Back-of-house extension drawings for Greenwich homes — the glazed kitchen-diner across the rear, drawn to the Royal Borough of Greenwich's depth and daylight 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 rear extension is the workhorse of Greenwich home improvement — it is how a dark back kitchen becomes an open family room facing the garden. Because the borough is built largely from Georgian and early-Victorian terraces, Victorian and Edwardian villas and riverside and interwar housing, most back walls sit close to a neighbour on at least one side, and that proximity, not the design, is what the Royal Borough of Greenwich scrutinises. The council reads the proposal against the Royal Greenwich Local Plan: Core Strategy with Detailed Policies and the borough's residential extensions design guidance, and the first line an officer draws is the 45-degree splay from the neighbour's nearest window.
So the drawings live or die on geometry. We set the depth against the exact permitted-development figure, hold the eaves and the flat-roof or lantern build-up under the 4-metre height ceiling, and show the projection tested against both the 45-degree plan angle and the 25-degree section angle to the neighbouring windows. The Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site and its buffer zone add height and setting tests near the town centre, so the rear elevation is composed around it rather than corrected after an objection.
Where the property sits in a conservation area — West Greenwich, Blackheath Park, Ashburnham Triangle, Westcombe Park and Charlton Village among Greenwich's — the larger-home extension route is switched off and even a modest rear addition 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 survey.
Many single-storey rear extensions in Greenwich are permitted development and need no application. You will normally need to apply to the Royal Borough of Greenwich, or use the larger-home prior-approval route, if any of these apply:
We draw the depth, the roof build-up and the daylight splays to each neighbour on the page — the tests the Royal Borough of Greenwich's officers apply first — and submit a validation-complete pack, whether that is a lawful development certificate, a larger-home prior-approval notice or a full householder application.
Below is the Royal Borough of Greenwich's real householder decision record, taken 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. Rear extensions turn most often on neighbour daylight and depth, so a drawing pack that proves those tests upfront is decided 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 approved rear extension is typically a single-storey glazed box within the depth limit, roofed either flat with a lantern or in a shallow mono-pitch, and finished in brick or render to match the host wall. On the borough's georgian and early-victorian terraces, keeping the projection to the permitted-development figure often avoids an application entirely; where owners want the full 6 metres, the larger-home route succeeds when the neighbour-consultation period passes without a sustained objection.
Protected Thames-side views shape what roof additions are acceptable on the borough's northern edge. We keep the extension inside the daylight splays, set any glazed roof below the first-floor cill, and retain the garden depth the Royal Borough of Greenwich expects — so the back elevation answers the amenity case before a neighbour can lodge one. Two-storey rear extensions we draw with the 7-metre boundary gap and privacy screening resolved on the plan.
We draw rear extensions on every street in the borough. A few of the neighbourhoods where Greenwich back-of-house projects come up most often:
Rear extension drawings for Greenwich's Georgian and early-Victorian terraces inside the West Greenwich conservation area — depth-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to the Royal Borough of Greenwich's guidance.
Rear extension drawings for Blackheath's villas and terraces around the Cator Estate and Blackheath Park — depth-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to the Royal Borough of Greenwich's guidance.
Rear extension drawings for Westcombe Park's Edwardian and Victorian villas climbing the hill above the river — depth-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to the Royal Borough of Greenwich's guidance.
Rear extension drawings for Charlton's the older cottages and interwar streets around Charlton Village — depth-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to the Royal Borough of Greenwich's guidance.
Rear extension drawings for Eltham's interwar semis including the Well Hall Progress Estate — depth-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to the Royal Borough of Greenwich's guidance.
Rear extension drawings for Woolwich's denser Victorian terraces amid riverside regeneration — depth-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to the Royal Borough of Greenwich's guidance.
How far you can extend at the back in Greenwich depends on your house type and the route you take. This is how the options compare.
| Route | Depth allowed | Consent needed | What the Royal Borough of Greenwich checks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard permitted development | 3m terrace/semi · 4m detached | Lawful development certificate (optional) | Depth, 4m height, materials |
| Larger-home prior approval | 6m terrace/semi · 8m detached | Prior-approval notice + neighbour consultation | Neighbour objections on amenity |
| Full householder application | Beyond the above, or two-storey | Full planning permission | Daylight (45°/25°), bulk, garden retained |
| Conservation area | Case by case | Full planning permission | Character, roof form, boundary treatment |
The larger-home route is switched off on designated land — conservation areas such as West Greenwich and Blackheath Park and Article 4 streets need a full application.
A fixed process built around how the Royal Borough of Greenwich validates and decides rear-extension applications — most drawings are submission-ready within seven days of survey.
Send us your Greenwich postcode and house type. We confirm your conservation and Article 4 status, how much rear-extension depth you have under permitted development, and score your odds against live the Royal Borough of Greenwich decisions.
We measure the original rear wall, floor and eaves levels, side and rear boundary distances and the neighbours' window positions — the numbers the depth limit and daylight splays depend on.
Chartered designers develop the single or two-storey rear extension to your brief, drawn inside the permitted-development limits or to the Royal Borough of Greenwich's extension design guidance, with the daylight angles shown.
We submit the certificate, prior-approval notice or application, handle validation and case-officer queries, and revise the drawings free until the Royal Borough of Greenwich issues its decision.
Often not. 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 Greenwich. You will need to involve the Royal Borough of Greenwich for anything deeper via the larger-home route, for two-storey rear extensions, and for any rear extension in a conservation area such as West Greenwich and Blackheath Park, where those permitted-development rights fall away.
The larger-home extension scheme lets a single-storey rear extension reach 6 metres on a terrace or semi, or 8 metres on a detached house — double the standard allowance. It is not automatic: you submit a prior-approval notification to the Royal Borough of Greenwich, neighbours are consulted, and if one objects on amenity grounds the council rules on it. It also does not apply on designated land such as Greenwich's conservation areas.
It is the daylight test the Royal Borough of Greenwich applies to protect neighbours. Drawn on plan, a line at 45 degrees from the midpoint of the neighbour's nearest ground-floor window should not be crossed by your extension; a companion 25-degree line is checked in section. If the projection breaches it, the extension is likely to be shortened or refused, so we test and prove it on the drawings before submission.
A two-storey rear extension almost always needs a full householder application to the Royal Borough of Greenwich, as it sits outside permitted development on most homes. The council checks that it stays at least 7 metres from the rear boundary, does not overbear the neighbours and avoids new overlooking. We resolve the boundary gap, privacy and daylight on the plans so the application is decided on its merits.
Frequently, yes. If the rear extension involves work to a shared wall, building up to the boundary, or excavating foundations near a neighbour's structure, the Party Wall etc. Act applies and you must serve notice — this is separate from the Royal Borough of Greenwich's planning decision. We flag it early and can prepare the drawings a party-wall surveyor needs alongside the planning set.
We price each Greenwich rear extension on its own footprint 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 extension is permitted development, needs prior approval, or a full application. Call 020 7864 7245 to begin.
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Same fixed quotes, same fast drawings — wherever your project is.