Single-storey, double-storey, rear and side extension drawings for Southwark homes — measured to Southwark Council's design guidance, delivered in days and revised free until your decision, with a free approval-odds check before you commit.
Southwark Council granted 89% of the householder planning decisions it made in its latest published year — 2 points above the 87% England-wide householder average. Mansards and roof extensions on terraces are assessed against the established roofline and the conservation-area appraisal, which is where a policy-literate drawing pack earns its keep. Its dominant Georgian (1714–1837), Victorian (1837–1901) and postwar (1945–1970) housing stock sets the design brief on most streets.
Under Class B, a rear dormer stays permitted development up to 40m³ of added roof volume on a terrace or 50m³ on a semi-detached or detached house, while Class A allows a single-storey rear extension of 3m beyond the original rear wall on a terrace and 4m on a detached house before a full application is needed. Southwark carries at least one Article 4 direction, and conservation areas including Camberwell Grove, Dulwich Village and Bermondsey Street remove those rights outright, so we confirm your exact address before a line is drawn. A validated householder application in Southwark is determined against an 8-week statutory target.
Camberwell (Georgian and Victorian terraces around Camberwell Grove), Dulwich (villas and the Dulwich Village conservation area under the Dulwich Estate), Bermondsey (warehouse conversions and terraces off Bermondsey Street), Peckham (Victorian terraces including the Holly Grove enclave), Nunhead (modest Victorian terraces near Nunhead Green and the cemetery) and Walworth (dense Georgian and Victorian terraces threaded through large estates) — these are the Southwark pockets our drawings cover most. Heritage designations here include Camberwell Grove, Dulwich Village, Bermondsey Street, Holly Grove and Nunhead Green. Southwark Council weighs each proposal against the Southwark Plan and the borough's Residential Design Standards SPD, where the borough runs detailed basement and residential design standards on top of the usual tests. Camberwell, Peckham and the warehouse quarters around Bermondsey are heavily subdivided into flats, none of which hold householder permitted-development rights.. On roofs the borough is butterfly and parapet roofs on the terraces and flat and pitched roofs on the former warehouses, over Georgian and Victorian terraces, former warehouse and industrial conversions and Dulwich villas and postwar estates.
Southwark homes come in a handful of recurring shapes, and each one points to a different extension. The borough is built largely from Georgian and Victorian terraces, former warehouse and industrial conversions and Dulwich villas and postwar estates, so a Victorian terrace usually wants a rear or side-return infill, while an interwar semi has room for a wider single-storey wrap or a two-storey side addition. Southwark Council judges every one of them against the Southwark Plan and the borough's Residential Design Standards SPD, weighing footprint, height and the impact on the house next door before it looks at the elevations.
That is why the drawings decide the outcome. We set the extension depth against the permitted-development limits precisely, keep the eaves and ridge within the allowances, and plot the 45-degree daylight lines to the neighbours' windows so the case officer can see the amenity test is passed. Mansards and roof extensions on terraces are assessed against the established roofline and the conservation-area appraisal, so we design around it from the first sketch rather than discover it at validation.
Southwark also protects whole streets — Camberwell Grove, Dulwich Village, Bermondsey Street, Holly Grove and Nunhead Green among them. Southwark carries numerous Article 4 directions across conservation areas such as Camberwell Grove and Bermondsey Street, while the Dulwich Estate's scheme of management adds a separate layer of consent in Dulwich. On designated land the larger-home extension route and most side extensions stop being permitted development, so we confirm your address against those layers before drawing a line.
Plenty of Southwark extensions are permitted development and need no planning application — a single-storey rear extension within the depth and height limits is the common case. You will normally need to apply to Southwark Council if any of these apply:
We draw the footprint, the ridge and eaves heights and the neighbours' daylight on the page — the relationships Southwark Council's officers weigh first — and submit a validation-complete pack, whether that is a lawful development certificate, a prior-approval notification or a full householder application.
Below is Southwark Council's real householder decision record, drawn from official planning statistics and refreshed as new data lands. Southwark grants most householder applications, but heavy conservation-area coverage, its basement policies and the Dulwich Estate's scheme of management dictate what is achievable in many neighbourhoods. A complete, policy-literate extension pack anticipates those pressure points before submission, which is why professionally drawn applications are decided faster and refused less often than DIY ones.
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 Camberwell, Dulwich and Bermondsey, the extension that lands most often is the single-storey rear addition — a glazed kitchen-diner across the back of the house, kept within the permitted-development depth or taken to a full application where the ground floor wants more. On the borough's georgian and victorian terraces, a side-return infill frequently pairs with it to square off the plan; on wider dulwich villas and postwar estates, a two-storey side or rear extension can add a bedroom above without swallowing the garden.
The borough runs detailed basement and residential design standards on top of the usual tests. We size the extension to the amenity and daylight tests, match the roof and materials to the host house, and keep enough garden to satisfy Southwark Council's space standards — so the scheme answers the borough's questions before an objection can raise them. Where permitted-development rights are used up or removed, we prepare the householder application to the council's extension design guidance instead.
We draw extensions on every street in the borough. A few of the neighbourhoods where Southwark projects come up most often:
Extension drawings for Camberwell's Georgian and Victorian terraces around Camberwell Grove — footprint-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Southwark Council's guidance.
Extension drawings for Dulwich's villas and the Dulwich Village conservation area under the Dulwich Estate — footprint-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Southwark Council's guidance.
Extension drawings for Bermondsey's warehouse conversions and terraces off Bermondsey Street — footprint-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Southwark Council's guidance.
Extension drawings for Peckham's Victorian terraces including the Holly Grove enclave — footprint-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Southwark Council's guidance.
Extension drawings for Nunhead's modest Victorian terraces near Nunhead Green and the cemetery — footprint-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Southwark Council's guidance.
Extension drawings for Walworth's dense Georgian and Victorian terraces threaded through large estates — footprint-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Southwark Council's guidance.
The right extension in Southwark depends on your house type and how much garden you can give up. This is how the main options compare on planning route and what they add.
| Extension type | Permitted development? | What it adds | What Southwark Council checks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Single-storey rear | Often, within 3m/4m depth (6m/8m via prior approval) | Bigger kitchen-diner across the back | Depth, height, neighbour daylight (45°) |
| Side-return infill | Sometimes, if within width and height limits | Squares off an L-shaped ground floor | Width vs the original house, glazing to boundary |
| Two-storey rear/side | No — full application | Extra bedroom or bathroom above | Bulk, overlooking, 7m rear-boundary gap |
| Wraparound (rear + side) | No — full application | Whole-width open-plan ground floor | Combined footprint and garden retained |
Route depends on your street — conservation areas such as Camberwell Grove and Dulwich Village and Article 4 directions can remove permitted-development rights.
A fixed process built around how Southwark Council validates and decides householder extension applications — most drawings are submission-ready within seven days of survey.
Tell us your Southwark postcode and house type. We confirm your conservation and Article 4 status, how much permitted-development depth you have left, and score your odds against live Southwark Council decisions.
We measure the existing footprint, floor and eaves levels, boundary distances and the neighbours' window positions — the numbers the depth limits and daylight tests depend on.
Chartered designers develop the single-storey, two-storey or side extension to your brief, drawn inside the permitted-development limits or to Southwark Council's extension design guidance.
We submit the certificate, prior-approval notice or application, manage validation and case-officer queries, and revise the drawings free until Southwark Council issues its decision.
Not always. A single-storey rear extension up to 3 metres deep on a terrace or semi, or 4 metres on a detached house, and no higher than 4 metres, is usually permitted development. In Southwark you will need to apply to Southwark Council for two-storey extensions, side extensions wider than half the house, anything forward of the front wall, deeper rear extensions under the larger-home prior-approval route, and any extension in a conservation area such as Camberwell Grove and Dulwich Village.
Standard permitted development allows 3 metres on a terraced or semi-detached house and 4 metres on a detached one. The larger-home extension scheme can double that to 6 or 8 metres, but it needs a prior-approval notification to Southwark Council and a neighbour-consultation period, and it does not apply on designated land such as Southwark's conservation areas. We confirm which route your property qualifies for before drawing.
Two-storey and double-storey extensions almost always need a full householder application to Southwark Council, because they fall outside permitted development on most homes. The council looks closely at bulk, overlooking of neighbours and the 7-metre gap a two-storey rear extension must keep from the rear boundary. We design to those tests and show the daylight and privacy angles on the drawings.
A householder planning application in Southwark runs to a statutory eight-week target, a larger-home prior-approval notification to around six weeks including the neighbour-consultation period, and a lawful development certificate to eight weeks. Incomplete submissions stall at validation, so we submit a complete pack and manage officer queries to keep the decision on schedule. Southwark Council is the decision-maker.
Yes — planning permission and building regulations are separate consents, and almost every extension needs both. Planning governs whether you can build it; building control governs how it is built, covering structure, insulation, drainage and fire safety. We prepare the building-regulations drawings alongside the planning set so Southwark Council's building control or an approved inspector can sign the work off.
Every house and brief is different, so we price each Southwark extension individually and send a fixed, no-obligation quote back within one working day. It covers the full drawing pack with free revisions until Southwark Council approves, and we tell you upfront whether your extension qualifies as permitted development. Call 020 7864 7245 to get started.
Answer five quick questions and get a free planning score for your exact address — instantly. Then, if you want the full picture, unlock the detailed analysis: your council's live approval rates, local precedents, constraints on your street and a step-by-step route to permission.
Same fixed quotes, same fast drawings — wherever your project is.