Luxury Builders
in Esher & Cobham

Prime residential construction in Esher & Cobham

Crown Building works at the top of the London market, and Esher & Cobham is core territory for our team. The projects in our published case studies were delivered under exactly the constraints that define this part of London. Protected fabric, exacting consents, discreet site conduct and clients who judge the result at touching distance.

We do not operate at volume. We compete on execution. Meticulous programming, a trusted specialist supply chain and senior management present on site throughout are the baseline for every commission we accept in Esher & Cobham. The standard does not change with the scale of the project.

What we build in Esher & Cobham

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.

This is replacement dwelling territory: generous plots on the Crown Estate at Oxshott, Esher's Claremont and Lower Green sides, and Cobham's Fairmile, where ground up new builds with basement leisure floors, pools and full automation are the standard commission. Elmbridge's planning regime is familiar with, and demanding of, this scale of ambition, and delivery hinges on the disciplines we practise daily: locked programmes, long lead procurement, and a specialist supply chain that can execute a hotel grade specification in a private house.

Areas we serve

We work across the golden triangle, Esher, Claremont, Oxshott and the Crown Estate, Cobham and the Fairmile, Stoke d'Abernon. Plus Claygate, Hinchley Wood and Weybridge. 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.

Elmbridge is working from a plan adopted in 2011, and that matters

Elmbridge withdrew its draft Local Plan 2037 from examination on 26 February 2025, after the Inspector's interim findings of September 2024 found it unsound as submitted. It is not paused or emerging. It carries no weight at all. The borough's decisions are made instead on the Core Strategy adopted July 2011 and the Development Management Plan adopted 15 April 2015, both of which run to a plan period ending in 2026.

The Council's own five year housing land supply statement of May 2025 puts deliverable supply at 0.9 years against an annualised requirement of 1,889 dwellings. That is among the weakest positions in the country and it engages the presumption in favour of sustainable development in full. On a non Green Belt urban plot in Esher or Cobham that materially strengthens a well argued application. On the 57 per cent of the borough that is Green Belt it does not, because Green Belt remains a protective constraint that switches the tilted balance off.

The Green Belt numbers: 25 per cent, 10 per cent, and a basement that does not count

Policy DM18 governs work to existing buildings in the Elmbridge Green Belt and it gives numbers, which is unusual and useful. Extensions are supported where they produce no more than a 25 per cent increase in volume and 25 per cent in footprint, measured on external dimensions, with no material increase in height. A replacement dwelling is supported at no more than 10 per cent on both measures. Both are cumulative since 1 July 1948, including anything built under permitted development. An ancillary building within five metres of the house is treated as an extension; beyond five metres it is assessed as a building in its own right.

The provision worth knowing is DM18(e). A basement is excluded from the volume and footprint calculation entirely provided it is wholly subterranean, does not generate significant additional activity, does not exceed the footprint of the existing building and is served only by discreet lightwells, ventilation or means of escape. Fail any one of those and the whole basement volume is added back into the 25 or 10 per cent, which will normally kill the scheme. Used properly it is the single most valuable planning mechanism available on a Green Belt plot in this borough, and it is why so many Esher and Cobham projects go down rather than out.

Outside the Green Belt there is no basement policy in Elmbridge at all. No percentage of garden, no storey cap, no soil depth, no lightwell rule and no Basement Impact Assessment requirement in policy. A basement is judged under Policy DM2 on design and amenity, which is entirely qualitative. Reports may still be requested at validation or imposed by condition, but there is no policy hook, and anyone quoting Kensington and Chelsea style basement rules for Surrey is applying the wrong borough's regime.

The Companion Guides, and what is not designated here

Elmbridge's numeric householder standards sit in the Design and Character SPD rather than in policy. A single storey rear extension should not exceed three metres, beyond which it must stay below a 45 degree line from the nearest adjoining window. A side extension above ground floor needs a minimum one metre to the boundary, expressly more in low density areas. Minimum rear garden length is eleven metres, or fifteen for larger family dwellings. There is no percentage of plot cap and no plot ratio anywhere in Elmbridge guidance.

There are also sub area Companion Guides, and applications are expected to engage with the relevant one: Esher, and Cobham, Oxshott, Stoke d'Abernon and Downside. The borough has 26 conservation areas covering more than two thousand properties, including Esher, Cobham, Cobham (Plough Corner), Downside Village and Stoke d'Abernon. It is worth saying plainly that there is no Oxshott conservation area. Nor does any Article 4 Direction in Elmbridge remove householder permitted development rights: the borough has exactly two directions, both site specific at Cobham, both concerning fences, access and temporary uses. Where permitted development rights do get removed in the Green Belt it is by condition under DM18(c), not by Article 4.

The Crown Estate at Oxshott adds a private layer. Birds Hill Oxshott Estate Company Limited owns the freehold of the private roads under title SY 495930, transferred from the Crown Estate Commissioners in November 1980, and its Bye laws charge £30 per square metre on redevelopment and on extensions or major alterations over sixteen square metres, expressly including basements, swimming pools and tennis courts, with a £500 minimum and payment due before work starts. There is a 24 month completion limit with a £2,000 per month overrun penalty, and the company reserves the right to close a site down for flagrant or persistent breach. Notably, unlike Wentworth or St George's Hill, the Oxshott regime controls money, access and conduct rather than architecture.

Speak to us about your Esher & Cobham project

If you are planning a refurbishment, basement or new build in Esher & Cobham, call us on 020 3675 3999 or book a free consultation here. Every enquiry is handled by a director.

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 Esher & Cobham do you cover?

We cover Esher, Claremont, Oxshott, the Crown Estate, Cobham, the Fairmile and Stoke d'Abernon, plus Claygate and Weybridge.

Do you build on private estates like the Crown Estate at Oxshott?

Yes. Private estate covenants, conduct requirements and working hour restrictions are familiar territory, and our new build capability is documented in our published case studies.