Rear dormer drawings for Greenwich roofs — the box across the back slope that turns a low attic into a full-height room, drawn to the Royal Borough of Greenwich's guidance and the volume limits, delivered in days and revised free until your decision, with a free approval-odds check first.
the Royal Borough of Greenwich granted 87% of the householder planning decisions it made in its latest published year — level with the 87% England-wide householder average. The Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site and its buffer zone add height and setting tests near the town centre, which is where a policy-literate drawing pack earns its keep. Its dominant Georgian (1714–1837), Victorian (1837–1901), Edwardian (1901–1910) and interwar (1918–1939) housing stock sets the design brief on most streets.
Class A and Class B set the thresholds — a rear dormer to 40m³ on a terrace or 50m³ on a semi or detached, and a single-storey rear extension to 3m on a terrace or 4m on a detached house — beyond which the Royal Borough of Greenwich needs a full application. Greenwich carries at least one Article 4 direction, and conservation areas including West Greenwich, Blackheath Park and Ashburnham Triangle remove those rights outright, so we confirm your exact address before a line is drawn. A validated householder application in Greenwich is determined against an 8-week statutory target.
Greenwich (Georgian and early-Victorian terraces inside the West Greenwich conservation area), Blackheath (villas and terraces around the Cator Estate and Blackheath Park), Westcombe Park (Edwardian and Victorian villas climbing the hill above the river), Charlton (the older cottages and interwar streets around Charlton Village), Eltham (interwar semis including the Well Hall Progress Estate) and Woolwich (denser Victorian terraces amid riverside regeneration) — these are the Greenwich pockets our drawings cover most. Heritage designations here include West Greenwich, Blackheath Park, Ashburnham Triangle, Westcombe Park and Charlton Village. the Royal Borough of Greenwich weighs each proposal against the Royal Greenwich Local Plan: Core Strategy with Detailed Policies and the borough's residential extensions design guidance, where protected Thames-side views shape what roof additions are acceptable on the borough's northern edge. On roofs the borough is parapet and butterfly roofs on the Georgian terraces and pitched and hipped roofs on the villas, over Georgian and early-Victorian terraces, Victorian and Edwardian villas and riverside and interwar housing.
The box dormer is the workhorse loft, and most of Greenwich is built for it — the borough runs to Georgian and early-Victorian terraces, Victorian and Edwardian villas and riverside and interwar housing under parapet and butterfly roofs on the Georgian terraces and pitched and hipped roofs on the villas, and a flat-roofed box across the rear slope is the cheapest cubic metre of full-height space those roofs give up. the Royal Borough of Greenwich tests the dormer against the Royal Greenwich Local Plan: Core Strategy with Detailed Policies and the borough's residential extensions design guidance, and because permitted development turns on a number, the volume you propose against the volume you have left is the first thing an officer or a certificate checks.
That is why the arithmetic goes on the drawings. We calculate the box against the 40- or 50-cubic-metre allowance, count any earlier roof enlargement into the total, hold the flat roof below the ridge and set the face back off the eaves so the dormer reads as subordinate. The Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site and its buffer zone add height and setting tests near the town centre, so the cheeks, the window line and the material are drawn to answer it rather than invite a query.
Where Greenwich's streets are protected — West Greenwich, Blackheath Park, Ashburnham Triangle, Westcombe Park and Charlton Village among them — the Class B dormer right is switched off and even a modest rear box needs consent. Article 4 directions strip out permitted-development rights across Greenwich's conservation areas such as West Greenwich and Westcombe Park, so front-facing and roof alterations there need a full application. We confirm the designation before the box is sized.
Many rear dormers in Greenwich are permitted development, but the volume and position decide it. You will normally need a full application to the Royal Borough of Greenwich if any of these apply:
We draw the box within its volume allowance, the flat roof below the ridge and the face set back off the eaves — the three things a dormer stands or falls on — and submit a validation-complete pack, whether that is a lawful development certificate or a full householder application.
Below is the Royal Borough of Greenwich's real householder decision record, drawn from official planning statistics and refreshed as new data lands. Greenwich approves most householder applications, but the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site and its dense conservation coverage set the terms for what works near the town centre and the river. A dormer is decided on volume and set-back, so a pack that shows the calculation and the eaves detail is cleared faster and refused less often than a DIY submission.
Source: MHCLG planning application statistics (householder decisions, rolling year). Compare every borough on our London approval-rate league table.
Tell us about your project and get a fixed, no-obligation quote back within one working day. If you don't need planning permission at all, we'll tell you that too — for free.
Across Greenwich, Blackheath and Westcombe Park, the dormer that goes through is the subordinate rear box: flat roof kept low, cheeks clad to recede, side windows obscure-glazed against overlooking, and the whole thing set back so the original eaves line still reads from the garden. On parapet and butterfly roofs on the Georgian terraces, this returns a full-height double and en-suite from what was standing-room-only, usually inside the permitted-development volume.
Protected Thames-side views shape what roof additions are acceptable on the borough's northern edge. We keep the box off the ridge, match the cheek material to the roof, and where the volume is already spent — or the street is designated — draw the dormer as a householder application composed to the Royal Borough of Greenwich's roof-alteration guidance rather than push a certificate that would be refused.
We draw rear dormers on the terraced and semi-detached streets across the borough. A few of the neighbourhoods where Greenwich dormers come up most often:
Dormer loft drawings for Greenwich's Georgian and early-Victorian terraces inside the West Greenwich conservation area — volume-checked, set-back-detailed and drawn to the Royal Borough of Greenwich's guidance.
Dormer loft drawings for Blackheath's villas and terraces around the Cator Estate and Blackheath Park — volume-checked, set-back-detailed and drawn to the Royal Borough of Greenwich's guidance.
Dormer loft drawings for Westcombe Park's Edwardian and Victorian villas climbing the hill above the river — volume-checked, set-back-detailed and drawn to the Royal Borough of Greenwich's guidance.
Dormer loft drawings for Charlton's the older cottages and interwar streets around Charlton Village — volume-checked, set-back-detailed and drawn to the Royal Borough of Greenwich's guidance.
Dormer loft drawings for Eltham's interwar semis including the Well Hall Progress Estate — volume-checked, set-back-detailed and drawn to the Royal Borough of Greenwich's guidance.
Dormer loft drawings for Woolwich's denser Victorian terraces amid riverside regeneration — volume-checked, set-back-detailed and drawn to the Royal Borough of Greenwich's guidance.
Whether a dormer in Greenwich needs permission comes down to where it sits and how big the box is. This is how the cases compare.
| Dormer type | Permitted development? | What it gains | What the Royal Borough of Greenwich checks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rear box, within volume | Usually yes | Full-height room across the back | Volume total, 20cm eaves set-back |
| Rear box, over volume limit | No — full application | A larger room | How far over the allowance, bulk |
| Front or side dormer | No — full application | Light to the front rooms | Visibility from the street, character |
| Dormer in a conservation area | No — full application | Same space, extra scrutiny | Roof form and street appearance |
In conservation areas such as West Greenwich and Blackheath Park, Class B dormer rights are removed and every dormer needs a full application.
A fixed process built around how the Royal Borough of Greenwich validates and decides dormer applications — most drawings are submission-ready within seven days of survey.
Send us your Greenwich postcode and roof type. We confirm your conservation and Article 4 status, work out how much permitted-development volume you have left, and score your odds against live the Royal Borough of Greenwich decisions.
We measure ridge and eaves heights, roof pitch and the existing loft floor — the numbers the volume calculation, the set-back and the head heights depend on.
Chartered designers develop the box to your brief, drawn inside the Class B volume limits or, where those are exhausted or removed, to the Royal Borough of Greenwich's roof-alteration guidance.
We submit the certificate or application, manage validation and case-officer queries, and revise the drawings free until the Royal Borough of Greenwich issues its decision.
Often not. A rear box dormer within 40 cubic metres on a terrace, or 50 on a semi or detached house, set back at least 20 centimetres from the eaves and kept below the ridge, is usually permitted development. In Greenwich you will need a full application to the Royal Borough of Greenwich for a front or side dormer, a box that exceeds the volume, and any dormer in a conservation area such as West Greenwich and Blackheath Park, where those rights are removed.
The permitted-development limit is a volume, not a footprint: 40 cubic metres of added roof space on a terraced house and 50 on a semi-detached or detached one, and any earlier loft enlargement counts against that total. In Greenwich the box must also sit below the ridge and back from the eaves. We measure your roof and calculate the exact volume you have left before drawing. the Royal Borough of Greenwich is the decision-maker.
Not under permitted development. A dormer on the front roof slope, or one facing a highway, always needs a full application to the Royal Borough of Greenwich, because it changes how the house reads from the street. Rear box dormers are far more likely to be approved — or to be permitted development outright — which is why almost every Greenwich dormer we draw sits on the back slope.
Often, on a terrace or semi. If the dormer or the loft steelwork meets the party wall with your neighbour, the Party Wall etc. Act applies and notice must be served before work starts — separately from the Royal Borough of Greenwich's planning decision. We flag the party-wall junction on the drawings so a surveyor can be appointed early and the build is not held up.
If your dormer is permitted development, a lawful development certificate from the Royal Borough of Greenwich is council-stamped proof of it — worth holding, because a buyer's solicitor will ask for it when you sell. We prepare and submit the certificate with the same measured drawing pack that shows the box within its volume allowance.
We price each Greenwich dormer individually, because the roof pitch and the volume left vary house to house, and send a fixed, no-obligation quote within one working day. It covers the full drawing pack with free revisions until the Royal Borough of Greenwich approves, and we confirm at the outset whether your box is permitted development or needs an application. Call 020 7864 7245 to start.
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