Clapham House Renovation
Van Peake takes on house renovations across Clapham, Clapham Junction and the wider London area, from reworking a single room through to stripping a house back and starting again. A full renovation in SW4 typically runs £75,000 to £400,000, and partial work costs considerably less. This page sets out what a full renovation involves, what one costs, how long the work takes, which council you are dealing with, and the things that catch people out once the work has started.
The photographs are from a house we renovated in Clapham. The ground floor was opened up so the kitchen, dining area and sitting room share one space, with a structural glass panel set into the oak floor carrying daylight down to the level below. The whole job was organised around getting light into the middle of the plan.
What the project involved
Wide-plank oak runs continuously across the ground floor. There are no thresholds and no changes of material, which is what makes three rooms read as one space rather than three areas of the same room.
Daylight was the main problem to solve and it is handled in three places. A large rooflight sits over the living area. A structural glass panel is set into the oak floor, carrying light down to the level below. And a frameless glass balustrade replaces what would otherwise be a solid wall, so light travels through rather than stopping at the stairs.
Storage is a single full-height joinery wall, floor to ceiling, handleless and flush. It was made for these rooms rather than specified from a range, which is why it reads as part of the wall rather than as furniture standing against it.
The kitchen was replaced as part of the work. Full-height glazing opens the back of the house onto the garden. Radiators are slim wall-mounted panels, chosen so they take up as little wall as possible in rooms where the wall is already doing other work.
Renovating a house in Clapham
Which council you are dealing with
The Lambeth and Wandsworth boundary runs through Clapham, so this is the first thing to establish.
Lambeth covers most of Clapham, including SW4 and Clapham Old Town. Wandsworth covers Clapham Junction, Northcote Road and the streets to the north west. Clapham Common itself is split between the two.
It sounds like a technicality until you have submitted to the wrong authority and lost a month of development time.
Conservation areas & permitted development
A large part of Clapham falls inside the Clapham Conservation Area, designated by Lambeth in 1968, extended four times and redefined in 2002. It is centred on the common and takes in much of the 19th century housing beyond its edges. Abbeville Road and Clapham Road carry their own separate designations.
Inside a conservation area, permitted development rights are reduced. Side extensions and most roof alterations need a full application rather than falling under permitted development, and external cladding needs consent. Work that would be automatic on a street a few hundred metres away may not be here.
Outside the conservation areas, a single storey rear extension of up to three metres on a terraced house usually falls under permitted development, or up to six metres under the prior approval process.
Establish which of these applies before any design work starts rather than after. It changes what is worth drawing.
How long it takes
A full house renovation in Clapham runs six to nine months on site. Where the work is confined to one floor, three to four months is closer.
The number most people actually need is how long they are out of the house, and on a job like this one it is most of it. Once the ground floor is open and the floor is up there is no usable kitchen and no safe route through the middle of the plan. Working that out at the start is a great deal cheaper than working it out in week three.
Two things sit in front of the build. Joinery made for the room takes eight to fourteen weeks between sign-off and delivery, because it is being made rather than picked from stock. And where the work needs permission, the council works to an eight-week target from the point an application is validated, which is not the same day you submit it.
Allow nine to twelve months from first conversation to finished house. Most of that is drawings, consent and manufacture rather than disruption.
What Clapham houses are like to work on
Most of Clapham is Victorian terraces, two and three storeys, with a narrow side return and a long garden. Around the common there are Georgian and Victorian villas, some of them very large. Clapham Old Town holds the oldest stock in the area, with properties dating back to the early 1700s. There are also mews houses, like the one on this page, which are narrower and deeper with shared walls on both sides.
On a terrace the standard move is a side return infill, because the space is already there and rarely usable as it stands. On a mews house that option does not exist, so the work goes into the plan and into the light instead. Which of those your house is decides most of what follows.
Shared walls also mean the Party Wall etc. Act 1996 usually applies. That means written notice to the neighbours and often a party wall surveyor. It is routine, but it takes weeks, and it is far easier when it is built into the programme rather than discovered halfway through.
There is a practical side as well. Streets in Clapham are narrow and parking is controlled, so access for deliveries, skips and plant has to be planned rather than assumed.
What a house renovation costs in Clapham
Full house renovations run from around £75,000 to £400,000 and above, or roughly £1,500 to £3,000 per square metre.
What moves a project through that range:
- Kitchen: £25,000 to £70,000, depending on whether the units are made for the room or taken from a range.
- Bathrooms: £12,000 to £35,000 each.
- Structural work: £8,000 to £18,000 per opening for removing a load bearing wall and installing steelwork, plus making good around it.
- Joinery: usually the largest single variable, and usually the reason a finished house reads as considered rather than assembled.
- Planning: a conservation area application adds time rather than much cost, but it adds it before anything starts.
These are ranges for planning. Every project gets a written quote covering the whole job, and that follows a visit to the property.
How we work
One team runs the project from strip out through structural work, joinery and finishing. You are not passed between a main contractor and a series of subcontractors, and James Peake runs the job throughout, so there is one person to call.
We work on residential projects across London, from single rooms to full house renovations. There is more on our approach on our house renovation page.
Common questions
Do I need planning permission to renovate a house in Clapham?
Internal work almost never needs permission. Extensions and roof alterations usually do if the property sits in the Clapham Conservation Area, because conservation status removes several permitted development rights. Outside those areas a single storey rear extension of up to three metres on a terraced house generally falls under permitted development, or up to six metres under prior approval.
Which council covers my property in Clapham?
Lambeth covers most of Clapham, including SW4 and Clapham Old Town. Wandsworth covers Clapham Junction, Northcote Road and the streets to the north west. Clapham Common itself is split between the two boroughs.
What does a full house renovation cost in Clapham?
Full house renovations run from around £75,000 to £400,000 and above, or roughly £1,500 to £3,000 per square metre. Where a project sits in that range depends on the amount of structural work, the level of joinery and the specification of the kitchen and bathrooms.
Can I live in the house during a renovation?
On a focused project, sometimes. On a full renovation involving structural work, usually not. We will tell you which yours is at the quote stage rather than once the work has started.
Do you only work in Clapham?
No. We work on residential projects across London. Clapham is one of the areas we have completed projects in, alongside Balham, Battersea, Notting Hill and Kensington.
How long does a house renovation take in Clapham?
Six to nine months on site for a full house renovation, and three to four months where the work is confined to one floor. Joinery made for the room adds a lead time of eight to fourteen weeks before anything arrives, and planning permission where needed works to an eight-week target from validation. Nine to twelve months from first conversation to finished house is realistic.
Start your project
We take on residential projects of all sizes across London, from a single room to a full house renovation. Whether you are still working out what is possible or you know exactly what you want, please get in touch and we would be more than happy to talk it through with you.
Call 020 3503 1158 or email hello@vanpeake.co.uk
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