Kitchen Extensions Bermondsey

A kitchen extension in Bermondsey starts with a question about the building, because 89% of homes here are flats and 11% are houses. A flat or maisonette has no householder permitted development rights, so any extension to it goes through a planning application. The houses are mainly terraces, 10% of all homes against 1% semi-detached or detached, and on a terrace the job is a side return infill or a single-storey rear extension. We build the structure, drainage, glazing and the new kitchen in one programme.

In Bermondsey, a rear kitchen extension of about 30 square metres typically costs £45,000 to £97,500 excluding VAT, or £60,000 to £100,000 for a side return (indicative London ranges, Resi, MyBuilder and Checkatrade, 2026). GS Renovation Ltd, a building contractor based in Potters Bar, does the work in Bermondsey: the structural engineer we appoint designs the foundations and steel, we build the room and fit the kitchen, and a registered electrician certifies the electrics.

Which Bermondsey houses suit a side return or rear extension

Terraces are the Bermondsey houses that take a kitchen extension: terraced houses make up 10% of homes, with semis and detached houses at 1%. On a terrace the shapes are a side return infill beside the back addition, a full-width single-storey rear extension, or the two joined as a wraparound. Only 9% of all homes here were built before 1919 and 12% between the wars, so a terrace may be Victorian, interwar or post-war, and each has a different rear wall, foundation and drain layout.

National permitted development allows a single-storey rear extension of up to three metres beyond the original rear wall on any house that is not detached. That depth counts from the original house, so a later extension or conservatory eats into it, and a side return infill is judged under the separate side extension limits. Before a layout is fixed on a Bermondsey terrace we look at what was built before, where the neighbour's extension sits and how the garden level compares with the kitchen floor. Those points, with any designation on the street, show whether the design fits the permitted route or needs an application.

Housing in Bermondsey

Take the 27,150 or so homes the valuation list gives Bermondsey: 89% flats, 11% houses, 9% from before 1919, 12% interwar and 73% post-war. Where most homes are flats, only a ground floor flat in Bermondsey with its own garden can extend its kitchen.

What Southwark's Householder SPD sets for a Bermondsey rear extension

Southwark's Householder SPD, which Cabinet decided to adopt in 2025, is the guidance your designer works to for a Bermondsey kitchen extension. It describes a rear extension on a terraced or semi-detached home of up to 3m deep and a maximum of 4m high, and it says a rear extension must not take up more than 50% of the total rear garden. On a short garden that second limit can bite before the depth does, so the garden is measured first.

The same document says the route without planning permission is not open to flats, maisonettes, homes in a conservation area or listed homes. In Bermondsey that takes in the converted warehouse flats, the flats above shops and any house in a conservation area, the Bermondsey Street Conservation Area being one example. For those homes the kitchen extension is a planning application from the outset, prepared by your designer or agent, and we price and programme from the approved drawings rather than from a sketch.

Steel, drains and glass in a Bermondsey kitchen extension

Opening the back of a Bermondsey terrace into a new kitchen means taking out part of the rear wall, and sometimes the side wall of the back addition, and carrying the floor above on steel. The structural engineer we appoint sizes the beams and padstones, and we prop, cut out and install to that design. The kitchen also moves the sink and appliances further from the existing gully, so the drain run is surveyed early and any connection near a public sewer is flagged before digging.

Southwark lets you begin a building regulations application as a building notice, full plans or regularisation, and describes the building notice as a route for small, simple domestic work such as extensions. A kitchen extension with steel and new drainage is better served by full plans, so the structure is checked on paper before it is built. Glazing is the other decision: in a Bermondsey conservation area Southwark's SPD rules out UPVC, even at the rear, so sliding doors and roof lights are specified in aluminium or timber.

Running the Bermondsey kitchen fit-out inside the build programme

We run the kitchen fit-out as the last stage of the same programme, not as a separate job after the builders leave. Once the shell is watertight, first fix plumbing and electrics go in, the floor is screeded and the plaster dries out, then the units, worktops and appliances are fitted. On a Bermondsey terrace with no side access, everything from steel to worktops comes through the house, so deliveries are ordered around the protection laid on floors and stairs.

Southwark allows noisy work from 8am to 6pm Monday to Friday and 9am to 2pm on Saturday, with none on Sundays or bank holidays, so breaking out and cutting are booked inside those hours. A skip on the road needs a Southwark skip licence applied for 7 days before delivery, and a parking bay suspension for a steel or kitchen delivery needs seven days notice. On a Bermondsey street we book both before the start date rather than on the morning.

• Soil stack and gully rerouting beneath the new floor
• Wet underfloor heating laid in the new screed
• The kitchen itself fitted under the same contract as the build

VOA Council Tax stock of properties, March 2025, for all 6 statistical areas in Bermondsey. Counts rounded by the VOA.

Useful next reading for a kitchen extensions project in Bermondsey: kitchen renovation in Bermondsey, kitchen extensions across Southwark, a wraparound kitchen-diner, party wall notices for a kitchen extension, how we handle kitchen extensions across London and Extend or Move?.

Why Choose GS Renovation in Bermondsey

You get one contractor for the structure and the kitchen, so the steel, the drainage, the glazing and the units are programmed by the same people. The structural engineer we appoint designs the steel and we install it to that design. Your designer or agent prepares any planning application and we build to the approved drawings. We give you a written quotation after a site visit, a written programme and a single contact from the first strip-out to the final clean on your Bermondsey kitchen.

• Rated 4.9 from 31 reviews on MyBuilder
• Boiler flue, soil pipe and gully moved off the rear wall in the right order
• Old kitchen kept in use until the new shell is weathertight

Checked by Abdelaaziz Saaid, founder and director of GS Renovation Ltd (Companies House no. 14611254). Structural design is by the consulting engineer appointed to your project.