Luxury Builders
in Richmond & Kew

Prime residential construction in Richmond & Kew

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

What we build in Richmond & Kew

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.

Richmond's stock runs from the Georgian terraces of Richmond Hill and The Vineyard to substantial Victorian villas towards the Park, with Kew Green and the streets behind it carrying listed houses in the shadow of the Botanic Gardens. Conservation areas dominate, the Thames brings flood considerations to the riverside, and the borough guards the protected Richmond Hill view fiercely. This is territory for meticulous consent management and craft led execution, period joinery, lime plaster, stone, backed by the modern services integration every family home now expects.

Areas we serve

We work across Richmond and Kew, Richmond Hill, The Vineyard, Kew Green, St Margarets and East Sheen, plus Twickenham, Barnes and Ham. 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.

A new Local Plan, a borough wide basement Article 4, and 85 conservation areas

Richmond adopted a new Local Plan on 7 October 2025, superseding the 2018 plan and its Policy LP6. Basements are now governed by Policy 54, which resists subterranean development of more than one storey below existing ground level at residential properties, a single storey being one that cannot later be subdivided, at approximately 2.7 metres floor to ceiling.

A basement must extend to no more than fifty per cent of the existing garden land or half of any other undeveloped garden area, excluding the footprint of the original building, and must include a minimum of one metre of naturally draining permeable soil above any part beneath the garden together with a minimum two hundred millimetre drainage layer. A structural impact assessment is required where a basement is added to, or adjacent to, a listed building. In Flood Zone 3b all basements, extensions and conversions are unacceptable.

There is no permitted development route anywhere in the borough. Two Article 4 Directions confirmed in April 2017 and in effect from 1 April 2018, one covering the greatest flood hazard areas and one covering all other land, together remove those rights across the whole of Richmond upon Thames. The borough also has eighty five conservation areas, the highest number of any authority we work in, with roughly a hundred and twenty further street and terrace specific Article 4 directions inside them covering extensions, windows and doors, painting or rendering brickwork, chimney removal, front gardens and boundary walls.

The only view in England protected by an Act of Parliament

Richmond Hill carries a protection that exists nowhere else in the country. The Richmond, Petersham and Ham Open Spaces Act 1902 prevents development of land on and below the Hill, and the Council notes that this is the only view in England protected by its own Act of Parliament. Separately, the view from King Henry VIII's Mound to St Paul's Cathedral is protected by a Secretary of State Direction.

For building work in the vicinity that means the assessment is not simply about a conservation area or a listed building but about a statutory protection with its own history, and schemes affecting the view are examined accordingly. It is a constraint worth knowing about before appointing an architect rather than after.

Kew: a World Heritage Site with a 350 hectare buffer zone

The Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew were inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2003. The site covers 132 hectares and carries a buffer zone of a further 350 hectares, and the Council's Policy 32 protects both the site and its wider setting. A property well outside the garden walls can still sit within the buffer, which is exactly the situation most owners do not anticipate.

Kew's own stock is distinctive within the borough: Kew Green fronted by grand Georgian and Victorian houses with terraced cottages to the north east, and an arrangement the Council describes as more densely packed than most of the borough with shorter set backs from the street. Shorter set backs mean less room for site compound, scaffold and deliveries, which on a constrained Kew job is a programme issue rather than a detail. Conservation areas covering the area include Kew Green, Kew Gardens, Lawn Crescent, Kew Road and the Royal Botanic Gardens themselves, with Article 4 directions on streets including Cambridge Cottages, Gloucester Road, Priory Road and The Green.

Speak to us about your Richmond & Kew project

If you are planning a refurbishment, basement or new build in Richmond & Kew, 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 Richmond & Kew do you cover?

We cover Richmond Hill, The Vineyard, Kew Green, St Margarets and East Sheen, plus Twickenham, Barnes and Ham.

Do you handle listed and conservation-area work in Richmond?

Yes. Listed Building Consent, conservation detailing and heritage trades are core capability, delivered alongside full mechanical, electrical and smart home modernisation.