Building work in Greenwich: area guide

The Royal Borough of Greenwich is the planning and building control authority for Greenwich, which covers SE10, SE3, SE7, SE9, SE18, SE2 and SE28 and takes in Woolwich, Eltham and Charlton. This is our area guide to building work in the borough; for whole-house refurbishment go to Home renovation in Greenwich.

Count the homes in Greenwich and you get about 125,080: 60% built since 1945, 17% between the wars and 22% before 1919, with flats at 55% and houses at 45%. VOA Council Tax stock of properties, March 2025, for all 35 statistical areas in Greenwich. Counts rounded by the VOA.

Planning and building control in Greenwich

What the Royal Borough of Greenwich publishes about building work in the borough, with each point linked to the council page it comes from:

• Royal Greenwich has 23 conservation areas, and the council's list marks which of them are under Article 4 directions. royalgreenwich.gov.uk
• Royal Greenwich's Article 4 direction requiring planning permission to convert a house into an HMO covers the whole borough and came into force on 27 September 2018. royalgreenwich.gov.uk
• Royal Greenwich says there is less permitted development in Article 4 direction areas, so you may need planning permission for most works. royalgreenwich.gov.uk
• Royal Greenwich does not charge a fee for listed building consent applications. royalgreenwich.gov.uk
• Royal Greenwich's Urban Design Guide says first-floor rear extensions are not classed as permitted development in conservation areas. royalgreenwich.gov.uk
• Royal Greenwich building control needs two days notice before any work under a building notice starts. royalgreenwich.gov.uk
• Royal Greenwich building control says a building notice should only be used for simple work, such as a through room, chimney removal or drainage alteration. royalgreenwich.gov.uk
• Royal Greenwich requires a full plans application to build over or within three metres of a public sewer. royalgreenwich.gov.uk
• Royal Greenwich's Urban Design Guide supports only single-storey basement extensions, citing their environmental impact and increased flood risk. royalgreenwich.gov.uk

With 55% of Greenwich's homes flats, the lease comes first on many jobs. Flats have no householder permitted development, so an extension or most external changes to a flat need planning permission from the Royal Borough of Greenwich as well as the freeholder's consent. The 45% that are houses keep the householder rights within the size limits, and in a conservation area a single-storey rear extension survives unless an Article 4 direction removes it. Taking out a wall or a chimney breast is building regulations work, not planning, unless the building is listed.

Reviewed jobs in Greenwich

Our MyBuilder profile holds 1 verified review from jobs in Greenwich. The job titles are the customers' own, as published:

• Replace kitchen extractor hob, Woolwich, 27 Apr 2024 (5 out of 5)

Read every review, including the ones from elsewhere, on our reviews page.

The Royal Borough of Greenwich runs from the historic town centre in SE10 out through Charlton and Woolwich to the interwar suburbs of Eltham. Most of its homes were built after 1945, in estates and new riverside blocks, and the older stock falls into three distinct types: Georgian and early Victorian brick near the park, solid-walled Victorian terraces along the SE7 and SE18 streets, and 1930s semis with cavity walls further out. The job and the planning control differ sharply between them, so we check the designation first: a listed house needs consent for an opening, an Eltham semi is a load-bearing wall removal job.

Heritage constraints around Greenwich town centre route the work

Maritime Greenwich is a designated World Heritage Site and the surrounding streets carry conservation area status, with a high concentration of listed buildings among them. Conservation area status takes side, two-storey and roof additions and cladding out of permitted development, alterations to a listed building need listed building consent inside as well as out, and materials, windows and roof detail are all assessed.

The houses are not untouchable: the scheme is designed around what will be approved, then built to that consent. We coordinate with your architect. Any opening through a loadbearing wall is a load-bearing wall removal job, with a structural engineer appointed and built to the design issued. Repairing sash windows and original joinery usually sits better with the Royal Borough of Greenwich than replacing them, and that is home renovation work, not structural.

Popular starting points in Greenwich: kitchen renovation in Greenwich, house extensions across Greenwich, builders in London and Renovation Mistakes to Avoid.