Architectural drawings in Barking and Dagenham

Conservation areas, Article 4 and listed buildings

The council publishes 4 conservation areas, and 3 Article 4 directions remove permitted development rights in defined places. Where either applies, windows, front boundaries and roof changes can need an application even for modest work.

Historic England lists 49 entries in the borough: 3 at Grade I, 4 at Grade II* and 39 at Grade II. A listed house needs listed building consent for works that affect its character, inside or out.

There are also 7 entries on the Heritage at Risk Register within the borough boundary. If your house is near one, we say so in the constraints check.

Larger extensions: the prior approval numbers

A larger home extension can go through prior approval, where the council tests neighbour impact rather than design. In the latest national statistics year the council granted 10 of these and refused 36.

That ratio is a warning about how the route is used, not a forecast for your house. We read the refusal reasons behind figures like these when we plan a submission.

We compare the prior approval route with a householder application on your plot before recommending one, and a Lawful Development Certificate in Barking and Dagenham can confirm what is permitted.

How the council decides householder applications

In the latest twelve months of published figures the council decided 388 householder applications and granted 66.5 per cent of them. Of those, 100 per cent were decided within eight weeks or an agreed extension.

These are borough-wide figures about the past. They say nothing about a single house, and we never treat them as a promise.

Prices set the stakes: the average terraced home sold for £409,511 in the latest Land Registry figures, against £494,567 for a semi-detached house.

Levies to budget for

The borough is in band 3 of the Mayor of London's levy, at £30.3 per square metre for permissions granted this year. The council also has its own charging schedule, the LBBD CIL Charging Schedule October 2014.

The levy has exemptions, for example for small new floorspace and for some residential extensions claimed by form. We flag any liability in the pack we hand over.

The borough's own levy is zoned. Its schedule charges most in Barking Town Centre, Leftley and Faircross, less in Barking Riverside and least across the rest of the borough, so the postcode decides the figure. We read the zone map for your address and put the result in the next-steps pack, before the application goes in.

Tenure, plots and what they mean for a project

Of the 73,902 households recorded at the last Census, 42.4 per cent own their home. That leaves a large rented share, so a landlord or freeholder may need to be given notice of the application or to consent under the lease, and we ask about ownership in the first call.

Domestic gardens make up about 22.8 per cent of the borough, which is the reserve that makes rear extensions and garden rooms possible. Depth and height are still limited by the extensions guidance, so the garden is a starting point, not a licence.

Prices vary widely by home type. A detached house sold for £664,346 on average and a flat for £251,856, with the all-home average changing by 5.3 per cent over twelve months. We use figures like these to help owners judge whether an extension, a loft or a conversion suits the property.

The borough also has 14 per cent of its area covered by green-belt designation and 1 scheduled monument, so an address near either gets a closer look at the constraints stage.

Architectural drawings and related services in Barking and Dagenham

Most projects start with planning drawings in Barking and Dagenham or, for a roof conversion, loft conversion drawings in Barking and Dagenham. Ground-floor additions are covered by rear extension drawings in Barking and Dagenham.

After consent, building regulations drawings in Barking and Dagenham give the builder technical sheets. Neighbouring boroughs have their own pages: Newham, Redbridge and Havering.