Builders and plumbers in Totteridge, N20

Barnet’s May 2008 appraisal places the Totteridge conservation area in the north of the borough. It follows a gravel ridge of higher ground that runs from west to east. Its buildings form a ribbon clustered along the road, and green fields surround it on three sides.

That setting raises practical questions before design ones. A plot near the edge of the ridge can slope towards the fields. That affects drainage runs, retaining walls and how an extension looks from lower ground. Where levels change, we survey them before any layout is drawn. Foundations are designed from what trial holes and a site investigation find, not from a description of the ridge.

Water is checked separately. The GOV.UK long-term flood risk service shows mapped risk from rivers, surface water, reservoirs and, where data exists, groundwater. We read it for the exact address and record the result in the scope.

The 2008 appraisal states that most of the conservation area and the surrounding open land fall within the Green Belt. Green Belt status is a separate layer from conservation area control, and it asks a different question. Conservation policy looks at character and appearance. Green Belt policy looks at openness.

National planning policy treats development in the Green Belt as inappropriate unless it falls within limited categories. One of those covers the extension or alteration of an existing building, provided the increase in size is not disproportionate compared with the original building. A replacement building is tested separately, and a new outbuilding is judged against the same categories, with the planning authority deciding.

For owners, that makes the history of a house matter. Earlier extensions count towards what has already been added. We gather past planning decisions and measure the original footprint where records allow. We also confirm whether the exact address, garden included, sits inside the Green Belt. Only then do we suggest how large a proposal might reasonably be.

Trees in a conservation area are protected by law. Before cutting down, topping or lopping one, an owner must usually give the council written notice. A tree under a preservation order needs the council’s consent instead. Both rules apply whether or not the building work needs planning permission.

On a garden plot, harm to a tree need not come from pruning. It can come from trenches for foundations or drainage, compacted ground under a scaffold, or a delivery lorry parked over roots. We plot every tree near the work and mark its root protection area before a layout is fixed. Where a trench must pass close by, the route is moved or the digging is done by hand.

If an application needs a tree report, that requirement is identified at the outset. Notice periods and any consent are then planned so that tree work and building work follow in the right order.

The appraisal divides the conservation area into five character areas. They are Totteridge Lane, Totteridge Green, Totteridge Village, later suburban development, and Totteridge Common. The suburban character area includes roads such as Pine Grove and Northcliffe Drive. In 2008 the conservation area held around 450 properties.

The boundary is not simply the historic core. Some later roads sit inside the conservation area, yet its eastern edge is formed by the suburban development of Totteridge and Whetstone. Streets beyond that edge may lie outside it.

The character area matters as much as the boundary. What suits a house on Totteridge Common may not suit one on a later suburban road. We identify the character area from the appraisal and the boundary map on Barnet’s open-data site. That reading shapes decisions on massing, materials, boundaries and frontage. Nothing is assumed from the postal address alone.

The management proposals in the 2008 appraisal record an Article 4 direction made shortly after the conservation area was designated in 1970. Where it applies, the appraisal lists the works it brings under control. These include replacement windows and doors, roof extensions and rooflights, and new wall materials and painting. Small extensions such as front porches, outbuildings and the installation of oil tanks are listed as well. The introduction adds roofing materials and hardstandings.

The appraisal describes the reach of that direction in more than one way. Barnet’s open-data site holds two Totteridge Article 4 documents, and both are scanned images without searchable text. So the extent cannot be summarised from a street name.

Before we price a new porch, a change of roof covering or a gravel drive, we check the direction. Its reach is confirmed for the exact address with the council. If it applies, the planning application is built into the programme.

The appraisal records wealthy residents arriving in the 18th and 19th centuries for fine views and spacious grounds. The large mansion houses show simple, regular plans with symmetry and order. Norman Shaw’s Old English style appears at Trevanion and Ellern Mede. Several small lodges and workers’ cottages were also built in a vernacular, domestic manner.

An addition to a symmetrical house should not unbalance its main front. A lodge or cottage is easily overwhelmed by an extension larger than itself.

In 2008 the conservation area had 48 listed buildings and 24 locally listed ones. St Andrew’s Church in Totteridge Village is listed at Grade II, first listed on 1 February 1950. Historic England describes a single rectangular church of yellow brick with a slate roof. The appraisal notes its wooden tower of Hertfordshire weatherboarding, possibly Elizabethan. Altering a listed building’s character needs listed building consent. Address-specific checks against the list come before any survey.

A Totteridge project can involve several separate decisions, each under its own rules. First, we establish the designations for the exact address: conservation area, Article 4 direction, Green Belt, listing and any tree preservation order. Second, measured, levels and tree surveys come before the design is fixed.

Third, the applications follow what those checks found. That may mean planning permission, listed building consent, a conservation area tree notice, or none of these. Fourth, Building Regulations approval is obtained through a building control route, which is separate from planning. A planning decision never stands in for it.

Where a house shares a wall with its neighbour, the Party Wall etc. Act 1996 may require notice before work starts. For a flat within a converted house, the lease and the freeholder’s consent come first. Once the owner signs off a written scope, the work itself is done in-house by Hampstead Renovations or Hampstead Maintenance.

The appraisal describes the road along the ridge as an important route linking Mill Hill and the north with Whetstone and Barnet. It also says the roads within the conservation area are in effect public open spaces. Both points bear on how a site is run.

Deliveries are planned around traffic on the through route and the look of the roadside. Vehicles are kept off grass verges, and the roadside is photographed before work begins. Anything placed on the road itself, such as scaffold or a skip, is licensed by whoever manages that highway. We confirm whether that is TfL, for a road on its red route network, or the council, rather than guessing.

At handover, the owner receives a file with every consent, tree notice and building control completion record. Photographs show foundations, drainage and other work before it was covered, with notes on where each element sits.