Builders in Hillingdon

Hillingdon's own Local Plan notes that many houses in the borough have a distinctive 1930s character, built to standard designs that give streets a consistent density and appearance. In the north of the borough, that character came with the Metropolitan Railway: the line to Uxbridge opened through Ruislip and Eastcote in 1904, and Ickenham got its halt in 1905, turning villages into Metro-land suburbs.

Hillingdon has the highest share of houses of any borough we cover. At the 2021 Census, 69% of its 109,200 households lived in houses: 35% semi-detached, 20% terraced and 14% detached.

The common projects are single-storey rear extensions, side extensions, rear dormer loft conversions and whole-house renovations. Because so many houses share the same design, Hillingdon's policies put strong emphasis on extensions staying subordinate to the original house.

Hillingdon sets its householder rules in policy DMHD 1 of its Local Plan Part 2 (2020), rather than a separate design guide. Two features matter for almost every project:

• A borough-wide Article 4 direction, in force since 22 September 2014, removes permitted development rights for rear extensions projecting more than 4 metres beyond the original rear wall, so the 6-metre and 8-metre prior approval depths used elsewhere aren't available.
• Firm depth limits: single-storey rear extensions to terraced or semi-detached houses should not exceed 3.3 metres on plots up to 5 metres wide or 3.6 metres on wider plots, and 4 metres on detached houses.

The borough has 31 conservation areas, including Ruislip Village, Eastcote Village, Ickenham Village and Northwood Town Centre, plus Areas of Special Local Character such as the Copse Wood and Gatehill Farm estates in Northwood. They are listed on the council's conservation pages.