Lawful Development Certificate in Greenwich

Existing houses, listing and the sums

Because so much of the borough is protected, the first question for a Greenwich owner is whether the house is listed or inside a designated area. We search the national list and the council's mapping, then confirm in writing before drawing.

If the house is free of those designations, the sums begin. The Order's rear limit reads: 3 m (attached) / 4 m (detached) beyond the original rear wall, single storey. The height cap is 4 metres. We draw both on the elevation and section so the officer can check them quickly.

Loft conversions on Greenwich terraces

Lofts are a common request on Greenwich's terraced streets. The volume limit is 40 m³ (terrace house) / 50 m³ (any other house) additional roof volume. Terraces take the lower figure, and a previous roof extension counts against it.

We measure the roof, work out the existing volume from the survey and show the calculation on the sheet. Where a house has a hip, we show how the new volume is measured against the original roof line.

How Greenwich handles certificate applications

Greenwich dealt with 437 certificate applications of all kinds in the latest full year of its returns to government, a figure that includes existing-use cases as well as proposals for new work.

That is a steady caseload. Our drawings follow the same pattern every time: existing and proposed plans, elevations, a section, and a short note of the Order paragraphs relied on, so the officer does not have to hunt for the basis of the claim.

Reading a Greenwich designation search

Our check has four parts. We search the National Heritage List by address, look up the council's conservation area map, ask whether the World Heritage Site or its setting affects the street, and read any Article 4 direction that covers the property. We record the date of the search on the file, because lists and maps change.

A listed house includes more than the main building: attached structures and some outbuildings can be covered by the listing. Where the entry is unclear, we read the listing text itself instead of relying on the map.

You receive the result as a short written note before any drawing starts, and where heritage controls close the certificate route, we say which route to take instead.

Fee and timing

The council's fee for a proposed-use certificate is: Half the normal planning fee (householder: £274). It is payable to Greenwich, apart from our fixed fee of £645 including VAT. The statutory period is 8 weeks.

A second chartered technologist checks every set. If the officer requests changes we redraw without a further fee.

A certificate is not permission to ignore the neighbours. If the work touches a shared boundary, the Party Wall etc. Act 1996 may still require notices, and we mention this in the handover note.

Related drawings and nearby boroughs

If heritage rules close the certificate route, we prepare planning drawings in Greenwich. The technical sheets follow in building regulations drawings in Greenwich. For the borough overview, see architectural drawings in Greenwich. Compare the neighbouring rules in Lewisham and Bexley.