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Greenwich, London

Daylight and sunlight report in Greenwich

A daylight and sunlight report in Greenwich measures the light your scheme takes from neighbouring windows and gardens and the light the new rooms receive. The Royal Borough publishes no daylight rule that we can quote with a value, so officers read each scheme in context, helped by the London guidance on flexibility in dense areas. We say early whether yours is likely to need one.

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We use it to check conservation areas and constraints.
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    Architectural model of a four-storey London stucco townhouse in its terrace, with a portico, area railings, sash windows, a cornice and chimney stacks
    The house as it stands: four storeys over a lower ground floor.Existing Proposed worksAn illustrative model, built for this page.

    How we work on daylight and sunlight reports

    Seven steps from first call to approval.

    The same model cut through the middle: every floor, the stair, the chimney breasts, the new mansard, rear extension and basement in section
    Section through the model: every floor on one datum.

    1. Enquiry and constraints check

      We check the property against conservation areas, listed status, Article 4 directions, tree preservation orders, flood zone and planning history. We choose the right route and send a fixed quote.

    2. Measured survey

      We survey the house on one datum: rooms, levels, boundaries, drains, trees and the neighbours' windows that the 45° and 25° tests depend on.

    3. Design options

      We model the house in Revit and show you options in 3D and plan, with the planning strategy and the precedents in your street.

    4. Design frozen

      You choose an option in writing. Nothing changes after this without your say.

    5. Independent check

      A second chartered technologist checks every sheet against the council's validation checklist and the policy. A senior review signs it off before anything is submitted.

    6. Submission

      We prepare the forms, certificates, fee and documents and submit through the Planning Portal.

    7. Officer liaison

      We answer the planning officer and make any amendments within five working days, at no charge until approval.

    Free redraws until approval. Every drawing set is checked independently, and the checker is never the person who drew it.

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    Rear view of brick terraced houses in London with slate roofs and chimney stacks along the shared roofline

    What Greenwich asks, and what we can show

    Our dataset holds no verified Greenwich validation item for daylight and sunlight, and we would rather say that than invent one. We read the live local list for each submission and ask the case officer. In a borough that spans leafy terraces and large regeneration sites, the answer differs by scheme: a house extension is read very differently from a riverside block.

    The policy base is the Royal Greenwich Local Plan: Core Strategy with Detailed Policies, adopted in 2,014. For light the officer will lean on the London Plan and the Mayor's guidance, which asks for an appropriate degree of flexibility in higher-density areas.

    Pencil resting on a dimensioned technical drawing beside a scale rule

    Local figures for Greenwich

    Figures with their unit, period and source
    MeasureValuePeriodSource
    Local planRoyal Greenwich Local Plan: Core Strategy with Detailed Policies—royalgreenwich.gov.uk
    Conservation areas23 named conservation areas published by the council—planning.data.gov.uk
    Listed building entries540 list entries (Historic England, within the LPA boundary)—planning.data.gov.uk
    worldHeritageSites1 World Heritage Sites intersecting the LPA boundary—planning.data.gov.uk
    Households living in a house48.4 % of households living in a house or bungalow (detached, semi-detached or terraced)Census 2021nomisweb.co.uk
    Owner-occupied households41.1 % of households owner-occupied (owned outright or with mortgage/loan)Census 2021nomisweb.co.uk
    Householder applications granted77.1 %1 July 2025 - 30 June 2026assets.publishing.service.gov.uk
    Domestic gardens share of land (GLUD 2005)23.2 % of land that is domestic garden (GLUD 2005)2005data.london.gov.uk
    Mayoral CIL rate (indexed)30.3 £/m² (indexed, permissions granted in 2026)—london.gov.uk
    Borough CIL charging scheduleRoyal Borough of Greenwich CIL Charging Schedule 2024 (Borough CIL 2)from 2024-07-26royalgreenwich.gov.uk

    A blank value means the figure has not been published, not that there are none. Check your own address with the council.

    Councils bordering Greenwich
    Which application your project needsLawful Development Certificate decision: 8 weeks. Prior approval decision: 42 days. Householder decision: 8 weeksYour projectWithin permitted development?Lawful Development CertificatePrior approvalHouseholder applicationYesLarger rear extensionNoABC

    Which application your project needs

    The usual route for a house; flats and listed buildings follow other rules.

    A · Lawful Development Certificate decision
    8 weeks
    B · Prior approval decision
    42 days
    C · Householder decision
    8 weeks

    A borough with houses and flats side by side

    48.4% of Greenwich households live in a house and 41.1% own their home. Suburban semis and Victorian terraces share the borough with flatted estates and new riverside towers. Each pattern needs a different report: a window-by-window schedule for a terrace, and a floor-by-floor tabulation for a block.

    Householder work comes to 624 decisions in the year, 77.1% granted and 94.2% decided on time. Where a case is refused, the quality of the evidence is often the reason.

    Heritage, the World Heritage Site and the garden share

    Greenwich has 23 conservation areas, 540 listed entries and 1 World Heritage Site. Close to those, the height and form of any addition is tightly managed, and the daylight work has to sit within a design that already respects views and setting. About 23.2% of the borough's land is domestic garden, so garden sunlight is a real part of many cases. Our architectural drawings in Greenwich page covers the wider constraints.

    An Article 4 direction for houses in multiple occupation also applies, so conversions that add rooms need an application and the wider merits, including light inside the rooms, are weighed.

    Levy and cost context

    The Royal Borough charges its own levy under the Royal Borough of Greenwich CIL Charging Schedule 2024 (Borough CIL 2), and the Mayor's indexed charge for the borough is £30.3 per square metre. Both apply to new floor area, so a light report is one of several costs that sit around a larger scheme, and worth sequencing with the rest.

    How we prepare a Greenwich report

    We survey the neighbouring windows, build the model, run the simple screen, 45, and the full measures if the screen fails. The model is reused in our planning drawings in Greenwich, so the two stay consistent.

    Boroughs on either side apply their own lists; Lewisham and Bexley are the closest examples.

    Riverside and regeneration schemes

    For a larger scheme near the river or on a regeneration site, the report is a different kind of document. It sets out the window groups on every neighbouring block, the daylight and sunlight results for each, and a view on where the results sit against what is normal in comparable urban settings. The Mayor's guidance accepts flexibility there, and the report has to make that argument with evidence, not assertion.

    For an individual house, none of this applies. The test is the simple one: the neighbour's window, the new wall and the line between them.

    Terraces, bays and rear returns

    Greenwich has many terraces with rear returns, where a kitchen window looks directly onto the side of the next house's extension. A new side return infill on one house can darken the return window on the other. We measure those windows first, because they are the most sensitive spot on a typical terrace, and show the effect with and without the new wall.

    Quote

    We quote a fixed sum after a free look at the address and a sketch. If the officer is unlikely to ask for a report, you will hear that from us first.

    What you receive

    Planning drawing sheet for a rear extension with plans, elevations and sections
    Sample drawing. Planning drawings for a rear extension: plans, elevations and sections on one sheet set.
    Rows of brick terraced houses and gardens on a residential street
    The street around you
    Move across the plinth — the blocks rise around the pointer.

    Other services in Greenwich

    Daylight and sunlight reports nearby

    Questions

    Does Greenwich have a published daylight trigger?

    We hold no verified wording for one. We read the live validation list and ask the officer for each scheme.

    How does flexibility apply in Greenwich?

    The Mayor's guidance asks for an appropriate degree of flexibility with the BRE figures in dense areas, so a block on a regeneration site is read differently from a terrace extension.

    Does the World Heritage Site change the light test?

    No. It changes the design constraints, such as height and form. The light measurements follow the same BRE method.

    Is a report needed for a loft or rear extension?

    Usually a screening check is enough. A full report is more likely when the addition is tall and close to a neighbour's main window.

    Sources and dates

    City of London skyline glowing at dusk across the Thames under a dramatic orange sky

    Tell us about your property.

    We check the constraints, then send a fixed fee. Messages before 3pm get a reply the same working day.

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