Rear extension drawings in Greenwich

What Greenwich's guidance says about rear extensions

This page quotes only rules we can trace to a page of the council's own document. For rear extensions in Greenwich we hold none with a figure, and the borough's adopted plan in our data, the Royal Greenwich Local Plan: Core Strategy with Detailed Policies, dates from 2,014. We therefore design to the national limits, then check the council's current wording for anything that goes beyond them.

When an extension needs a full application, officers judge bulk, boundary relationship and effect on neighbours, and they expect the drawings to show these. We include the original rear wall, the line of the neighbouring extensions and the garden left behind.

A World Heritage Site and Greenwich's conservation areas

Greenwich contains 1 World Heritage Site, and the council publishes 23 conservation areas. Historic England lists 540 entries inside the borough and records 13 scheduled monuments.

A house inside a conservation area or the World Heritage Site cannot use the prior approval route, a listed house needs listed building consent, and any of them may need a heritage assessment alongside the drawings. Where your home is listed, work to its back wall needs separate consent. We check the address for all of these on the first call, because it decides the route before it decides the design.

Householder decisions and garden space in Greenwich

Greenwich decided 624 householder applications in its latest published year and granted 77.1 per cent, with 94.2 per cent decided in eight weeks or an agreed extension. It is a reason to take care over the drawings, not to be discouraged.

48.4 per cent of households live in a house or bungalow, and domestic gardens cover 23.2 per cent of the borough's land, so there is a sizeable base of homes with space to extend.

Levy, biodiversity and energy rules for a Greenwich extension

Two national rules and one local document help with budgeting. Residential extensions and annexes can claim exemption (claim before commencement). For householder applications, the biodiversity net gain rule is simple: Householder applications are exempt from biodiversity net gain. Greenwich also publishes the Royal Borough of Greenwich CIL Charging Schedule 2024 (Borough CIL 2), and we flag any liability we see in the handover notes.

On the build side, large glazed openings are capped: Windows, roof windows, rooflights and doors in an extension should not exceed 25% of the extension floor area plus the area of openings removed or covered. A wide rear wall of glass is a common request, so we test the opening area against that limit while the design is still flexible.

Rear extension drawings for Greenwich: the set and the fee

A set includes existing and proposed plans, sections and elevations, plus the location and block plans, from £695 with VAT included. The fee is fixed before you commit. A second chartered technologist checks every sheet and we redraw at no charge if the council asks for changes. The council's householder fee, £548, is paid separately.

Related projects and neighbouring councils

If a wider footprint is on the cards, see wraparound extension drawings in Greenwich or house extension drawings in Greenwich. The borough overview is at architectural drawings in Greenwich. Nearby, compare Lewisham and Bexley.