# Home renovations in Hillingdon

Canonical URL: https://mirion.uk/areas/hillingdon/renovations/

> Renovating 1930s houses in Ruislip, Eastcote, Ickenham and Northwood: layouts, services, front gardens, conservation areas and protected trees.

We renovate 1930s and older houses in the north of Hillingdon, modernising layouts and services while keeping the features that give Ruislip, Eastcote, Ickenham and Northwood their character.

### Renovating a 1930s Hillingdon house

The borough's interwar houses were built to standard designs, which makes their weak points predictable: small kitchens, separate front and back rooms, ageing wiring and plumbing, little insulation and old windows. A typical renovation opens up the ground floor, refits the kitchen and bathroom, rewires, upgrades heating and insulation, and is often combined with a rear extension or loft conversion.

### Character and front gardens

Hillingdon's Local Plan highlights the borough's 1930s character and expects alterations, porches and windows to respect the original building. Front extensions across the whole frontage will be refused, at least 25% of the front garden must be kept, and new or replacement driveways should use permeable surfaces; impermeable surfaces over five square metres need planning permission. In conservation areas, cladding or external insulation also needs planning permission.

### Trees and approvals

The council must be notified before work to trees in conservation areas, and protected trees need consent. Structural alterations need Building Regulations approval, and work on party walls needs notice under the Party Wall etc. Act 1996.

### Porches, dishes and solar panels

Porches should be subordinate and individually designed for the house, without pastiche features. In conservation areas, satellite dishes on a chimney, wall or roof slope facing a road need permission, and solar panels that would harm a heritage asset or its setting won't be supported.

Hillingdon renovations: common questions

Do I need permission to pave my front garden in Hillingdon?

Not if you use permeable surfacing or let the water drain onto a lawn or border. Laying more than five square metres of impermeable surface needs planning permission, and Hillingdon expects at least 25% of the front garden to be kept.

Can I add external wall insulation in a Hillingdon conservation area?

You will need planning permission: Hillingdon's Local Plan says cladding or external insulation on any building in a conservation area needs permission.