Builders in Holland Park, W14

Holland Park has some of the largest private houses in west London: substantial Victorian villas and wide stucco-fronted terraces on deeper plots than Kensington or Chelsea, together with well-built mansion blocks and a number of architecturally significant later houses. The area is a conservation area and a considerable proportion of the stock is listed.

The plot sizes change what is possible. Rear extensions can be genuinely large, garden rooms and outbuildings are feasible, and there is room to bring daylight deep into a plan through roof lanterns and glazed links — options simply not available in a narrow terrace. Projects are correspondingly substantial: whole-house renovation over many months, with structural alteration, full re-servicing and a high finish specification.

Larger openings and deeper plans carry a heavier structural burden. Wide spans need properly designed steel with correctly sized padstones, and where a rear wall is largely removed the lateral stability of the building has to be resolved by design rather than assumed. On listed buildings, the structural solution also has to be acceptable in heritage terms, which usually means concealing steel within the fabric rather than expressing it.

Because these houses sit on generous plots with mature planting, tree protection is a live constraint. Trees in a conservation area are protected by default and many carry preservation orders outright, so foundations near them may need to be designed around root protection areas, and consent is required before any pruning or removal. That is worth establishing at survey stage, since it can determine where an extension can physically go.