Builders in New Malden

Homes in New Malden

Kingston's Borough Character Study records that New Malden station opened in 1846, seventeen years before Kingston's own. The Groves, including Acacia, Chestnut, Elm, Lime, Poplar and Sycamore Groves, were the first part of the new town, with Victorian villas and semi-detached houses, and most of that area was complete by the end of the Edwardian era. Around Cleveland, Cambridge and Montem Roads there is a late-Victorian and Edwardian grid, while east of the High Street substantial Edwardian houses mix with 1930s semis.

The 1927 Kingston bypass drove rapid growth, and many streets date from that period. Bodley Road has 1930s semis with half-timbering and swept gables, Oxford Crescent has tile-hung hipped bays, and South Park Grove and Franks Avenue feature clay pantiles. Houses like these suit single-storey rear extensions and loft conversions, as long as the design respects the original roof form and materials.

Planning in New Malden

Most of New Malden is covered by the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, but the KT3 postcode extends into the London Borough of Merton around West Barnes and Motspur Park, so check which council covers your address. There is no New Malden conservation area; the nearest are Old Malden (St John's and Plough Green) and the Coombe conservation areas, listed on Kingston's conservation areas pages. Kingston lists no householder Article 4 directions affecting New Malden on its Article 4 page at the time of writing.

Kingston's Residential Design guidance is detailed. It limits the depth and height of single-storey rear extensions and asks that a good share of the rear garden is kept. It generally resists two-storey rear extensions built on the boundary of a semi-detached house, and expects side extensions to be set in from the boundary and back from the front. For lofts, it expects dormers to sit below the ridge and in from the sides, not on the front slope in most cases, and it describes hip-to-gable conversions as not usually appropriate, especially on semis. It's worth designing to it from the start.

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

• Kingston's Core Strategy seeks to keep large gardens and generous plot sizes in the Maldens, and the Character Study picks out the Thetford Road area, including Presburg and Bodley Roads, as an area of established high quality with generous plots and spacing.
• Front-garden parking is resisted where it is not an original feature of the street, so check before combining an extension with a new driveway.
• The Beverley Brook and the Hogsmill both pose some flood risk despite their defences, and Kingston's flood risk assessment records sewer flooding in parts of KT3, so drainage deserves attention on any larger extension or basement. See Kingston's flood risk information.