Security guards in Kensington and Chelsea

Which parts of Kensington and Chelsea do we cover?

The whole borough, from the Grand Union Canal at Kensal Town to the Thames at Chelsea.

Its shopping streets carry a lot of weight in the London Plan. Knightsbridge, shared with Westminster, is an International centre. Kensington High Street and the eastern end of the King’s Road are Major centres, and the western King’s Road, Fulham Road, Brompton Cross, South Kensington, Earls Court Road, Notting Hill Gate and Portobello are district centres.

South Kensington is a district of museums and colleges. The Natural History Museum and the V&A face Cromwell Road (NHM, V&A). Imperial College’s campus (Imperial) and the Royal Albert Hall sit just to the north, around the Westminster border. Further south, Fulham Road has two hospitals, Chelsea and Westminster and The Royal Marsden (Chelsea and Westminster, Royal Marsden).

Homes here are mostly flats. At the 2021 Census, 57% of households lived in purpose-built blocks and another 24% in converted or shared houses (ONS).

The borough’s own Opportunity Area is Kensal Canalside, planned for 3,500 homes and 2,000 jobs. In the south-west, the Earl’s Court and West Kensington Opportunity Area, shared with Hammersmith and Fulham, has room for 6,500 homes.

What needs guarding in Kensington and Chelsea?

Building sites, basements included. The council’s Code of Construction Practice, which its planning reports were still applying in October 2026, puts every site in one of three categories before work begins, and a basement scheme needs a construction traffic management plan from the planning stage. Noisy work is allowed only from 8am to 6pm on weekdays, so many sites fall quiet each evening and over the weekend. Those are the hours when an officer on site, or regular mobile patrols, matter most: see construction site security.

Deliveries. The code allows deliveries and collections only between 9.30am and 4.30pm on weekdays, or until 3pm where a school or other traffic-sensitive use is on the route. It keeps skips and plant off the highway unless they’re licensed, and it doesn’t let vehicles wait or queue on any road in the borough. Traffic marshals help a site keep to those rules by guiding lorries in and out and keeping pedestrians away from reversing vehicles.

Residential blocks. Where a block has a front desk, our concierge officers greet residents, sign in visitors and contractors and take in parcels. They’re SIA-licensed, so they also control who comes into the building.

Shops. In Knightsbridge, on the King’s Road and along Kensington High Street, a uniformed retail security officer gives the shop floor a visible presence and backs up your staff with difficult customers.

Events. For a private view, dinner or launch in South Kensington, Chelsea or anywhere else in the borough, our event security officers can check guests in, look after the rooms and work to your event plan.

What should you plan around in Kensington and Chelsea?

• The hoarding has to say who to call. The code requires the contact details of the developer, the main contractor and the site foreman on the hoarding, with a 24-hour number for emergencies, and contractors on basement sites must belong to the Considerate Constructors Scheme. Give your officers the same contacts, so they know who to ring if something goes wrong at night.
• Carnival weekend. Notting Hill Carnival fills the streets of W11 every August bank holiday weekend (Notting Hill Carnival). In 2027 the parades are on Sunday 29 and Monday 30 August, with the steel band competition on Saturday 28. If you want to sell alcohol on those days and your premises licence doesn’t cover it, a standard temporary event notice has to reach the council at least ten working days before, and the police can object (Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea). Plan cover, and how your officers will reach the premises, well ahead.
• The code stops at the borough boundary. It’s the Royal Borough’s own, so check which council a site near the edge comes under. The Earl’s Court Opportunity Area straddles the border with Hammersmith and Fulham, and at Kensal Town the Grand Union Canal divides the Royal Borough from Westminster.