Flat Conversions Ealing

Flat conversion in Ealing means turning a house into self-contained flats, or occasionally combining flats back into one house. Houses are 46% of the borough's homes, and 28% are terraces, and the stock of Edwardian villas, Victorian terraces and 1930s semis is the raw material for conversion. Splitting a house into flats always needs planning permission, which the owner or their designer applies for, and each new flat counts as a new dwelling under the London Plan. We build the approved scheme, from separating floors to new meters.

In Ealing, converting a house into two or three flats is published at £50,000 to £120,000 including professional and council fees, and an England-wide guide puts a straightforward two-flat split at £40,000 to £80,000 in construction alone, which is the part a builder prices (indicative London ranges, Architectural Drawings and Mayfair Studio, 2026). GS Renovation Ltd, a building contractor based in Potters Bar, does the work in Ealing: we build the conversion to the approved drawings, building control inspects the fire and sound separation, and a registered electrician certifies each flat's electrics.

Which Ealing houses are split into self-contained flats

The houses that suit conversion in Ealing are the larger ones. 28% of the borough's homes were built before 1919, and the tall Victorian and Edwardian houses among them, with three floors and a rear addition, can hold two or three flats. The 1930s semis are usually smaller, with lower ceilings and a single staircase that would have to serve every flat. Whether a house works is a drawing-board question, so we look at the plans with the owner's designer before a price is fixed.

The London Plan small sites supporting text lists residential conversions among the forms of incremental intensification that count where they result in net additional housing, which is the policy case for a conversion. Planning permission is still needed every time, and London boroughs weigh the loss of a family home, so the owner's designer checks whether Ealing's current Local Plan sets a minimum original size or asks for a family-sized unit to be kept. We price the scheme only once the layout is settled.

Housing in Ealing

The Council Tax list puts Ealing at about 149,900 homes, 54% flats against 46% houses; 28% went up before 1919, 30% between the wars and 42% after 1945. Since most homes here are flats, changing the number of flats in Ealing needs the freeholder and usually planning.

Space standards for a new flat in Ealing

A self-contained flat created in Ealing counts as a new dwelling, and London Plan Policy D6 applies to it. The London Plan space standards table states that a new dwelling includes conversions and change of use. Policy D6 sets a minimum floor to ceiling height of 2.5m for at least 75 per cent of the Gross Internal Area. In a Victorian house the main rooms generally clear it, but the top floor and the rear addition are where the height runs short, and where the layout has to give way.

Bedrooms have their own minimums under Policy D6. A one-bedspace single bedroom must be at least 7.5 square metres and 2.15m wide, and a two-bedspace double or twin at least 11.5 square metres. Where Ealing sets no higher figure, D6 also asks for at least 5 square metres of private outdoor space for a 1 to 2 person flat, plus 1 square metre for each additional occupant. It also asks developments to maximise dual aspect dwellings. On a terrace that often decides who gets the garden and whether a small rear flat is viable at all.

Sound and fire separation between Ealing flats

Between the new flats in an Ealing house, fire separation and sound insulation drive the build. Approved Document E sets the performance for flats formed by material change of use at 43 dB airborne for walls and floors and 64 dB maximum impact for floors and stairs. The existing timber floors typically need added mass, resilient layers and a new independent ceiling, and the separating floors and walls are sound tested before completion, so any shortfall is fixed while the trades are still on site.

Fire separation and a protected escape route down the old staircase follow Part B: fire-rated floors and walls between each flat, fire doors onto the common stair, stopped service penetrations and detection in the common parts. Part L applies to the thermal elements we renew, Part K to stairs and guarding, and Part M where it applies. In Ealing a building notice is only suitable for small domestic works, so with Ealing as the approving body a conversion goes in as a full plan application, and the inspections are booked stage by stage.

Meters, s257 licences and the Ealing completion certificate

Each Ealing flat needs its own supplies: a separate electricity meter and consumer unit, a gas meter or an electric heating system, and its own water supply where the utility requires it. Each also needs a new postal address through the council's street naming and numbering process. Where a party wall with the house next door is cut into or built on, the building owner serves the Party Wall Act notices, and we programme the work to any agreement or award. All CIL chargeable development granted planning permission in Ealing on or after 1 March 2026 is liable for a CIL charge.

The completion certificate matters more on a conversion than almost anywhere else. A freeholder of a building converted into 3 or more self-contained rented flats without a Building Regulations Completion Certificate needs an Ealing s257 licence for the building. Ealing building control issues the certificate upon satisfactory completion on site, so we build to current regulations and close each stage with an inspection. Where flats are being combined back into a single house, the owner's designer confirms whether planning permission is needed before we start.

• Separate gas, electricity and water supplies for each flat
• Separating floors with independent ceilings and acoustic insulation
• New soil stacks, wastes and bathrooms stacked floor over floor

VOA Council Tax stock of properties, March 2025, for all 41 statistical areas in Ealing. Counts rounded by the VOA.

If you are weighing up options for your Ealing property, it is worth reading structural alterations in Ealing, our Ealing area guide, building control sign-off for a conversion, renovations across London, how we handle flat conversions across London and Structural Engineer Report Cost.

Why Choose GS Renovation in Ealing

Conversions fail at the details: a ceiling height, a missed fire stop, a floor that does not pass its sound test. GS Renovation's founder and director, Abdelaaziz Saaid, has more than three decades of hands-on building work behind him. We run each Ealing conversion from the approved drawings, with your structural engineer's details, building control inspections and pre-completion sound testing planned in from the start. The owner or their designer holds the planning consent, and we build to it and hand over the completion paperwork.

• Building control applications and inspections coordinated for you
• Mains-wired, interlinked smoke and heat alarms to the approved fire strategy
• Separating floors built to the acoustic detail the sound test checks

Checked by Abdelaaziz Saaid, founder and director of GS Renovation Ltd (Companies House no. 14611254). Structural design is by the consulting engineer appointed to your project.