Building work in Hanwell: area guide

This is our area guide to building work in Hanwell (W7, Ealing): the housing, the council rules that apply (Ealing Council for planning) and every service we offer here. For whole-house refurbishment go to Home renovation in Hanwell.

Hanwell went up a little later than the streets nearer central London, and the difference shows in the plan. The W7 terraces between Brent Lodge Park, the Wharncliffe Viaduct and the Grand Union Canal are Edwardian rather than early Victorian: wider frontages, a proper entrance hall, better sized timbers and rooms that take modern furniture without a fight. They are good houses to work on, provided the work respects how they were put together, and that decides which job comes first: the spine wall, the rear addition or the garden. Building control applications and inspections are coordinated throughout.

About 10,370 homes are listed for Hanwell, and the mix is 58% houses to 42% flats, with 30% built after 1945, 34% in 1919 to 1939 and 36% earlier. VOA Council Tax stock of properties, March 2025, for Hanwell, Elthorne Park and Cuckoo Park. Counts rounded by the VOA.

The W7 Edwardian terrace is put together around a spine wall

The plan is generous by terrace standards: a hall running past two reception rooms, a rear addition with the original kitchen or scullery in it, and a staircase that is not the afterthought it can be in earlier houses. Structurally there are solid external walls, a spine wall taking the floor joists, and often a wider span in the front reception because of the bay. Joining the two receptions is therefore a load-bearing wall removal. Joists tend to be better sized than in Victorian stock, though a century of pipe runs notched through them will still have taken strength out of the floor.

Work usually starts with the rear addition, the room everyone wants to cook in and where the construction is weakest. Single skin walls, a low pitch or flat roof patched several times, and a bathroom stacked above it are the standard arrangement. Bringing it up to standard means insulating it properly, sorting the roof covering and rainwater goods, and resolving drainage for a layout that will not match the old one, all before new units are fitted. Do it in the wrong order and the new plaster gets fed by the old roof.

Ground and drainage decide the cost of extending into the garden

Building out at the back is how most of these houses gain a family kitchen, a house extension job where the ground decides the cost long before the finishes do. Foundation depth is set by the structural engineer after trial holes, taking account of what is actually under the plot and of any mature trees nearby, which are common on these streets. Drainage is the other early question. Older terraces frequently share drain runs, so the position of the manhole and the route of the pipe are established at survey, and building over or near a shared drain requires an agreement with the water authority.

Then the build is a matter of sequence. Excavation and foundations are inspected before concrete goes in, the opening into the existing house, an RSJ installation in its own right, is formed to the engineer's design with proper propping, and damp proofing, structure and insulation are each inspected at the right stage. Levels between the existing floor, the new floor and the garden are thought through early so the finished threshold works without water sitting against the building. Access here is generally through the side or the house, and we protect the route before anything heavy moves.

Where to go next for work in Hanwell: house extensions in Hanwell, the Ealing area guide, building work in Southall, building work in Brentford and How to Plan a Renovation.