Architectural drawings across London's councils
Architectural drawings for a London home cost the same wherever the house stands: our fixed fee starts at £745 in all 33 boroughs. What changes from council to council is the local validation list and the designations on your street, so this page explains the common ground and points to our local pages.
Fixed fee from £545 drawings + £200 survey (£745 total) · all prices
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One price, 33 planning authorities
Each London council is its own planning authority, with its own validation requirements, its own conservation area map and its own officers. Our fee does not move with the borough: an existing and proposed set of architectural drawings starts at £745, as shown on the pricing page.
The council's application fee is also the same everywhere, because it is set nationally. From 1 April 2026 a householder application to enlarge, improve or alter a single dwellinghouse costs £548. The two payments are separate, and only the second goes to the council.
London's householder workload
Across the four quarters 2025 Q3 to 2026 Q2, London's 33 councils decided 23,967 householder applications, including prior approvals (our analysis of MHCLG planning application statistics, table PS2). Our analysis finds 86% of those decisions were grants, out of 52,543 decisions of every type.
A capital-wide figure hides a wide spread between boroughs, which is why the local pages quote each council's own numbers. The headline is useful for one thing: householder work is routine for every London planning team, and officers read the drawings closely because the drawings are what they decide on.
Across the four quarters 2025 Q3 to 2026 Q2, London's 33 councils decided 23,967 householder applications, including prior approvals (our analysis of MHCLG planning application statistics, table PS2).
What stays the same wherever you build
National planning practice guidance applies in every borough: plans and drawings must be drawn to an identified scale and must show the direction of north. We apply that rule to every sheet, then add each council's own list on top. That is the practical difference a local page makes: it tells you what is particular to the borough before you pay anyone to draw.
The service itself is described on our architectural drawings page, and the guide to what an architectural drawings package includes lists the sheets one by one.
Local pages with their own council data
Our local pages for architectural drawings are for Brent, the City of London, Leyton E10, Sidcup DA14 and Uxbridge UB8. Each one gives that council's decision record, its conservation-area count and its appeal history.
If your area is not among them, the national picture above still applies, and the quote form on this page reaches us with your address and a short description.
Who prepares the drawings
We are chartered architectural technologists (MCIAT), a separate profession. The Architects Act 1997 reserves a professional title to registered individuals, so we never use it, and our guide on what an architectural technologist does explains the distinction. Free redraws are included if a council asks for changes to the drawings.
For what a council expects to receive, the government's guidance on making an application is the source.
Sources
Every figure on this page, where it comes from and a link to the original.
| Figure | Source | Link |
|---|---|---|
| £745 | DrawingsDirect starting fixed fee for an existing and proposed set of architectural drawings, from the published price list | drawingsdirect.co.uk |
| identified scale | Planning practice guidance, Making an application, paragraph 023: plans and drawings must be drawn to an identified scale and plans must show the direction of north (source wording: "must be drawn to an identified scale") | www.gov.uk |
| Architects Act 1997 | Architects Act 1997 s20(1): a person may not practise or carry on business under a name, style or title containing the word "architect" unless registered (source wording: "A person shall not practise or carry on business under any name, style or title containing the word") | www.legislation.gov.uk |
| 23,967 | Our analysis of MHCLG planning application statistics, table PS2 (district open data table) (released 24 Sep 2026, quarters to 2026 Q2) | www.gov.uk |
| 86% | Our analysis of MHCLG planning application statistics, table PS2 (district open data table) (released 24 Sep 2026, quarters to 2026 Q2) | www.gov.uk |
| 52,543 | Our analysis of MHCLG planning application statistics, table PS2 (district open data table) (released 24 Sep 2026, quarters to 2026 Q2) | www.gov.uk |
| £548 | Fees for planning applications in England from 1 April 2026 (MHCLG, SI 2012/2920 as annually indexed), category 6(1): householder application for the enlargement, improvement or alteration of a single dwellinghouse (source wording: £548) | assets.publishing.service.gov.uk |