Planning and building regulation drawings in Greenwich (SE10)

That's the part people underestimate when they first ask us about a loft or a side-return kitchen here. Greenwich isn't one planning environment, it's several layered on top of each other. A homeowner on Gloucester Circus and one further out toward East Greenwich can face genuinely different processes for what looks like the same job, because the streets sit inside different conservation boundaries with different sensitivities. We start every drawing with that check, because getting it wrong costs a redesign, not just a resubmission.

Greenwich Park itself shapes plenty of what's buildable nearby too. Proposals near its edges get read against the openness and views the park protects, not just the usual daylight and amenity tests. None of that makes extending here unusual, most owners still get their rear extension or loft conversion through. It just means the drawings have to earn their approval on the specifics of the street, not a generic template.

Planning in Greenwich: what to know before you apply

Greenwich's planning team pays close attention to anything touching the borough's protected townscape, and West Greenwich and East Greenwich sit inside that scrutiny alongside Blackheath. Alterations that would be routine elsewhere, new windows, re-roofing, a replacement door, often need permission here because Article 4 directions strip out the usual permitted development allowance across those conservation areas. The Ashburnham Triangle carries the same restriction. Practically, that means side extensions and roof changes get assessed on materials, proportions and how they read from the street, not waved through on size alone. The council also checks proposals against the setting of the wider Maritime Greenwich World Heritage designation where relevant, so long views and the historic streetscape carry real weight in the decision. We map which of these controls apply to a specific address before we draw anything, because the answer changes the whole approach to a loft, a rear extension or even a new door.

Applications are decided by Royal Borough of Greenwich — its planning pages.