Builders in Fulham, SW6

Fulham is predominantly late Victorian terraced housing — two and three storey brick terraces with rear outriggers and narrow side returns, built as speculative family housing and still used that way. The stock is more uniform than most of prime London, and parts of the borough fall within conservation areas while others retain full permitted development rights, so the consent position varies street by street rather than uniformly.

The defining project is the combined scheme: infilling the side return to widen the kitchen across the back of the house, extending to the rear where depth allows, and converting the loft with a rear dormer to add bedrooms above. Taken together this can transform the usable area of a modest terrace, and it is common enough here that the structural and planning patterns are well established.

Because the streets are terraced throughout, party wall obligations apply to nearly every scheme. Building astride or up to the boundary, cutting in for steel beams, and excavating foundations adjacent to a neighbour’s all require notice, and neighbouring properties are frequently carrying out similar work, which makes early notice and a properly recorded schedule of condition worth more than it costs.

Fulham sits on London clay in an area with a raised risk of surface water flooding near the river. Clay shrinks and swells with moisture, so foundation depths near trees have to reflect that, and increasing the hard-surfaced area through an extension changes how water leaves the site. Drainage and the flood risk position are worth establishing before design rather than at the point of application.