The area in outline
A single Hackney conservation area of about 41 hectares sets the boundary for this guide to De Beauvoir. Most of the designated land also falls under an Article 4 direction, so designation and direction together decide much of what an owner can change without first making an application.
Listing, geology and flood results below are reported for the designated area itself, whereas housing numbers draw on three surrounding LSOAs. The Hackney guide covers the rest of the borough.
Public records for the conservation area
Every statement below links to the public record it comes from; sources were re-checked on .
Designation and direction
Hackney reference CA14, an extent of about 40.9 hectares and a designation year of 1971, given without day or month, are what the De Beauvoir conservation area record holds.
Among the Article 4 direction areas published nationally, one named De Beauvoir Conservation Area (article 4 direction area), with a start date of 27 November 2008, covers about 89% of the conservation area.
That leaves roughly 11% of the designated land outside the direction, so the direction record is compared with the exact property before any external work is treated as permitted development.
The dataset also holds other directions over all or part of the area whose titles do not identify them as heritage controls, and Hackney's page for the conservation area is the place to confirm what applies.
A buyer's conveyancer can also confirm registered directions through the council's local land charges search.
Thirty-one Grade II entries
The NHLE points layer gives 31 list entries for the conservation area, all 31 at Grade II, in a query run on 1 November 2026.
Nothing is graded above II, and the same layer shows neither scheduled monuments nor registered parks or gardens inside this boundary.
A single entry can take in a whole terrace or a group of houses, so a property may be listed as part of a longer range, which is why the entry wording is read in full rather than searched by house number alone.
Hackney Gravel over London Clay
Hackney Gravel Member, mapped as sand and gravel, caps the London Clay Formation (clay, silt and sand) at every sample point in the geology viewer from the BGS at 1:50,000.
Shallow gravel drains freely but can lose its finer fraction where drains or supply pipes leak, so a surveyor reading the BGS viewer here pays close attention to drainage runs and to any localised settlement.
The 1:50,000 sheet does not show gravel thickness, and so cannot say how close the clay comes to the underside of a footing, which leaves the mapped geology as context for an inspection rather than a finding.
Flood records
The whole conservation area lies outside both Flood Zone 2 and Flood Zone 3 on the Environment Agency's map of flood zones for planning.
Those zones are planning tools that leave out defences and cannot describe one building, so for a basement flat the government's long-term flood checker and its surface water results are consulted as well.
Flats, terraces and build periods
Three LSOAs around the conservation area (E01001751, E01001756 and E01001750) contain about 2,830 dwellings in the VOA count of properties by band and type for 2025, and each figure there is rounded to the nearest ten.
That VOA count records 69.3% flats or maisonettes, 24.4% terraced houses, 5.7% semi-detached houses and 0.7% detached houses.
By build period, the same count gives 42.4% before 1900, 18.0% from 2000 onward, 17.0% for 1945-1972, 12.7% for 1900-1918, 9.2% for 1973-1999, 0.4% for 1919-1939 and 0.7% unknown.
Bands F to H hold 25.8% of the dwellings, split almost evenly between band F at 12.7% and band G at 13.1%, in the band breakdown.
Because these areas approximate the conservation area rather than match it, the VOA figures describe the neighbourhood; within it, a pre-1900 terraced house divided into flats raises questions about shared roofs, separating floors and who holds the freehold.
Local guides for the conservation area
Pick the local page for the instruction in hand; the London-wide pages listed with them give the general approach to each service.
Neighbouring guides
Each of Dalston, Haggerston, Hoxton, Canonbury and Newington Green has a separate page, and the Hackney guide sets out the wider borough.
Questions owners and buyers ask
Does an Article 4 direction cover the conservation area?
Most of it. A direction named De Beauvoir Conservation Area (article 4 direction area), starting 27 November 2008, covers about 89% of the conservation area in the national Article 4 record. Whether an address is in the remaining part, and what the direction restricts, is confirmed with Hackney before work begins.
Are any buildings here listed above Grade II?
None in the current data. The NHLE query on 1 November 2026 returned 31 list entries within the conservation area, all Grade II. Some entries cover several houses, so read the full wording for the address rather than relying on a house number.
What date does the national record give for the designation?
Only a year: 1971, with no day or month, for the conservation area, reference CA14. The boundary covers about 40.9 hectares and is the reference line for the heritage, ground and flood results on this page.
What ground conditions does the map show?
Hackney Gravel over London Clay at all five BGS sample points. Gravel lets water through quickly and a leaking drain can scour it, while the clay beneath can move with moisture, so drainage and cracking are both examined on site rather than assumed from the map.
Is flooding mapped here?
The Environment Agency's planning zones shade no land in the conservation area as Flood Zone 2 or 3. Defences are left out of those zones and they do not assess single buildings, so a basement or lower ground floor flat should also be checked for surface water.
What should I send for a flat in a converted terrace?
The address, the lease or its key terms, service charge accounts and any notices about roof or facade works. If the building was converted, copies of the planning permission or building control completion for that work help show what was approved and when; say too whether the freehold is shared.
How we work on an instruction
Hampstead Chartered Surveyors is a RICS-regulated firm (RICS Regulated Firm No. 923064) working from its registered Hampstead NW3 office. The firm does not claim premises, staff or completed instructions in an individual locality, and it does not treat a neighbourhood name as evidence about a particular building.
An instruction starts with the full address, the decision the client faces and the documents already available, such as leases, drawings, notices or earlier reports. The scope, fee and inspection date are confirmed in writing only after that review, and access to roofs, lofts, basements or common parts is agreed before the visit.
Reports include RICS Level 2 and Level 3 home surveys, building and defect investigations, party wall appointments, reinstatement cost assessments, contract administration and schedules of condition. Each report records what was inspected, what could not be seen and what further investigation the evidence supports.
Public datasets such as the conservation-area register, the National Heritage List for England, British Geological Survey mapping, the Environment Agency flood map and Valuation Office Agency housing statistics describe areas rather than individual properties. They frame questions before an inspection; they never replace it.
Reviewed by Savas Bulduk BSc (Hons) MRICS, Director & Chartered Building Surveyor at Hampstead Chartered Surveyors & Building Consultancy. Last reviewed: . Our people · RICS firm record