Building work in Bexley: area guide

Bexley Council is the planning and building control authority for Bexley, which covers DA6, DA5, DA7, DA8, DA14, DA15, DA16, DA17, DA18, DA1 and SE2 and takes in Bexleyheath, Sidcup and Welling. This is our area guide to building work in the borough; for whole-house refurbishment go to Home renovation in Bexley.

For Bexley the Council Tax list gives about 101,760 homes; by type 27% flats and 73% houses, by age 48% post-war, 41% interwar and 11% older than 1919. VOA Council Tax stock of properties, March 2025, for all 28 statistical areas in Bexley. Counts rounded by the VOA.

Planning and building control in Bexley

What Bexley Council publishes about building work in the borough, with each point linked to the council page it comes from:

• Bexley has 23 conservation areas across the borough and special controls apply to buildings in them. bexley.gov.uk
• Bexley's borough-wide Article 4 Direction on small houses in multiple occupation came into force on 24 September 2017. bexley.gov.uk
• Bexley's Article 4 Direction controlling change of use from commercial, business and service uses to residential in its designated town centres came into force on 10 December 2025. bexley.gov.uk
• Bexley has over 150 listed buildings and structures and around 400 locally listed buildings and structures. bexley.gov.uk
• Bexley's Category G pre-application advice for householder proposals costs £153 for a written response or £354 for a meeting and written response. bexley.gov.uk
• Bexley Council's building control fees were adjusted from 20 April 2026 to reflect the up-to-date cost to the Council of processing and determining applications. bexley.gov.uk
• Bexley's domestic extension charges for more than 10m2 and less than 40m2 are a £400 plan charge, £400 inspection charge, £800 building notice charge and £1120 regularisation charge. bexley.gov.uk
• Bexley's domestic extension charges for more than 40m2 and less than 60m2 are a £480 plan charge, £480 inspection charge, £960 building notice charge and £1344 regularisation charge. bexley.gov.uk
• The adopted Bexley Local Plan flood risk management policy states that basements will not be permitted in Flood Zones 2 or 3. bexley.gov.uk

73% of Bexley's homes are houses, which keep householder permitted development: a single-storey rear extension within the size limits can usually go ahead without an application, in a conservation area too unless an Article 4 direction removes it. The 27% that are flats have no householder permitted development, so their extensions and most external changes need planning permission from Bexley Council. Taking out a wall or a chimney breast is building regulations work, not planning, unless the building is listed.

Bexley is one of the most consistent boroughs in London to build in, which makes the right job easy to name. Bexleyheath, Welling, Sidcup and the streets around them across DA1, DA5 to DA8, DA14 to DA18 and SE2 are overwhelmingly interwar and postwar family housing: cavity-walled semis and short terraces on wide plots, with hipped roofs, side paths and long back gardens. So many share a handful of original designs that we can usually tell you what is behind a wall before opening it.

Bringing Bexley's interwar houses up to standard: fabric first

Much of what we are asked to do in Bexley is retrofit rather than reconfiguration: cavity and loft insulation to modern levels, single glazing replaced, heating and hot water renewed, and a consumer unit and circuits brought properly under Part P. On a 1930s house the gain in comfort is considerable and far less disruptive than structural work. Spread across every room, that list is a home renovation.

Ventilation has to keep pace. Sealing a house up without addressing Part F moves moisture into corners and behind furniture, so extract is part of any kitchen renovation or bathroom renovation here, with background ventilation elsewhere. Where insulation goes on internally, thermal bridging at reveals and floor junctions needs detailing, or the cold spots just move.

Tired conservatories and rear additions in Bexley start at the foundations

Thousands of houses in this borough gained a conservatory or flat-roofed rear addition in the 1980s and 1990s, and many are now cold, leaking or unusable half the year. Replacing one with an insulated room, common in Bexleyheath and Sidcup, is a house extension job.

It is not a like-for-like swap. The original may sit on shallow foundations meant for a lightweight structure, so they are usually rebuilt to a depth set by the structural engineer, and any beam over a wider opening is RSJ installation. Bexley Council building control inspects the excavation, damp proofing, structure and insulation stages. Wide plots mean the skip goes on the drive and materials come down the side path, not through your hallway.

Popular starting points in Bexley: kitchen renovation in Bexley, house extensions across Bexley, builders in London and How Long a Renovation Takes.