Luxury Builders
in Highgate

Prime residential construction in Highgate

Crown Building works at the top of the London market, and Highgate 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 Highgate. The standard does not change with the scale of the project.

What we build in Highgate

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. Nearby in Hampstead, our £7m Bishops Avenue private residence shows that scope end to end.

Highgate rewards patience and craft: listed Georgian terraces on the High Street and South Grove, substantial Victorian villas towards the cemetery, and the private roads. Fitzroy Park, The Grove, Holly Lodge, where private residence briefs reach full prime specification. Conservation area consent, arboricultural constraints and steep, access limited sites are the standing challenges; meticulous preconstruction and considerate site management are the answers. Our published Highgate case study documents the standard we hold across the village.

Areas we serve

We work throughout Highgate: the village, The Grove, Fitzroy Park, Holly Lodge estate, Shepherd's Hill, plus Hampstead, Crouch End and Muswell Hill. 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.

The borough boundary runs down the middle of Highgate High Street

Highgate is divided between two planning authorities and the line is not intuitive. The boundary runs down the middle of Highgate High Street, with Camden to the west and Haringey to the east, plus small fringes falling into Islington and Barnet. Which side you are on changes the policy that applies, and on basements the two regimes are materially different.

On the Camden side, Policy A5 is among the most prescriptive in London: a maximum of one storey, not beneath an existing basement, no more than fifty per cent of each garden, no more than one and a half times the host building footprint, and extending no more than fifty per cent of the host building depth from the principal rear elevation and no more than fifty per cent of the garden depth. Camden's guidance treats one storey as roughly three to four metres of external excavation and requires a minimum of one metre of soil above any basement beyond the building footprint. A Basement Impact Assessment must demonstrate that damage risk to neighbouring property is no higher than Burland Scale 1. Crucially, a borough wide Article 4 Direction confirmed in October 2016 removes permitted development rights for basement excavation anywhere in Camden.

On the Haringey side, Policy DM18 applies and is far less prescriptive: no percentage limits, no storey cap and an unquantified requirement for adequate soil depth, with lightwells assessed against loss of more than half the front garden. Haringey has no basement Article 4, and its householder Article 4 directions cover Tower Gardens, Noel Park, Rookfield Estate and Peabody Cottages rather than Highgate.

One document applies on both sides: the Highgate Neighbourhood Plan

The Highgate Neighbourhood Plan was made on 11 September 2017 and, unusually, forms part of the statutory development plan in both boroughs. That gives Highgate a single set of local policies spanning a boundary that otherwise divides it.

Its Policy DH7 deals specifically with basements and imposes requirements that fill the gap on the Haringey side: a minimum of one metre of permeable soil above any basement beneath a garden, damage not exceeding Burland Scale 1, an anti backflow pump, and a construction management plan approved before commencement. On a Haringey address the neighbourhood plan is therefore doing much of the work that Camden's Policy A5 does to the west, and any scheme here should be assessed against it from the outset.

Heritage density, and what sits around the village

Camden has thirty nine conservation areas and over five thousand six hundred listed buildings, one of the heaviest concentrations of any English authority. Haringey has twenty eight conservation areas and around four hundred and seventy statutory listed buildings with a further eleven hundred and fifty locally listed.

Highgate Cemetery and Waterlow Park are designated Metropolitan Open Land on the Camden side, carrying protection equivalent to Green Belt under the London Plan, and they shape the setting of a good deal of the surrounding stock. On a hill village of narrow lanes, listed terraces and constrained access, the logistics of getting materials to a site are frequently as significant a cost driver as the work itself, and we price them explicitly rather than folding them into a rate.

Speak to us about your Highgate project

If you are planning a refurbishment, basement or new build in Highgate, 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 Highgate do you cover?

We work throughout N6: the village, The Grove, Fitzroy Park, Holly Lodge, Shepherd's Hill, plus Hampstead, Crouch End and Muswell Hill.

Have you worked in Highgate before?

Yes. Our published Highgate case study documents a complete residential project in the village, delivered with conservation aware detailing and full prime residential management.