Bathroom Renovation Kensington
Bathroom and wet-room refurbishment in Kensington, tanked, plumbed and tiled by one team.
- Rated 4.9 from 31 reviews on MyBuilder
- London guide: £6,000 to £20,000+
- 10 to 15 working days on site
- Free design visit, itemised quote
GS Renovation refurbishes bathrooms and en-suites across Kensington, in the period townhouses of W8 and the mansion flats near Knightsbridge and South Kensington. We handle the waterproofing, drainage, tiling, heating and fit-out on every project we take on.
In Kensington, a full bathroom refit typically costs £6,000 to £20,000 or more (indicative London ranges, MyBuilder and Checkatrade, 2026). GS Renovation Ltd, a building contractor based in Potters Bar, does the work in Kensington: we carry the tanking, plumbing and tiling as one contract, with the electrics certified by a registered electrician.
Price guide
| Work | Indicative London range |
|---|---|
| Bathroom renovation, full refit | £6,000 to £20,000+ |
Indicative London ranges (MyBuilder and Checkatrade, 2026), not a quotation. Prices checked September 2026. Full breakdown: Bathroom Renovation Cost.
Quick estimate for Kensington
Kensington range: choose above
How the job runs
- Free design visit at your Kensington home and an itemised quote.
- Strip-out, then first-fix plumbing and electrics.
- Tanking to the wet areas, then tiling.
- Sanitaryware and second fix, with notifiable electrics certified by a registered electrician. Typically 10 to 15 working days on site.
Wet rooms and tanking in Kensington
A lasting bathroom in a period Kensington home starts with proper waterproofing. We tank the walls and floor before tiling, which matters in tall townhouses where a leak can travel through several floors of original plaster and joinery below. Walk-in showers and wet rooms need falls formed accurately and the substrate sealed, so we build up the layers correctly rather than relying on the tiling alone to keep water out.
Drainage and ventilation are the parts homeowners rarely see but always feel. In W8's older houses, existing soil pipes and vents can be awkward to route, so we plan the runs early to keep gradients right and avoid damp. Extraction is sized to clear moisture from an internal or lower-ground bathroom, protecting your new finishes and the period fabric around them for years after the work is finished.
Housing in Kensington
Count the homes in Kensington and you get about 9,000: 19% built since 1945, 6% between the wars and 75% before 1919, with flats at 85% and houses at 15%. Since most homes here are flats, a bathroom in a flat in Kensington sits over a neighbour's ceiling, so it is tanked before tiling and a moved WC needs the freeholder's licence.
Bathroom refits over concrete floors in Kensington mansion blocks
85% of homes in Kensington are flats, and in a period mansion block the bathroom floor can be concrete or filler joist rather than timber. That decides how a level-access shower is formed. A tray cannot be recessed into joists that are not there, so either the floor is built up to create the fall, which raises the room by a step, or the concrete is broken into to drop the waste. The second route is concrete-breaking, which the Final Draft Code of Construction Practice limits to 9am to noon and 2pm to 5:30pm, Monday to Friday.
Those hours matter more in a block than in a house, because the flat below takes the vibration directly through its ceiling. We confirm the floor type at survey with a small opening, agree the breaking days with the managing agent and group them together, and pressure test the new waste before the screed goes back. In a Kensington townhouse with a lower ground bathroom the issue is reversed: water can arrive from the sewer, so the waste run is checked for backflow protection before the floor is laid.
En-suites and space-saving in Kensington
Period Kensington homes were not built with en-suites, so creating one often means borrowing space from a bedroom, a landing or a chimney recess. We design layouts that fit a shower, basin and WC into a tight footprint without feeling cramped, using wall-hung fittings and concealed cisterns to save room. Underfloor heating frees the walls of radiators and warms stone or tiled floors on the cooler lower levels of a townhouse.
In leasehold mansion flats, bathroom work must respect the flat below, so waterproofing and sound insulation are essential and the lease may require the freeholder's consent for moving wet areas. We coordinate with the managing agent on water isolation and working hours. New circuits and circuit changes near the bath or shower are notifiable under Part P and certified by a registered electrician, or notified to building control, so your finished en-suite near Holland Park is safe and fully documented.
- Full plumbing, drainage and waterproofing (tanking)
- Floor strengthening before large-format tiles or stone
- Wall and floor tiling in stone, porcelain or mosaic
VOA Council Tax stock of properties, March 2025, for Kensington Abingdon and Kensington Gardens. Counts rounded by the VOA.
Why Kensington Homeowners Choose GS Renovation
Kensington owners choose GS Renovation because a bathroom is only as good as its waterproofing, drainage and ventilation, and we get those right first. One team manages the tanking, tiling, heating and fit-out, working cleanly in occupied townhouses and mansion flats and respecting listed fabric where it matters, backed by our founder's 30+ years on the tools.
Saiid did a complete refurbishment of our small bathroom. This involved ripping out the existing bath/shower, basin, toilet, pipework, and tiles and…
George was a great find. The job required re-plastering the walls before fitting acrylic panels. He also re-plumbed the shower waste under the solid…
George always kept to commitments and arrived on time. He offered helpful suggestions during his initial visit and promptly provided a reasonably…
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions about Bathroom Renovation Kensington
Are there hidden costs with bathroom renovation in Kensington?
Every extra cost on bathroom renovation in Kensington needs your written agreement, and the foreseeable ones are already priced within £6,000 to £20,000 or more (indicative). Work in purpose-built period housing around W8 occasionally reveals something behind plaster; when it does, GS Renovation stops, costs it and waits for your decision. The sequence of work stays fixed: the fall to the waste is set and the walls tanked before tiling.
Can you fit an en-suite into my period Kensington bedroom?
Usually yes. We create en-suites in Kensington townhouses and flats by using a chimney recess, part of a bedroom or a landing, with wall-hung fittings and concealed cisterns to save space. We tank the area fully and plan the drainage and extraction, and the electrics are certified by a registered electrician under Part P. In a leasehold flat we also check whether the freeholder's consent is required first.
How long does a bathroom refit take in a Kensington mansion flat?
Allow 10 to 15 working days. Strip-out is booked for the hours the managing agent allows for noisy work. Waste falls are set before the tray goes in, and the walls around the shower are tanked before tiling. Every pipe joint is pressure tested while still visible, since a slow leak would reach the flat below before anyone upstairs noticed it.
Can a wet room go over a timber floor in my Kensington flat?
Yes, if the floor is made rigid and the whole room is waterproofed. Joists are stiffened and overlaid, the fall to the drain is formed in the floor, then the tanking membrane covers floor and lower walls, with the joints tested before tiling. A flexing floor cracks grout and lets water through to the neighbour's ceiling, so the stiffening is not optional.
Why is my shower weak in a top-floor Kensington flat?
Most likely because a gravity cylinder is fed from a tank only a little above the shower head. With so little height difference, the water arrives slowly. A pump, or an unvented cylinder fed from the mains, lifts the pressure. The choice is made before first fix, because each needs different pipe sizes and a different place for the cylinder.
Can the toilet move to the other wall in my Kensington flat bathroom?
It depends on the distance to the stack and the freeholder's view. A toilet waste is wide and needs a steady fall, so a long run or one crossing joists may not work by gravity. The stack is a shared service in a block, which is why the lease usually needs written consent to change the connection. A macerator is the fallback where gravity fails.
Where does the waste go for a new en suite in a Kensington townhouse?
To a soil stack, and finding a route to one is the first design task. 75% of homes in Kensington were built before 1919, when a house might have one bathroom or none, so stacks were added later, commonly on the rear elevation. A new en suite at the front either runs its waste back between the joists or boxed below a ceiling, or uses a pumped waste as a last resort. A new pipe on a street elevation in the Kensington Conservation Area needs planning permission, so internal routes come first.
Does a lower ground bathroom in a Kensington townhouse face a flood risk?
The publication version of the New Local Plan Review states that basements are considered highly vulnerable to flooding. For a bathroom below the level of the street drain, the risk runs backwards: a surcharged sewer can push water up through the shower waste or the toilet. The drainage is fitted with protection against backflow or pumped up to the drain, and that choice is made before the floor goes down.
When can noisy bathroom strip-out happen in a Kensington flat?
Between 8am and 6pm on weekdays. The council's Final Draft Code of Construction Practice keeps noisy work that can be heard at the site boundary to those hours and rules it out at weekends and on public holidays. Chiselling off old tiles and lifting a screed are among the loudest parts of a bathroom job, so they are booked into the first weekdays of the programme, and the flats above and below are told the dates.
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