Builders in Richmond

Homes in Richmond

Richmond Council's village planning guidance for Richmond and Richmond Hill highlights the exceptional quality of Richmond Hill's eighteenth-century architecture, alongside fine Regency and Victorian housing. The Vineyard, at two to three storeys, still follows its ancient field pattern. Around Kew Foot Road there are grand Georgian terraces as well as small two-storey terraced cottages.

For houses like these, the most common projects are sensitive rear extensions, kitchen remodelling within the existing footprint, and loft conversions with discreet rear dormers or roof lights. Where a house is listed, even internal changes can need listed building consent, so it is worth establishing a building's status before designing anything.

Planning in Richmond

Richmond is covered by the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. Its conservation areas include Central Richmond, Richmond Green, Richmond Hill, Richmond Riverside, St Matthias, Sheen Road, Sheendale Road, Kew Foot Road, Old Deer Park and Richmond Park, each with a statement and map on Richmond's conservation areas pages.

Many streets are also covered by Article 4 directions that remove permitted development rights for changes facing the road. They include parts of The Vineyard, Old Palace Lane, Park Road, the St Matthias streets such as Dynevor Road and Houblon Road, Townshend Road and Sydney Road off Sheen Road, and Shaftesbury Road and Michel's Row near Kew Foot Road. Richmond's House Extensions and External Alterations guidance sets out what the council expects for rear extensions, side infills and dormers.

Basements need planning permission everywhere in the borough: Article 4 directions have removed permitted development rights for basements since April 2018. Policy 54 of the Richmond Local Plan (adopted October 2025) resists basements of more than one storey under a house, limits basements under gardens to half of the garden, requires soil and drainage over them, and asks for a construction management plan. A screening assessment, and in some cases a full basement impact assessment, is needed where groundwater or throughflow is a concern. Richmond's basement guidance explains the process.

Worth knowing locally

• The view from Richmond Hill is protected by the Richmond, Petersham and Ham Open Spaces Act 1902, which the Local Plan describes as the only view in England protected by an Act of Parliament. The view from King Henry VIII's Mound to St Paul's is also protected.
• Richmond's flood risk assessment notes that the Richmond Hill area may be at risk of groundwater flooding via throughflow, so basement proposals here need a screening assessment.
• Tight streets and parking controls around the town centre make access, skip licences and delivery timing an important part of planning any job.