Construction drawings in the City of London

A residential area measured in a few thousand homes

The City's resident population is tiny. 4,914 households live there, and only 2 per cent of them in a house. The rest are flats, so almost every project involves a freeholder, a managing agent and neighbours above and below.

Heritage controls are heavy for such a small area. The council publishes 28 conservation areas, and there is 1 Article 4 direction. Historic England lists 637 entries, and 53 scheduled monuments lie inside the boundary. Work that digs, even for a service run, may meet archaeology.

Small flats, tight fire rules

In a compact flat, escape and alarm rules shape the plan. For an upper-floor bedroom: Escape window: unobstructed openable area at least 0.33 m², at least 450 mm high and 450 mm wide, bottom of opening no more than 1100 mm above floor. For detection: All dwellings: fire detection and alarm system minimum Grade D2 Category LD3 (BS 5839-6), mains-operated smoke alarms to BS EN 14604.

Ventilation is the other trade-off. Windowless bathrooms and kitchens rely on fans: Intermittent extract: kitchen 30 l/s with cooker hood (60 l/s otherwise), utility 30 l/s, bathroom 15 l/s, WC 6 l/s. We show each fan and its duct route on the plan, because in a high block the route to an outside wall may run through another owner's property or a protected ceiling.

Where the building is listed, the choice of product matters as much as its performance. We offer options, not a single answer, so the consent officer can pick what suits the fabric.

How the City's planning figures read

The City's figures need care. Across all application types, the council granted 97 per cent in its latest published year. Householder applications are almost absent: the latest return holds 1 decision, which is too few to say anything about a typical case.

The council also processed 16 lawful development certificate applications. We therefore rely on the individual case officer's pre-application advice, not on borough percentages. Treat any ratio drawn from a single decision with suspicion.

Working in a managed estate or listed block

Many City homes sit in a managed block with its own rules: a managing agent, a service charge, hours for noisy work and a licence for alterations. Those rules are in the lease, not in planning law, and a perfectly lawful alteration can still breach them. We ask for the lease and the licence conditions before pricing.

Our drawings are written so that the freeholder's surveyor can read them quickly: a clear existing and proposed layout, a note of every structural or service change, and a specification that names the products.

Where a listed building is involved, we separate the work that touches historic fabric from the work that does not, so a decision on one part does not hold up the other.

Costs, levy and next steps

We quote a fixed fee after the free check. Where work adds new residential floor area, the levy is £251.05/m² (Riverside); £159.00/m² (Rest of City) [schedule rates £150 and £95], and the Mayoral band is 1; both depend on measured area, so we survey carefully.

If structure changes, structural calculations in City of London will be needed, and for the regulatory submission, building regulations drawings in City of London. The borough summary is architectural drawings in City of London. Neighbouring services run in Westminster and Camden.