Garage conversion plans in Greenwich

Designing the front when the garage door goes

In Greenwich the front elevation needs the most care. A garage may be integral, under a bedroom, or a detached block at the end of a drive, and each needs a different answer when the door is removed.

For an integral garage, the infill should look as if it was always part of the house: matching brick, a window aligned with those above and a sill set at the same line. For a detached garage the question moves to the rear and side, and to the neighbours' boundary, where a plan and a section settle any argument about levels.

Planning permission or not for a Greenwich garage

Where the work is internal, or the outside is rebuilt in similar materials, it may not need planning permission. A Lawful Development Certificate in Greenwich turns that into a written position you can show a buyer or lender.

Where a condition, a conservation area or an old decision notice stands in the way, the route is householder planning, drawn as in our planning drawings in Greenwich. The council fee for altering a single dwellinghouse is £548, paid to the council on top of our fixed fee.

Use of the garage matters too. A bedroom or office is ancillary to the house. A self-contained unit is not, and that is a job for flat conversion drawings in Greenwich.

How Greenwich decides householder applications

Greenwich decided 624 householder applications in its latest published year, granted 77.1 per cent of them and decided 94.2 per cent inside eight weeks or an agreed extension.

A grant rate at that level tells us to put more care into the drawings and the explanation of the front wall. It is a borough-wide figure for all householder work, so it does not forecast any one case.

Making the room fit for use

A converted garage needs building regulations approval whatever planning says. The floor, wall and roof are insulated to Approved Document L, a bedroom needs an escape window under Approved Document B, and the room is ventilated under Approved Document F. We show every one of these on building regulations drawings in Greenwich.

Damp is the usual surprise. A slab laid directly on the ground, a single-skin wall and no damp-proof course at the old door threshold are common in older garages. The survey records them, and the drawing specifies the membrane, insulation and threshold detail, so the builder prices a dry floor rather than a hopeful one.

Cost, checking and next steps

Garage conversion plans in Greenwich start at £695 with VAT included. Every sheet is checked by a second MCIAT chartered technologist, and we redraw at no charge until approval if the council asks for changes.

You get a route and a fixed price after a free constraints check, so you decide with the facts in front of you.

Survey and design

A Greenwich survey records the garage walls, the slab level, the position of drains and the front boundary. We also photograph the street, because in a borough with this much heritage the neighbouring buildings are part of the evidence.

We then draw the plans, elevations, section and block plan, and model the garage in three dimensions so you can see the new front before it is built. If the house is listed or in a conservation area, the drawings go further and explain why the proposed wall, brick and window suit the building.

You confirm the design in writing, and a second chartered technologist checks each sheet. Drawings are normally ready about a week after the survey. Where a heritage statement is needed, we scope it with you before you commit, so the cost is clear.

Greenwich and the boroughs around it

For the borough as a whole, see architectural drawings in Greenwich. Neighbouring pages cover Lewisham, Bexley and Tower Hamlets, and the garage conversion plans hub has the national rules.