Builders in Kingston upon Thames

Homes in Kingston upon Thames

Kingston's Borough Character Study describes Canbury as open fields until the railway to Twickenham was completed in 1863, then a mainly two-storey Victorian grid of detached, semi-detached and terraced houses with small front gardens and boundary walls. In Norbiton, most housing north of the cemetery dates from around 1900, with late-Victorian detached villas on the "C-roads" (Chatham, Chesham, Cobham and Clevedon) and a fine row of 1890s villas with decorated bays on Gordon Road. Kingston Hill has large, sometimes listed houses set in well-treed grounds.

Closer to the centre, the Fairfield and Knight's Park conservation area is an early suburb built mainly between the 1820s and 1900, Grove Crescent is a planned mid-Victorian estate laid out around 1863, and the Richmond Road conservation area has red-brick Vernacular Revival houses, most built between 1891 and 1898. Houses like these suit rear extensions and loft conversions designed to keep the rhythm of the street.

Planning in Kingston upon Thames

Most of Kingston is covered by the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, but parts of the KT1 and KT2 postcodes, around Hampton Wick and Ham, fall within the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, so check which council covers your address. Conservation areas around the town include Kingston Old Town, Fairfield/Knight's Park, Grove Crescent, Liverpool Road, Richmond Road, Park Road, Kingston Hill, Riverside North and Riverside South, all described on Kingston's conservation areas pages.

Unusually, none of these has a householder Article 4 direction; Kingston's Article 4 page lists only a small number of directions, one of which prevents demolition of two historic lodges on Kingston Hill. Conservation area status still limits permitted development, though. Kingston's Character Study names side dormers and hip-to-gable conversions as the greatest threat to Canbury's character, and criticises raised "piggy-back" gable roof extensions, so new roof extensions should keep the roofscape's rhythm. The Residential Design guidance sets out the council's detailed expectations.

Kingston's approach to basements is set out in its Residential Design guidance rather than a dedicated Local Plan policy. It expects any new bedrooms below ground to have natural light and ventilation, lightwells to be discreet and used only where they suit the street, a flood risk assessment in the higher flood zones, and a construction method statement for every basement.

Worth knowing locally

• The Thames is non-tidal throughout Kingston, but the Hogsmill is a fast-responding river, and Kingston's flood risk assessment treats the 1-in-100-year surface water extent as Flood Zone 3a, going further than the national flood map. Sewer flooding has been recorded frequently in parts of KT1 and KT2, so drainage matters on any larger extension. See Kingston's flood risk information.
• Kingston Old Town's medieval street pattern is described by the council as the best preserved of its type in outer London, and excavations have found waterside structures and timber-framed buildings around the Market Place, so groundworks there can raise archaeological questions.
• Canbury Park Road was home to the Sopwith and Hawker aviation works, where the Sopwith Camel and Hawker Hurricane were designed.