Architectural drawings in Kensington and Chelsea

Trees: a large protected canopy

The council has made 4,560 tree preservation orders, mapped across 41 zones. Trees in a conservation area are protected even without an order, so a rear garden extension often has to work around roots and canopies.

We plot every significant tree on the survey, mark its crown spread and keep the design clear of the root protection area. When a tree cannot be avoided we say so at the outset, so that you can budget for an arboricultural report.

A borough of flats, leases and licences

Only 17 per cent of the borough's 66,884 households live in a house or bungalow, and 31.7 per cent own their home. Flats and buildings containing flats have no householder permitted development rights, so most projects here are full applications.

Many leases restrict structural alterations, so a licence to alter is often required in addition to planning permission. Show the freeholder's agent the drawings early. Our licence to alter drawings are prepared to the standard they expect.

Across all property types the average price was £1,232,640, having moved -14.1 per cent in twelve months. Flats averaged £971,688 and detached houses £4,525,386. At those values an extension or loft is a major investment, and it deserves drawings that leave nothing for the case officer to guess.

Basements, and the council guide that governs them

Excavation under a house is one of the borough's defining planning topics. The council's Basements SPD sets out how it assesses such schemes, and the Local Plan 2024 (New Local Plan Review), adopted in 2,024, supplies the policy behind it.

A basement is a separate project from a loft or rear extension, with its own structural, drainage and neighbour considerations, and we scope it separately. A basement also changes the party wall position, because digging beside a neighbour brings notices of its own. If you are weighing one, ask for the basement discussion on the first call, because it affects budget and programme more than any other choice.

Certificate or application

If you own a house and the work might be permitted development, a lawful development certificate in Kensington and Chelsea can prove it. The directions and conservation areas make that route narrower here than the national rules suggest, which is why the check comes first. The council recorded only 25 certificate applications in the latest year, a small number next to larger boroughs.

Where a certificate is not available, a householder application is the safer route. We prepare existing and proposed plans, elevations and sections, a site plan and the forms, and submit through the Planning Portal. Rear extension drawings in Kensington and Chelsea follow the same pattern, with extra attention to boundary walls and neighbours' windows.

How the borough decides householder applications

In its latest twelve months the council decided 664 householder applications and granted 93.7 per cent. Slightly fewer, 91.9 per cent, were decided within eight weeks or an agreed extension. Minor applications, numbering 840, were granted at 93.2 per cent.

That second figure means a few cases take longer than planned, so leave room in the timetable if contractors are booked. These are borough-wide results and not a forecast for your house.

A wide range of levy rates

The Mayor's levy is band 1, at £96.97 per square metre this year. The borough's own Borough CIL Charging Schedule runs from a steep top rate down to nil in some zones: £1,158.30/m² (Zone A); £911.20/m² (Zone B); £664.09/m² (Zone C); £416.99/m² (Zone D); £293.44/m² (Zone E); £169.88/m² (Zone F); Nil (Zones G Earl's Court and H Kensal). Where your address sits matters a great deal, so we state the likely liability in your hand-over pack.

Architectural drawings in Kensington and Chelsea: services and nearby councils

Typical commissions are planning drawings in Kensington and Chelsea, loft conversion drawings in Kensington and Chelsea and building regulations drawings in Kensington and Chelsea.

Adjacent council pages are Westminster, Hammersmith and Fulham and Brent. A second chartered technologist checks every set, and we redraw at no charge if the council asks for changes.