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Landscaping in Hammersmith & Fulham

Narrow plots,
used properly.

The Fulham terrace is one of the most consistent house types in London: five or six metres wide, extended at the back, and left with a garden that has to work hard.

Building in Hammersmith & Fulham

What we work with here

01

The Victorian terrace, and what the extension left

Fulham, Brackenbury Village and the streets around Parsons Green are dense late-Victorian terraces, most now extended to the rear and into the side return. That extension is the defining fact of the garden: it takes the widest, sunniest part of the plot and leaves a shorter, sometimes L-shaped space beyond, usually with large glazed doors opening straight onto it. The garden becomes the view from the kitchen every day of the year, which raises the standard for what happens in the first three metres. Shepherd's Bush adds a mix of terraces and post-war blocks; the riverside brings apartment terraces and courtyards.

02

Clay, gravel and a river at the bottom of the hill

Most of the borough sits on London Clay, with Thames river terrace gravels closer to the water — free draining where you find them, and quite different to build on. The riverside strip through Fulham and Hammersmith lies within the Thames tidal flood plain, and while the wall protects it, surface water management is taken seriously here: permeable surfaces, attenuation and soakaways sized for the paving they serve are the sensible default rather than a box to tick. On the clay further back, the usual discipline applies — dig to a firm formation, compact the sub-base in layers, and set falls away from the building.

03

Side returns, thresholds and getting a skip on the street

Two details decide whether these gardens work. The first is the threshold: for bifolds to open onto a level terrace, the paving must sit just below the internal floor and still fall away from the house, which needs a channel drain across the opening and somewhere for the water to go. The second is the side return itself — often a narrow, shaded, north-facing strip that people write off, but which becomes usable with the right surface, a considered boundary and planting that tolerates it. Access is through the house on most of these plots, and skips need a council permit with a bay suspension in the controlled zones.

Our services in Hammersmith & Fulham

What we build in Hammersmith & Fulham

Garden Design

Bespoke garden planning, planting schemes, and 3D visuals.

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Porcelain Paving

Modern, stain-resistant paving solutions for contemporary gardens.

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Natural Stone Driveways

Elegant Yorkstone, Limestone, and Sandstone installations.

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Decking & Seating

Custom composite or hardwood decking with built-in features.

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Retaining Walls & Fencing

Structural walls and privacy fencing for defined garden spaces.

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Jet Washing & Rejuvenation

Restore old patios and driveways to look brand new.

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Questions we get asked

Hammersmith & Fulham, specifically

Can the side return be made into usable garden?
Usually, yes — it is often the most wasted space on a Fulham plot. A narrow shaded strip works when it is treated as a designed route rather than left over: a clean surface laid to a fall, a boundary treatment that lifts the light, wall-mounted or climbing planting that tolerates shade, and lighting so it reads at night from inside. It will not be a sitting area, but it can be a good-looking one and it stops the garden feeling truncated.
How do you get a flush threshold at bifold doors without water coming in?
With a channel drain and a deliberate fall. The paving sits marginally below the internal floor level, slopes away from the building, and a linear drain runs the full width of the opening connected to a soakaway or surface water drain. Done that way the transition looks flush and behaves properly. Laying level paving hard up to the frame with no drainage is the mistake that causes damp at the wall.
Does the Thames flood plain affect what I can lay in Fulham?
It affects how the water is handled more than what the surface is. Riverside parts of the borough sit within the tidal flood plain, and surface water management there is properly scrutinised. In practice that means favouring permeable construction, sizing soakaways for the actual paved area, and keeping runoff inside your own boundary rather than sending it to the highway — which is also what national permitted-development rules require for front gardens anyway.
Coverage

Areas we cover in Hammersmith & Fulham

  • Fulham
  • Hammersmith
  • Shepherd's Bush
  • Brackenbury Village
  • Parsons Green
  • Barons Court

Postcode districts: W6 · W12 · W14 · SW6

All 32 London boroughs

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