Prime Residential Builders
in Watford & Hertfordshire

A London prime contractor, based in Hertfordshire

Crown Building has been delivering prime residential construction since 2013, and our home has always been in Watford. While much of our work is in the prime central London postcodes, Mayfair, Chelsea, Knightsbridge, Belgravia, our roots, our team and our registered office sit firmly in Hertfordshire. For homeowners across the county, that means access to a contractor working to a genuine prime residential standard, without the project being treated as an out of area job.

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 Radlett, Bushey or St Albans. The standard does not change with the postcode.

What we build across Hertfordshire

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.

Hertfordshire's housing stock is varied, from period and conservation area properties to substantial modern family homes, and each brings its own demands. Period work calls for sympathetic detailing and an understanding of conservation consents; larger contemporary builds call for the coordination of complex mechanical, electrical and smart home systems. We are equipped for both, and we plan for the constraints of a project before work begins rather than discovering them on site.

Areas we serve

From our Watford base we work throughout Hertfordshire and the bordering north west London areas, including Watford, Bushey, Radlett, Rickmansworth, Chorleywood, St Albans, Harpenden, Stanmore, Mill Hill and Elstree. Our central position in the county keeps our team close to site, which matters more than it sounds, because consistent senior presence on site is one of the clearest markers of a well run project.

Cassiobury Park Avenue and Cassiobury Drive: check before you draw

Watford's Article 4 coverage is unusually dense and, unlike most authorities, it is address specific rather than area wide. There are more than sixty separate directions. The two most relevant to prime residential work sit on Cassiobury Park Avenue, at numbers 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, 18, 28, 35, 40, 43 and 43A, and on Cassiobury Drive at numbers 1, 44, 107 and 121.

Those directions remove permitted development rights under Part 1 Classes A, B, C, D and G, which covers enlargement and alteration, enlargement of the roof, other roof alterations, porches and outbuildings within the curtilage. That is close to everything a householder scheme would normally rely on. Equivalent residential directions apply in the Nascot and The Square conservation areas and at Estcourt, Oxhey, Watford Heath and the High Street, with named streets including Langley Way, Langley Road, Temple Close, Parkside Drive, Lebanon Close, Shepherds Road, The Gardens, Chalk Hill, Hempstead Road and Rickmansworth Road.

The Council publishes an address finder for exactly this purpose. We run it on every Watford enquiry before quoting, because the difference between a permitted development scheme and a full application is months and a fee.

Watford has a current Local Plan and no basement policy

Watford is the exception among the Hertfordshire authorities we work across: its Local Plan 2021 to 2038 was adopted on 17 October 2022 and is up to date, fully superseding the 2006 Core Strategy and the saved policies of the 2000 District Plan. A good deal of material still circulating refers to a Watford plan for 2018 to 2036, which does not exist.

Around nineteen per cent of the borough is Green Belt, most of it performing a community function as public open space, and the plan contains no local Green Belt extension policy at all. The old Core Strategy policy was superseded and not replaced, so the tests fall directly to national policy rather than to any Watford percentage or volume cap. There is also no basement or subterranean development policy in the Watford plan, which is a marked contrast with the London boroughs a few miles south.

The Residential Design Guide does give numbers to design to: single storey rear extensions to a maximum depth of three and a half metres, and less on terraced houses; a forty five degree daylight rule; a privacy arc with a twenty seven and a half metre radius; at least a one metre gap to the side boundary for two storey and first floor side extensions; and dormers not exceeding half the roof height or half the roof width.

Groundwater protection is the sharpest constraint on the ground

The Local Plan is explicit that the River Colne basin is designated as Groundwater Source Protection Zone 1, the most sensitive category, with an area buffering the waterway covering much of east Watford designated Zone 2 and sensitive to contamination. Policy NE9.4 requires proof that development within a Source Protection Zone poses no risk to controlled waters, which shapes what can be done with ground bearing works, piling and any below ground storage.

Flood policy adds more. A Flood Risk Assessment is required for all development in Flood Zones 2 and 3, and an eight metre undeveloped buffer must be kept from the top of the bank of any Main River, including for landscaping, paths, lighting and fencing. Development within eight metres of a culvert must demonstrate that de-culverting was sought and must survey the culvert's condition. Cassiobury Park, immediately adjacent to the highest value residential stock, is a Grade II Registered Park and Garden, and its setting is an explicit planning constraint.

Speak to our Watford team

If you are planning a build, refurbishment or extension in Watford or anywhere in Hertfordshire, 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 Hertfordshire and across prime London.

Which areas of Hertfordshire does Crown Building cover?

We deliver projects across Watford, Bushey, Radlett, Rickmansworth, St Albans, Harpenden, Stanmore and the surrounding Hertfordshire and north west London areas.

Do you only build large luxury homes?

We specialise in high quality residential work, new builds, private residence refurbishments, extensions, basements and bespoke joinery. Whatever the scale, every project is delivered to the same prime residential standard with senior management oversight throughout.