A West London practice

Huntsmore is an architecture, interior design, project management and bespoke joinery practice based on Kensington High Street. Almost all of our work is within a few miles of the studio, across Kensington, Holland Park, Notting Hill, Chelsea, Fulham, Bayswater, Maida Vale, Marylebone and Westminster. Working this close to home means we know the streets, the building types and the people who make decisions about them, and we can be on site quickly whenever a project needs us.

West London’s homes were mostly built between the late Georgian period and the Edwardian era, and they share qualities worth protecting: generous ceiling heights, tall sash windows, decorative plasterwork, panelled doors and fine staircases. Our job is to keep that character while making the houses and apartments work for the way people live today.

The homes we work on

Our projects range from complete renovations of Victorian townhouses to the careful reworking of listed apartments within mansion blocks. Typical briefs include reorganising a lower ground floor around a new kitchen, adding a rear or side-return extension, converting a loft, creating a principal bedroom suite, or bringing a tired apartment back to life with new services, joinery and finishes.

Many of the homes we work on are listed or sit within conservation areas, which shapes what can be changed and how. We treat those constraints as part of the design rather than an obstacle, and we plan the approvals into the programme from the outset.

Planning across the West London boroughs

West London is governed by several local authorities, each with its own policies and conservation officers. The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea covers Kensington, Holland Park, Notting Hill and Chelsea. The City of Westminster covers Bayswater, Maida Vale, Marylebone and Pimlico. Fulham sits within the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, and parts of Queen’s Park fall within Brent.

Each borough takes its own view on extensions, roof alterations, basements and changes to listed buildings. We prepare planning applications, listed building consent and the supporting heritage information with those differences in mind, and we deal with the planning officers on your behalf, so you are not left managing the process yourself.

Freeholders, estates and licences to alter

A large share of West London’s apartments are leasehold, and many buildings belong to estates or are run by freeholders and managing agents. Most alterations therefore need a licence to alter as well as any planning or listed building consent. We prepare the drawings and information that freeholders ask for, answer their surveyors’ questions and keep the licence moving alongside the other approvals.

One team from first visit to handover

With our in-house architects, interior designers and project managers, and our own joinery workshop in West London, we take a project from the first site visit to the final handover without passing it between separate firms. That keeps one point of accountability for design, cost and programme, and it means the decisions made on the drawings are the ones built on site.

During construction we act as project manager and contract administrator, overseeing the contractor, the budget and the quality of the work, with regular site meetings and clear reporting so you always know where the project stands.

What a first meeting covers

A first meeting usually takes place at the property. We walk through the house or apartment with you, talk about how you want to use it, look at the condition of the building and note anything likely to affect approvals or cost. Afterwards we set out a sensible next step, whether that is a feasibility study, a measured survey or a fee proposal for the full project.

Starting a conversation

If you own or are buying a period home in West London, the most useful first step is a conversation about the property and what you would like to achieve. From there we can talk through the approvals it is likely to need, a sensible programme and how we would approach the design.