or rerouting services in a flat can all engage it. We read the list entry, then survey what is original before proposing any change. Where a repair can match the historic fabric exactly, we say so. Where it cannot, the consent question is raised before the written scope is agreed.

The appraisal notes that the early flats in Arcade House and Temple Fortune House were built for rent and aimed at people of modest income. Later developments, such as The Pantiles, were designed as labour-saving flats with fitted kitchens. It also observes that the concentration of blocks of flats gives Finchley Road a higher population density than the streets behind.

For work inside one of these flats, the lease comes before the drawings. It decides whether the freeholder must grant a licence for alterations and who maintains the roof, windows and shared pipes. A commercial tenant below may have rights over access, ventilation or the shopfront. Works to the floor between a shop and a flat can raise fire separation and sound insulation questions under the Building Regulations. Such work is carried out in-house by Hampstead Renovations or Hampstead Maintenance, once a written scope is agreed with everyone whose consent it needs.

The appraisal describes Finchley Road following the slope down to its junction with the North Circular Road. On the Suburb side, it notes mature trees set in raised brick beds in the pavement. The beds sit in the footway, so a scaffold, skip or delivery has to be planned around them without harming roots or brickwork.

Trees on private land need their own check. Work to a tree in a conservation area needs written notice to the council before it starts, and a tree preservation order needs consent. A tree in the pavement is not the frontager’s to prune, so its manager is confirmed before any work near it. The gradient also affects drainage. Before a new bathroom or kitchen connects to an existing stack, we survey the run and its falls. For ground-floor work, the long-term flood risk for the location is checked on GOV.UK.

Behind the parades, the Suburb’s residential streets begin. Barnet’s appraisal for Area 3 describes an area bounded by Temple Fortune Lane to the south-west. It was developed mainly in 1907–08, although building went on as late as 1912 in the Sutcliffe group. Most of these homes therefore predate the Finchley Road blocks.

Barnet’s introduction to the Suburb appraisals explains that its Article 4 direction controls minor works. These include replacing external doors, windows and roofing materials, creating hardstandings, adding porches and external painting. A change that would be routine on a house elsewhere can therefore need an application here. We use that list as a scoping checklist for any house in these streets. Original joinery is surveyed and repaired where it survives. Replacement is proposed only where repair is not practical, and only after the consent route is confirmed for the exact address.

North of Willifield Way, the appraisal notes, Finchley Road widens to four lanes and its character changes. Further on, TfL announced that work on a junction improvement scheme at Henlys Corner, where the road meets the North Circular, would begin in February 2011. A four-lane road with a major junction nearby calls for careful access planning, starting with the highway authority for each frontage.

A skip, scaffold or hoarding on the highway needs a licence from that authority. A parking bay may need suspending, and loading restrictions are read before any delivery is booked. We confirm whether Barnet or TfL controls the kerb at the exact address. For a flat above a shop, access is also agreed with the commercial tenant, since a scaffold can block a shop entrance or sign. Protection for the footway, the raised tree beds and the shopfront below is set out in the method statement.

The London Plan 2021 classifies Temple Fortune as a district centre, and its homes range from blocks of flats on the main road to the residential streets behind. Outside the conservation area, a house may extend or convert its loft under permitted development. A lawful development certificate confirms that position formally. The Planning Portal’s guides to common projects set out the national limits, although local designations can change the answer.

Flats have no householder permitted development rights, so an extension or new window in a block needs a planning check and, usually, the freeholder’s licence. Taking out a wall or chimney breast alters the structure, and where it involves a shared wall the Party Wall etc. Act can apply. Every such project starts with measured drawings of the existing building and a record of its condition. Structural, drainage and service questions are answered before an application is made.

At completion, the most useful record is the one that settles the boundary question. The file states whether the address lies inside the Suburb conservation area, whether the Article 4 direction applies and whether the building is listed. It names the highway authority for the frontage and the licences issued.

Next come the consents: planning permission or a lawful development certificate, listed building consent where needed, and the building control completion certificate. For a flat, the freeholder’s licence and any party wall award are added. Materials are recorded, including window sections, roofing and paint colours on elevations the direction controls. Services hidden in floors between a shop and a flat are photographed and marked on a plan before they are covered. For repairs, the cause found and any remaining limitation are written down. A copy is handed over for the building’s records.