Construction drawings in Greenwich

Greenwich planning figures that shape the build programme

In its latest twelve months the council decided 624 householder applications and granted 77.1 per cent. Of those, 94.2 per cent were decided within eight weeks or an agreed extension. A grant rate like that means most schemes get through, so the realistic risk is delay and condition discharge rather than outright refusal.

Conditions are where construction drawings earn their fee. A typical householder consent in a sensitive area asks for sample materials, brick bond or window details before work starts. We prepare those detail sheets as part of the set, so the condition can be discharged from the same drawings your builder is using.

The council has also issued 437 lawful development certificates in the dataset period. Where your project was cleared that way instead of by a planning application, there are no approved-plan conditions, but the Building Regulations still apply in full and the set carries the same technical content.

Houses, flats and gardens in Greenwich

Only 48.4 per cent of Greenwich households live in a house or bungalow, so a good share of our work here is in flats and maisonettes, where a loft or rear alteration touches a lease and a neighbour above or below. Domestic garden covers 23.2 per cent of the land, a useful reminder that plots are modest and rear extensions are often limited by daylight to the next-door window.

That shapes how we draw. On a tight plot the foundation depth, the drain runs and the party-wall line all sit within a few hundred millimetres of each other, so we show them on a single coordinated plan. Where a neighbour's structure is affected, our structural calculations feed the beam and foundation sheets directly.

Mayoral CIL is charged in Greenwich at £25 per square metre under the current schedule, and the council has its own charging schedule on top. Floor areas on our drawings are stated to the same convention the levy uses, which makes the liability easy to check before anyone signs a contract.

What the Greenwich set contains

A first-floor extension or loft needs more than a plan. The set includes structural plans with beam and lintel positions, sections through every junction, a stair drawing checked against Approved Document K, escape window sizes against Approved Document B, drainage routes, a ventilation layout and a specification that names the product behind each U-value. The limits for these items are in the table above.

Greenwich jobs often involve a mix of old and new fabric: solid brick walls with lime mortar, a later rear addition, a roof that has been patched more than once. We draw the existing construction as found on the survey, then show exactly where new insulation, a damp-proof course or a cavity tray meets it. That junction detail is the one a site team cannot improvise, and it is the one most likely to be queried at inspection.

Your builder prices a single building rather than guessing at one, and building control inspects against a document that already answers the first round of questions. Under the Part 2A rules the domestic client's duties pass to the contractor, which our handover note explains in plain English.

Every sheet is read by a second technologist before it leaves us. If the council or an inspector asks for an amendment we revise the drawings at no charge.

Next steps in Greenwich

Start with the borough overview at architectural drawings in Greenwich, then look at building regulations drawings in Greenwich for the approval route. For energy compliance, see SAP calculations in Greenwich.

Along the Thames and beyond, the same technical set is available in Lewisham, Bexley and Newham. The general service explanation is at construction drawings in London.