Building plans in the City of London
Building plans for a City of London home are the floor plans, elevations and sections the City's planning authority reads before deciding an application. DrawingsDirect, MCIAT chartered architectural technologists, draws them from £745, a fixed fee, to an identified scale with a north point.
Fixed fee from £545 drawings + £200 survey (£745 total) · all prices
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Which building plans do you mean?
People searching for building plans in London usually want one of two sets. Planning drawings go to the council with a planning application and show what the building will look like. Building Regulations drawings go to building control and show how it will be put together. Most projects end up needing both, drawn from one survey so the sheets agree.
Our Building Regulations drawings page covers the second set, and the planning drawings service covers the first. Whichever you need, national planning practice guidance says plans must be drawn to an identified scale and show the direction of north, so each sheet we issue carries both.
A borough with almost no householder work
The City of London is the Square Mile, and its planning figures look nothing like those of a residential borough. In the four quarters 2025 Q3 to 2026 Q2 it recorded 1 householder decision against 477 decisions of every type (our analysis of MHCLG planning application statistics, table PS2). Householder work is almost absent from its caseload.
That matters if you own a home in the City, for example a flat in a residential block: the case officer will have little householder precedent in the borough to compare yours with. The drawings have to make your case on their own. Our architectural drawings service is the full set we would prepare.
The council's own fee is separate, and from 1 April 2026 a householder application to enlarge, improve or alter a single dwellinghouse costs £548.
Conservation areas inside the Square Mile
Our analysis of the MHCLG Planning Data Platform conservation-area dataset (bulk snapshot retrieved 14 Aug 2026) counts 28 live conservation-area entries on the national register that carry a designation date for the City of London. The register may be incomplete, so treat 28 as a count of entries, not an official total for the City.
Before you commit to a design, look your address up on the council's own conservation area map. A designation can narrow permitted development rights and bring heritage questions into an application, as our guide to conservation area extension rules in London explains.
Certificates and appeals in the City's record
Where you are unsure whether work needs a full application, a lawful development certificate can settle it. In the eight quarters 2024 Q3 to 2026 Q2 the City decided 48 certificates of lawful development (our analysis of MHCLG planning application statistics, table PS1). Our lawful development certificate drawings page shows what we prepare for one.
On appeals, our analysis of the Planning Inspectorate Casework Database (released 1 Oct 2026, Casework Database 2609) counts 53 planning appeals decided for the City, allowed or dismissed, for decisions 2021 to 2026, with enforcement, withdrawn and invalid cases excluded. It is a history, not a prediction.
Fees: ours and the council's
Our fixed fee for an existing and proposed set starts at £745; the pricing page lists the rest. The council's own fee is separate, and from 1 April 2026 a householder application to enlarge, improve or alter a single dwellinghouse costs £548.
The drawings are prepared by chartered architectural technologists (MCIAT); the Architects Act 1997 keeps a professional title for registered individuals, which is why it does not appear on our sheets. If the City asks for changes to the drawings, we redraw them free. The government's making an application guidance lists what the council expects to see.
Sources
Every figure on this page, where it comes from and a link to the original.
| Figure | Source | Link |
|---|---|---|
| 48 | Our analysis of MHCLG planning application statistics, table PS1 (district open data table) (released 24 Sep 2026, quarters to 2026 Q2) | www.gov.uk |
| 28 | Our analysis of MHCLG Planning Data Platform conservation-area and article-4-direction datasets (bulk snapshot retrieved 14 Aug 2026) | www.planning.data.gov.uk |
| 53 | Our analysis of Planning Inspectorate Casework Database (released 1 Oct 2026 (Casework Database 2609)) | www.gov.uk |
| £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 |
| 1 | Our analysis of MHCLG planning application statistics, table PS2 (district open data table) (released 24 Sep 2026, quarters to 2026 Q2) | www.gov.uk |
| 477 | 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 |