Building work in Bromley: area guide

Bromley Council is the planning and building control authority for Bromley, which covers BR1, BR2, BR3, BR4, BR5, BR6, BR7 and SE20 and takes in Beckenham, Orpington and Chislehurst. This is our area guide to building work in the borough; for whole-house refurbishment go to Home renovation in Bromley.

The valuation list shows roughly 143,450 homes in Bromley, of which 17% are pre-1919, 30% interwar and 53% post-1945, split 33% flats to 67% houses. VOA Council Tax stock of properties, March 2025, for all 39 statistical areas in Bromley. Counts rounded by the VOA.

Planning and building control in Bromley

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

• Bromley Council states that there are 47 conservation areas in Bromley. bromley.gov.uk
• Bromley's Article 4 Direction removing Part 1, Class C roof alteration rights in the Chislehurst Road Conservation Area came into effect on 19 July 2022. bromley.gov.uk
• Bromley's non-immediate Article 4 Directions removing upwards extension rights under Part 1, Class AA and Part 20 came into effect on 15 March 2022. bromley.gov.uk
• Bromley Council states that it is unable to advise informally whether proposals fall within permitted development. bromley.gov.uk
• Bromley Council's building control service issues a full plans approval notice within five weeks, or two months where the period is extended by agreement. bromley.gov.uk
• Bromley lists the full plans procedure as suitable for extensions or alterations to any building other than small single storey domestic extensions. bromley.gov.uk
• In Bromley a building notice, which is less detailed than the full plans procedure, must be deposited at least two days before work starts. bromley.gov.uk

67% of Bromley'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 33% that are flats have no householder permitted development, so their extensions and most external changes need planning permission from Bromley Council. Check Bromley Council's conservation area and Article 4 lists for the street before anything is drawn. Taking out a wall or a chimney breast is building regulations work, not planning, unless the building is listed.

Bromley is the largest London borough by area and the most heavily wooded, which decides more building work than it sounds. Beckenham, Orpington, Chislehurst and the streets around them across BR1 to BR7 and SE20 are mainly interwar and postwar semis and detached houses on large plots, with older period properties near the commons. Big gardens, mature trees and clay ground shape most schemes, and they often settle the foundation before anything else.

Trees, clay subsoil and foundation depth come before any Bromley build

Mature trees in clay ground affect foundations directly, because clay shrinks and swells as trees draw moisture out of it. Work near established trees frequently needs deeper foundations than the standard trench, and the structural engineer sets the depth, not the site. We excavate to their detail and building control inspects the open trench before concrete goes in.

The trees can be protected too. Tree preservation orders apply to specified trees across the borough, and every tree within a conservation area has protection, so Bromley Council must be notified before pruning or removal. Settle that before a house extension design is drawn: it stops a design built around removing something you may not touch, and tells the engineer what will still draw water from the ground afterwards.

What large plots allow, and which job they become

Space changes the options. On a detached house the common permitted development allowance for a single-storey rear addition is four metres rather than three, and wide plots often make a two-storey side addition viable, both house extension work. Garden rooms and home offices are popular for the same reason, though outbuildings within two metres of a boundary are commonly limited to two and a half metres in height.

Access is easy compared with inner London: skips on the drive, materials stored on site, the rear reached round the house. On a semi, party wall duties still apply where a beam bears into the shared wall (an RSJ installation) or a chimney breast comes out of a shared stack (a chimney breast removal job), and you serve the notice as the building owner.

Popular starting points in Bromley: kitchen renovation in Bromley, house extensions across Bromley, builders in London and Full House Renovation Cost.