New build drawings in Havering

A borough of owners and houses

76.7 per cent of Havering households live in a house or bungalow and 69.5 per cent own their home. The streets are low-rise and uniform, so a new house is compared directly with the semis and terraces on either side.

That favours careful elevations. We draw the street scene with the neighbours' ridge, eaves and window rhythm to scale, using levels from our measured building survey service, and match materials where the street has a clear palette.

Domestic gardens make up 19.5 per cent of the land, and the average Havering house sells for £448,648, so build cost and levies carry more weight in the sums.

Two levy zones on either side of a road

Havering's charging schedule is the Havering Community Infrastructure Levy Charging Schedule. Its residential rates are £151.52/m² (Zone A, North of A1306); £66.67/m² (Zone B, South of A1306) The boundary is a named road, so the side of the road your plot lies on sets the rate.

The Mayoral CIL is charged as well. Havering is in band 3, the lowest, at £30.3 per square metre this year. The council fee is £610 per dwelling for up to nine homes.

We show the levy for each design option in the quote conversation, so that the zone is known before a layout is chosen.

What Havering's minor-scheme figures show

Havering decided 306 minor applications in the latest return. It granted 64.4 per cent and decided 96.4 per cent within eight weeks or an agreed extension.

The council is quick, but it grants a smaller share of minor schemes than of householder cases, where 85.9 per cent of 985 decisions were granted. Fast refusals are as possible as fast consents, so completeness of the set matters. These are historic figures that mix extensions and changes of use with new homes.

With 11 conservation areas and 146 listed building entries, heritage is a lighter constraint here than in inner London, but a listed neighbour can still require a statement. Our planning drawings in Havering page covers the application.

Openness, volume and the maths of green belt sites

If your Havering plot is inside the green belt, the application turns on a comparison. The council will want to know what exists now and what you propose, in footprint, floor area and volume, and whether the new building has a greater impact on openness. We measure the existing buildings from the survey, including sheds and hardstanding the council may count, and we draw the proposal over them at the same scale.

That comparison goes in the drawings as a table and as an overlay: existing in a dashed line, proposed in solid. It is the plainest way of showing an officer the net change, including any past extension or outbuilding that may be counted along with the main house.

Previously developed land has its own treatment, and we read the national policy for the exact wording before making any claim. Where a scheme depends on it, we say so on the first call and set out what evidence you would need to hold, such as a lawful use or an old planning permission.

Self-build projects often sit on this kind of plot, and the levy position is different: Self-build housing built or commissioned by and occupied by P as main residence can claim exemption. We flag it, and we leave the decision with you and the council.

For a plot outside the belt, none of this applies, and the work turns on the street instead. Either way, our lawful development certificate service in Havering can establish what is already lawful on the land before a design is fixed.

How we work

You send the address. We run the constraints check, quote a fixed fee, survey the plot, and test two or three layouts in a 3D model. You choose one in writing, then we prepare the set and, after consent, building regulations drawings in Havering.

If the council asks for changes, we redraw free until approval. We make no promise about the decision.