Flat Refurbishment Stratford

Flat refurbishment is the everyday refurbishment job in Stratford, because 71% of homes here are flats. They come in two very different forms: apartments in newer blocks, such as those near the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, and flats carved out of older Victorian terraces. 37% of all homes in Stratford were built in 2000 or later. Either way the flat shares walls, floors and services with neighbours, and the lease decides much of what can be changed and when.

For Stratford, published UK averages put a full flat refurbishment at £33,000 to £48,000 and a basic one, with budget kitchen and bathroom fittings, at £15,000 to £18,000, and London flats usually cost more (Checkatrade and MyJobQuote, 2026). GS Renovation Ltd, a building contractor based in Potters Bar, does the work in Stratford: we refurbish the flat within the terms of your lease and licence to alter, protect the common parts throughout, and a registered electrician certifies the new consumer unit and circuits.

Two kinds of Stratford flat: new blocks and split terraces

The type of block sets the method for a Stratford flat before any finish is chosen. In the apartment blocks built in 2000 or later around the park and the station, the structure is often a concrete frame with lightweight partitions, services in shared risers and a fire alarm system run by the building. Walls that look like partitions may carry fire lines, so we ask the managing agent for the block's fire strategy and as-built drawings before any wall is touched.

A flat inside a converted Stratford terrace is a different job. The floor between you and the flat below is usually old timber joists with a new ceiling underneath, the stair and hall may be shared, and the pipework can pass through another owner's flat. Leaks travel straight down in this kind of building, so we isolate and test the water supply before anything is stripped out, and we keep a record of the ceiling below before and after the works.

Housing in Stratford

Stratford has about 17,020 homes on the Council Tax list: 27% pre-1919, 1% interwar and 71% post-war, with flats making up 71% and houses 29%.

Lease, licence to alter and the managing agent in Stratford

Refurbishing a Stratford flat starts with the lease rather than the tools. A typical lease asks for a licence to alter from the landlord, usually through the managing agent, before walls, floors or services change, and the agent will want method statements and a named contact. The licence can take weeks, so we give the agent our scope, programme and method statements early and build the start date around the reply.

A Stratford block at least 18 metres high or with at least 7 storeys and 2 or more homes is a higher-risk building under the Building Safety Act. Building work there needs the Building Safety Regulator's approval before it starts, with no building notice route, unless a competent person scheme installer does it. For a flat in a lower block, Newham Building Control handles the notifiable parts, and new circuits or a replacement boiler are notified through the installer's registration scheme. Where the flat entrance door or compartment walls are involved, those are matters for the freeholder or the building's responsible person, and we work to their instructions.

Working inside a Stratford block: lifts, stairs and noise

Logistics decide the programme in a Stratford block more than the trades do. Lifts are booked and lined with protection, common corridors are covered and cleaned daily, and materials go up in sizes that fit the lift or the stair. Waste leaves the same way, in bags carried down and taken away on a timed collection, because a skip on a busy E15 street is rarely possible outside a house. Parking is limited to agreed bays or loading times.

Newham allows standard building site work from 8am to 6pm on weekdays and 8am to 1pm on Saturdays, with nothing on Sundays or bank holidays, and a block's own rules are often tighter than that. Under new hard floors the lease may require an acoustic underlay or a floating floor, and the agent may ask for evidence of it before sign-off. We keep the noisiest stripping out to the first days of a Stratford programme.

Letting a Stratford flat: EPC bands and selective licensing

A rented flat in Stratford is refurbished against energy and licensing rules as well as the lease. Since 1 April 2018 private landlords may not let domestic properties on new tenancies with an EPC rating of F or G unless an exemption applies. Since 1 April 2020 no let may start or continue below E without a valid exemption. Newham enforces the standard with financial penalty notices per property, so an empty flat between tenancies is the time to fix heating controls and glazing.

Stratford ward is included in Newham's selective licensing designation, which covers every ward except Royal Victoria and Stratford Olympic Park. A flat let privately to one household in the ward therefore needs a licence. A flat let to sharers from two or more households falls under Newham's additional HMO licensing instead, which covers every ward except Royal Victoria and Stratford Olympic Park. The landlord or their agent makes the application. We carry out the works an inspection or licence condition calls for inside the flat, such as smoke detection wiring, extraction, damp repairs and electrical safety, and pass on the certificates.

• Acoustic underlays and floating floors to the lease specification
• Secondary glazing inside windows the lease keeps with the freeholder
• Bathroom and shower room renewal with pressure tested pipework

VOA Council Tax stock of properties, March 2025, for Stratford East, Stratford Central, West Ham & Stratford Park and Carpenters Estate & Stratford New Town. Counts rounded by the VOA.

For the wider picture around flat refurbishment in Stratford, see bathroom renovation in Stratford, flat refurbishment across Newham, flat renovations in London, renewing a bathroom inside a leasehold flat, flat refurbishment anywhere in London and Small Kitchen Ideas.

Why Stratford Homeowners Choose GS Renovation

A Stratford flat refurbishment is as much about the building as the flat, so the founder, Abdelaaziz Saaid, visits, reads what the lease allows and prices the job against the managing agent's rules. You get a written quotation and a programme that includes the licence to alter, lift bookings and delivery times. One point of contact deals with the agent and the neighbours below. A registered electrician certifies the consumer unit and circuits, and a registered gas engineer carries out any boiler work.

• Fire doors and compartment lines left as the building's fire strategy needs them
• Materials priced at options, so you choose the finish
• The lease and licence to alter read before a flat is quoted

Checked by Abdelaaziz Saaid, founder and director of GS Renovation Ltd (Companies House no. 14611254).