Prime Residential Builders
in Borehamwood & Elstree

A London prime contractor, minutes from Borehamwood & Elstree

Crown Building has been delivering prime residential construction since 2013, and Borehamwood & Elstree sits comfortably within the daily operating radius of our Watford headquarters. While much of our work is in the prime central London postcodes, Mayfair, Chelsea, Knightsbridge, Belgravia, our roots, our team and our registered office are minutes away. For homeowners in Borehamwood & Elstree, that means a contractor working to a genuine prime residential standard, with senior management close enough to be on site whenever the project needs them.

We do not operate at volume. We compete on execution. The discipline that the best London projects demand, meticulous programming, a trusted specialist supply chain, senior management present on site throughout. Is exactly what we bring to a home in Borehamwood & Elstree. The standard does not change with the postcode.

What we build in Borehamwood & Elstree

Our residential work spans the full scope of high end building. We deliver architecturally distinctive new build homes, private residence refurbishments and structural reconfigurations, single and multistorey extensions, basement excavations, listed and period property works, and the bespoke joinery and interiors that define a finished home. Each project is delivered as design and build or contractor only, with Crown appointed as your prime residential main contractor, and transparent, itemised pricing from the outset. Commercial occupiers are served by the same teams through our commercial fit out division, and clinical and wellness premises through our healthcare and specialist environments team.

Elstree village and the Barnet Lane corridor carry the area's most characterful stock, period cottages and substantial detached homes with the constraints that come with age and, in places, conservation designation. Borehamwood's later stock offers generous footprints that respond well to intelligent remodelling: open plan reconfiguration, double storey extensions and complete specification upgrades. For both, our proposition is the same, prime residential execution, transparent itemised pricing and senior management minutes from site rather than hours.

Areas we serve

We cover Borehamwood, Elstree village, Well End, Deacons Hill and the Barnet Lane corridor, along with neighbouring Radlett, Shenley, Arkley and Stanmore. You can see our full coverage, London within the M25 and a fifteen mile radius of our Watford headquarters, on our areas we cover page.

Eighty per cent of Hertsmere is Green Belt, and basements count

Hertsmere's own Core Strategy puts it plainly: eighty per cent of the thirty eight square mile borough is Green Belt land. For most addresses outside the built up parts of Borehamwood that is the single fact governing what you can build, and it is worth understanding how the Council actually applies it.

The relevant policy is SADM26. A replacement building must not be materially larger than the one it replaces, and an extension must not be individually or cumulatively disproportionate to the original building, with additions subordinate to it. The Council judges this on floorspace, volume, site coverage of buildings and hardstanding, height, orientation and intensity of use. The original building means the building as it stood on 1 July 1948, or as first built if later, so extensions carried out by previous owners count against your allowance.

Two points catch people out. Hertsmere publishes no percentage or cubic volume cap, so if you have been told about a thirty per cent rule it is not a Hertsmere rule. And the policy states expressly that the definition of extension, alteration, original or replacement building may include a basement level. Digging down is not a way around a Green Belt constraint here.

Borehamwood has no conservation area. Elstree Village does.

This is a genuine and useful distinction. Hertsmere has fifteen conservation areas, and Borehamwood is not one of them. Elstree Village is, with an appraisal adopted in 2014, and so are Aldenham, Letchmore Heath, Patchetts Green, Ridge, Roundbush, Shenley and South Mimms nearby.

Where a conservation area does apply, the Council notes its controls bite particularly on side extensions and outbuildings in side gardens, and that outline applications are not normally acceptable. There are also Article 4 Directions on specific addresses, including Theobald Street in Borehamwood and, in Elstree, Summer Grove and Barnet Lane along with 5 to 15 Elstree Hill North and St Mary's Croft. These typically catch windows, new openings, external painting and hardstandings, and applications under them have been fee bearing since January 2018.

Film studios are planning policy here, and the ground is clay

Hertsmere is unusual in having film and television production written into its adopted development plan, as Core Strategy Policy CS11. The studio sites also carry Local Development Orders, an uncommon instrument that extends permitted development rights on the land they cover: Sky Studios Elstree and Panattoni Park Borehamwood were approved by Full Council in February 2024, and the BBC Elstree Front Lot order dates from January 2020 and was intended to run for thirty years. If you are working on or immediately beside those sites the permission position is not the standard one.

On ground conditions the Council's own evidence base is specific. Most of the solid geology is London Clay, dominating the borough from Bushey and Borehamwood across to Potters Bar, with Reading Beds in a band running from Radlett to South Mimms. Clay means foundation depth, heave risk near trees and drainage that has to be designed rather than assumed. Hertsmere's flood evidence also notes that the generally impervious valley slopes produce relatively rapid runoff, which matters for any scheme adding hardstanding.

Speak to us about your Borehamwood & Elstree project

If you are planning a build, refurbishment or extension in Borehamwood & Elstree, call us on 020 3675 3999 or book a free consultation here. Our registered office is Unit 324-B, The Wenta Business Centre, Colne Way, Watford, WD24 7ND.

Frequently asked questions

Where is Crown Building based?

Crown Building's registered office is at Unit 324-B, The Wenta Business Centre, Colne Way, Watford, WD24 7ND. We work throughout London within the M25 and across Hertfordshire and the Home Counties.

Which areas around Borehamwood & Elstree do you cover?

We cover Borehamwood, Elstree, Well End, Deacons Hill and Barnet Lane, plus Radlett, Shenley, Arkley and Stanmore.

Do you handle both period and modern properties?

Yes. Our teams work on listed and conservation area properties using heritage methodology, and on modern homes where structural remodelling and high specification finishes are the focus. The management discipline is identical.