Kitchen Extensions Southwark

A kitchen extension in Southwark is a house owner's project in a borough of flats: 81% of homes here are flats and 19% are houses. Terraced houses make up 16% of the stock and semis or detached houses 4%, so the house behind a Southwark kitchen extension is far more often a terrace than a semi. Flat owners start from a planning application, because householder permitted development applies to houses only.

In Southwark, 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 Southwark: 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.

What the Householder SPD allows at the back of a Southwark terrace

Southwark's Householder SPD gives the envelope for a rear kitchen built without planning permission: a terraced or semi-detached home can extend by up to 3m in depth with a maximum height of 4m. Southwark's Cabinet decided to adopt the SPD at its meeting of 07/07/2025, so it is the current guide. The same SPD says rear extensions must not take up more than 50% of the total rear garden space. A deeper single storey kitchen, up to 6m on a house that is not detached, goes through prior approval outside designated land, or through a planning application.

Those limits shape the room before anyone chooses a worktop. A 3m addition to a narrow terrace gives a kitchen and dining space across the back, with the old rear reception opened into it on a steel. Where the garden is short, the 50% rule can bite before the depth limit does, so we measure the garden on the survey visit and the designer fixes the footprint from real dimensions rather than an estimate.

Housing in Southwark

Of the 149,990 homes the valuation list records in Southwark, 25% were built before 1919, 7% between the wars and 64% since 1945; 81% are flats and 19% are houses. Only a ground floor flat in Southwark with its own garden can extend its kitchen, which matters here because most homes are flats.

Flats, conservation areas and listed homes: check permission first

If you own a flat or maisonette in Southwark, a single storey rear extension needs planning permission, because householder permitted development applies to houses only. Southwark's Householder SPD also lists homes in a conservation area and listed homes as outside the no-permission route. Nationally, designated land rules out every side extension without householder permission, and a listed home needs listed building consent for works that affect its character, so have your designer confirm the position for your address. For a ground floor flat, expect a full planning application and usually the freeholder's consent under the lease.

The practical effect is on the programme. A permitted development kitchen on an undesignated terrace can go from survey to site once building control and any party wall notices are in hand. A designated or flat project waits on a decision, so we plan the start date around it and hold back ordering glazing, steel and the kitchen units until the approved drawings are in your hands. Starting early on the paperwork protects the build window you want.

Peckham Hill Street and Camberwell Green set tighter rules

Two of Southwark's conservation area appraisals speak directly to rear kitchens. In the Peckham Hill Street Conservation Area, designated on 18 October 2011, full width rear extensions will normally prove unacceptable and extensions should be clearly subservient. In the Camberwell Green Conservation Area, rear extensions should normally be no more than one storey in height. Both push the design towards a smaller footprint with the old building still legible behind it.

On a Peckham Hill Street house that points to a part width rear addition that leaves the original back wall readable, rather than a kitchen across the whole width. The borough's SPD also says UPVC will not be permitted in any conservation area, even at the rear. The doors and windows onto the garden are therefore drawn and ordered in another material, such as timber or aluminium, that the planning officer accepts. We price and programme those frames from the start rather than swapping them in after a refusal.

Drainage, steel, glazing and the kitchen in one programme

We run the structure and the kitchen as one job, so the pipework, steel and roof lights are placed for the kitchen you are actually getting. An old terrace can have a shared drain or an inspection chamber where the new floor will go, so the survey checks the run early; building over or near a public sewer also needs the water company's agreement. The structural engineer we appoint sizes the steel that carries the back of the house across the new opening, and we fix it before any glazing is measured.

Once the shell is weathertight, the roof lights and rear doors go in, followed by first fix plumbing and electrics set out to the kitchen plan. A registered electrician certifies the new circuits. Southwark Council's online form accepts a building notice, full plans or regularisation, and a registered building control approver is the alternative to the council. You choose the route on your designer's advice, and we build to the approved drawings and keep the inspection visits in the programme.

• Wet underfloor heating laid in the new screed
• Party wall process explained, with drawings for your notices
• Sliding, bifold and steel-framed glazed doors to the garden

VOA Council Tax stock of properties, March 2025, for all 34 statistical areas in Southwark. Counts rounded by the VOA.

Once you know the scope of the kitchen extensions in Southwark, it helps to read kitchen renovation in Southwark, our Southwark area guide, a wraparound kitchen-diner, sign-off by building control on a kitchen extension, our London kitchen extensions page and Underfloor Heating Costs.

Trusted Kitchen Extensions in Southwark

You get one team from the survey to the finished kitchen, so the steel, the drainage run, the roof lights and the units are planned together rather than handed between trades. Abdelaaziz Saaid, our founder and director, brings long hands-on building experience to each job. We build to the approved drawings and the building control route your designer chooses, keep the programme written down, and tell you early if a site condition changes the sequence.

• Rooflights set out against the engineer's steel layout
• Free follow-up visit after completion if anything needs attention
• Boiler flue, soil pipe and gully moved off the rear wall in the right order

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.