Flat conversion drawings in Lewisham

The Article 4 directions and what they can remove

An Article 4 direction withdraws a permitted development right in a defined area. Lewisham has 57, together with 30 conservation areas and 367 listed building entries. The borough also contains 1 World Heritage Site.

A conversion into flats always needs planning permission, so a direction does not block it. What a direction can do is take away the rights you would otherwise use for the supporting works: a replacement front door, a new window to a bedroom, a porch or a front-garden bin store. In the wrong place, each of those becomes its own application.

We map your address against the directions before design starts, and we list any supporting works that would need consent. That way the permission you seek covers the whole conversion, not only the layout.

Decisions on smaller schemes in Lewisham

Two or three flats count as a minor application. Over the latest twelve months Lewisham decided 534 of them and granted 83.7 per cent, with 94.8 per cent decided in eight weeks or an agreed extension.

On householder work the council decided 578 cases and granted 89.4 per cent. The minor grant rate is the lower of the two, which is why a conversion needs fuller evidence than an extension. Because the plan dates from 2,025, decisions on your road made under the earlier plan are a weaker guide, so we give recent ones more weight when we read the register.

42.2 per cent of households live in a house or bungalow and 41.9 per cent are owner-occupiers, which tells you that houses are common enough for the council to see many conversion proposals and expect consistent evidence.

Levy, fee and the value of a split

The Mayor's levy is in band 2, with an indexed rate of £72.73 per square metre this year. The council has its own levy with two zones for homes, shown in the table, and the exemption for small additions does not apply where a new dwelling is created.

The planning fee is £610 for each flat. A terraced house averages about £602,116, a flat about £376,322, and the twelve-month price change is 0.7 per cent.

The Lewisham area page lists the borough's constraints.

What we supply

Each flat is also tested for height and sound. The London Plan asks for 2.5 m floor-to-ceiling across most of the flat, and the sound targets between flats mean the floor build-up has to be drawn with its depth, which can take headroom from a low ground floor. We resolve both on the section drawings before the layout is fixed. The set contains existing and proposed floor plans, elevations, sections, a block plan and a schedule of areas by flat. Once consent is in place, building regulations drawings follow. Next door, flat conversion drawings in Greenwich show how a neighbouring borough compares.