Building plans for a new-build house in London
Building plans for a new-build house in London come in two sets: planning drawings for the council's decision and building regulations drawings for construction. DrawingsDirect prepares both on a fixed fee starting at £1,450; structural calculations are a separate service by a named, insured engineer, or your own, coordinated with our drawings.
Fixed fee from £1,250 drawings + £200 survey (£1,450 total) · all prices
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Two sets of plans, two different readers
Planning drawings are read by the case officer. They show the plot, the footprint, the elevations and how the house sits beside its neighbours, so the council can judge the proposal against local policy.
Building regulations drawings are read by a building control surveyor. They show how the house is built: foundations, floor and roof structure, insulation, fire escape and drainage. A new house needs both before work starts. Our guide to planning drawings versus building regulations drawings sets out which sheet belongs to which application.
How long the council has to decide
The Development Management Procedure Order sets the clock. An application that is not major development has 8 weeks beginning with the day after the council receives it, and major development has 13 weeks. A single new house usually falls in the first group; the Order defines major development, so check where a larger scheme sits. The wording is in article 34 of the 2015 Order.
Those are the statutory periods, and they run from a valid application, so complete drawings on day one matter. Our guide to how long planning permission takes in London walks through the stages.
For a full application to build fewer than 10 houses it is £610 for each dwellinghouse, under the fee regulations as indexed from 1 April 2026.
Room sizes and ceiling heights the drawings must show
Where a council applies the nationally described space standard, every dwelling is checked against it. A one-bedroom, one-person home needs at least 37 m2 of gross internal area with a shower room instead of a bath, and 39 m2 with a bathroom. The standard also asks for a floor to ceiling height of 2.3m for at least 75% of the gross internal area.
We dimension each floor plan against those figures at sketch stage, so a plot that cannot hold the layout you want is clear before any application fee is paid.
Structural plans for a new build
Structural building plans cover the foundations, the steel or masonry over openings, the floor and roof structure and the calculations that justify them. Building control asks for these with a full plans application. Because we coordinate the engineer's calculations onto our own sheets, the steel schedule and the drawings stay consistent.
The structural calculations explained guide describes what the calculations contain and when an engineer's input is needed.
Costs outside the drawing fee
The council charges its own planning fee. For a full application to build fewer than 10 houses it is £610 for each dwellinghouse, under the fee regulations as indexed from 1 April 2026.
The Community Infrastructure Levy can follow. Regulation 42(2) of the CIL Regulations 2010 says the minor development exemption does not apply where the development will comprise one or more dwellings, so a single new house is not excused by size alone. The CIL guide for London covers how councils charge it.
Our fee for new-build plans
A new-build home starts at £1,450, as a fixed fee. The pricing page gives the full list, and the final quote for your plot depends on its size and complexity.
For plot-by-plot detail, see the new-build drawings pages for London boroughs and neighbourhoods.
The London picture
London's 33 councils made 52,543 planning decisions in the four quarters from 2025 Q3 to 2026 Q2, and 23,967 of those were householder decisions, including prior approvals (our analysis of MHCLG planning application statistics, table PS2). Householder cases are extensions and alterations, not new houses, so read the figure as a measure of how busy planning teams are.
Sources
Every figure on this page, where it comes from and a link to the original.
| Figure | Source | Link |
|---|---|---|
| 8 weeks | DMPO 2015 art 34(2)(b): decision period for an application that is not major development (source wording: "8 weeks beginning with the day immediately following that on which the application is received") | www.legislation.gov.uk |
| 13 weeks | DMPO 2015 art 34(2)(a): decision period for major development (source wording: "13 weeks beginning with the day immediately following that on which the application is received") | www.legislation.gov.uk |
| 37 | Technical housing standards, nationally described space standard (DCLG, March 2015), Table 1: a one-bedroom one-person dwelling needs at least 39 m2 gross internal area, or 37 m2 with a shower room instead of a bathroom (source wording: 39 (37)) | assets.publishing.service.gov.uk |
| 2.3m | Technical housing standards, nationally described space standard (DCLG, March 2015), para 10(i): the minimum floor to ceiling height is 2.3m for at least 75% of the gross internal area (source wording: "2.3m for at least 75%") | assets.publishing.service.gov.uk |
| £610 | Fees for planning applications in England from 1 April 2026 (MHCLG, SI 2012/2920 as annually indexed), category 1(3)(a): full application for the erection of fewer than 10 dwellinghouses, per dwellinghouse (source wording: "£610 for each dwellinghouse") | assets.publishing.service.gov.uk |
| one or more dwellings | Community Infrastructure Levy Regulations 2010 reg 42(2): the minor development exemption does not apply where the development will comprise one or more dwellings (source wording: "will comprise one or more dwellings") | www.legislation.gov.uk |
| £1,450 | DrawingsDirect starting fixed fee for a new-build home | drawingsdirect.co.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 |
| 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 |