Planning and building regulation drawings in New Cross (SE14)

That hill shapes what's realistic to build. A loft in the Telegraph Hill Conservation Area has to sit within a roofline Lewisham has decided is worth protecting, because Article 4 controls remove the usual permitted-development shortcuts for elevation changes there. The same Article 4 restriction on external works applies across the Hatcham Conservation Area, and Kitto Road and Erlanger Road are among the street names that come up when clients ask us which side of that boundary they fall on. Sash windows, front garden walls, and the general roofscape are the details Lewisham's planners look at hardest on these streets, so a drawing set that treats them as an afterthought tends to come back with questions. We draw for both the terrace and the villa condition, and we check which conservation area and which Article 4 direction actually touches your street before anything goes to scale.

Most of the work we see in SE14 falls into three camps: rear or side-return extensions on the flatter Hatcham terraces, loft conversions on the taller Telegraph Hill villas, and internal reconfigurations where a Victorian layout no longer suits how a family actually lives. None of it is exotic. It's the ordinary business of getting more from a house that was built for a smaller, different household, done in a way that respects streets Lewisham has decided are worth protecting.

Planning in New Cross: what to know before you apply

Lewisham's planning team runs on the same borough-wide framework as everywhere else in the borough, but two things bite harder in SE14 than in most of Lewisham. First, the borough-wide direction removing permitted development for HMO conversions applies here as it does everywhere, so turning a house into a house in multiple occupation needs planning permission rather than a straightforward change of use. Second, the Telegraph Hill and Hatcham conservation area designations bring their own Article 4 restrictions on external works, meaning changes to windows, doors, and other elevation details that would be permitted development elsewhere often need consent here. For homeowners outside those designated areas, hip-to-gable lofts and modest rear extensions still frequently qualify as permitted development, but the steep, consistent building lines on the hill mean height and massing get scrutinised closely regardless. We confirm the exact designation covering your address, and build the application around it, before we draw anything.

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