Planning and building regulation drawings in Lewisham (SE13)

That difference shapes what homeowners actually build. On Granville Park or Loampit Vale a rear or side-return extension has more room to breathe. In Hither Green, on streets like Sportsbank Street, Shorndean Street, Ringstead Road and Bowness Road, the estate's strong repeating rhythm means any addition gets measured against its neighbours first. Side-return infills, rear extensions and loft conversions remain the bread-and-butter projects there, but a loft dormer that breaks an otherwise unbroken roofline draws more scrutiny than the same dormer would elsewhere.

Belmont Hill sits inside its own conservation area, protecting the Georgian and early-Victorian character that gives that part of Lewisham its identity. Much of Hither Green's terraced stock falls within the Culverley Green conservation area, which controls roof forms, front elevations and materials on the Corbett Estate rows. Neither designation bans an extension outright, but both mean the design has to answer to what's already there: matching brick, matching proportions, a roofline that doesn't interrupt the street.

Planning in Lewisham: what to know before you apply

Lewisham runs a borough-wide Article 4 direction stripping permitted development rights from small HMO conversions, on top of a further small-HMO direction extending that control north into this part of the borough. Anyone planning to split a house into a house in multiple occupation needs full planning permission here, not a permitted-development notification. Design control in the conservation areas adds a second layer: Belmont Hill and the Culverley Green terraces both get their extensions checked against established rooflines, materials and elevation patterns before anything is approved. Away from those designated areas, standard side-return and rear extensions on the borough's dense terraces often still qualify as permitted development, and loft conversions using a hip-to-gable form can too, but confirming that before design work starts avoids redrawing later. We check the designation for your specific street against the current record before producing drawings, since a boundary line can put one house inside a conservation area and its neighbour just outside it.

Applications are decided by London Borough of Lewisham — its planning pages.