Architectural drawings in Havering

Local plan and householder guidance

Havering's development plan is the Havering Local Plan 2016-2031, adopted in 2,021. Its detailed advice on household work sits in the Residential Extensions and Alterations SPD, and character and heritage questions go to the Heritage SPD.

Officers also lean on case history, so we read recent decisions on your road to see how the guidance has been applied lately, and note any pattern in what was granted, what was refused and what was changed on the way.

Conservation areas and listed homes

The borough has 11 conservation areas. Inside one, permitted development rights are narrower and some roof alterations need full permission.

Historic England lists 146 entries in Havering: 6 at Grade I, 15 at Grade II* and 124 at Grade II. The register also names 12 entries at risk in the borough, a reminder that older buildings here need careful handling.

A listed house needs listed building consent in addition to any planning application. Tell us on the first call and we will explain which applications you need.

A borough of houses, mostly owned

Of Havering's households, 76.7 per cent live in a house or bungalow and 69.5 per cent own their home. Most Havering streets are therefore made up of homes whose owners can decide to extend, rather than flats under a freeholder.

The average terraced house sold for £435,382 in the latest Land Registry figures, and prices have moved 2.1 per cent over twelve months. Many owners weigh extending against a move.

Owners also ask us about turning a garage into a room. See garage conversion plans in Havering for what that drawing set covers.

Permitted development or a planning application?

Many single-storey rear extensions on a Havering house can be built under permitted development, within national limits on depth and height. Anything beyond those limits needs a planning application or, for the deeper rear extensions, the prior approval process.

A lawful development certificate in Havering is the document to hold if you rely on permitted development, because it proves the work was lawful when you come to sell. We draw the certificate set the same way as a planning set, so the council can check every dimension.

How quickly Havering decides householder cases

In its latest published twelve months Havering decided 985 householder applications and granted 85.9 per cent of them. A very high 97.8 per cent met the eight-week target or an agreed extension.

That timeliness is good news if you are planning a build, but it describes the whole borough and offers no assurance for any one address. We simply use it to set realistic expectations in your project timetable.

Costs and the two-zone levy

Havering sits in band 3 of the Mayor of London's levy, the lowest charging band, at £30.3 per square metre this year. The borough's own schedule has a northern and a southern zone, with £151.52/m² (Zone A, North of A1306); £66.67/m² (Zone B, South of A1306).

Levy liability depends on floor area and on the form of development, so check it early. We flag any likely liability in the pack we hand over, and point you to the council's levy team for the final figure.

Havering also has an Article 4 direction on small houses in multiple occupation, so a family-house-to-HMO change needs its own application.

Drawing services in Havering

Typical starting points are planning drawings in Havering and house extension drawings in Havering. For a bigger rear and side project, see double-storey extension drawings in Havering.

Next door we also cover Barking and Dagenham, Redbridge and Bexley.