Building work in Wandsworth: area guide

Wandsworth Council is the planning and building control authority for Wandsworth, which covers SW18, SW11, SW12, SW15, SW17 and SW8 and takes in Battersea, Putney, Balham and Tooting. This is our area guide to building work in the borough; for whole-house refurbishment go to Home renovation in Wandsworth.

By the valuation list's count, Wandsworth holds about 157,900 homes, 28% houses and 72% flats; by age, 43% were built before 1919, 7% between the wars and 49% since 1945. VOA Council Tax stock of properties, March 2025, for all 38 statistical areas in Wandsworth. Counts rounded by the VOA.

Planning and building control in Wandsworth

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

• Wandsworth has 46 conservation areas, ranging from a short street such as Deodar Road to a large area such as West Putney. wandsworth.gov.uk
• Wandsworth Council lists eight conservation areas subject to Article 4 Directions: Dover House Estate, Heaver Estate, Latchmere Estate, Putney Lower Common, Roehampton Village, Shaftesbury Park Estate, Totterdown Fields Estate and Wandsworth Common. wandsworth.gov.uk
• Under the Heaver Estate Conservation Area Article 4 direction, changes to the roofs of houses, including re-roofing in a different material, and building porches at the front need planning permission. wandsworth.gov.uk
• Wandsworth has around 500 listed buildings, and works to alter or extend one that affect its special character, including alterations to the interior, require listed building consent. wandsworth.gov.uk
• Wandsworth's free duty planner service for householders takes enquiries by email to planning@wandsworth.gov.uk and aims to respond within 20 working days. wandsworth.gov.uk
• Wandsworth Council's own Building Control service takes applications through the Building Control application service on the Planning Portal or by emailed form to buildingcontrol@wandsworth.gov.uk. wandsworth.gov.uk
• For a full plans application Wandsworth Building Control takes 40% of the total charge on application and invoices the remaining 60% inspection charge after the first site visit. wandsworth.gov.uk
• For a building notice application in Wandsworth the whole fee is due when the application is made and the application is invalid until the council receives payment. wandsworth.gov.uk
• Wandsworth Local Plan Policy LP6 permits a new or extended basement only where it results in no more than one storey of basement accommodation below ground level. wandsworth.gov.uk

With 72% of Wandsworth'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 Wandsworth Council as well as the freeholder's consent. The 28% 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.

Wandsworth stretches from Battersea and the river down through Balham and Tooting to Putney, covering SW8, SW11, SW12, SW15, SW17 and SW18. On VOA figures, most homes are flats, in riverside apartment blocks and period mansion flats, where the lease and freeholder come before any layout change. The late-Victorian and Edwardian terraces built for families, and still used by families, are the other stream: inherited layouts made to suit modern life.

Making family houses work harder starts with steel

In the houses the classic brief is a growing household with a dark galley kitchen, a bathroom in the wrong place and an unused roof space. Opening the ground floor into one room is load-bearing wall removal, the side return is a house extension, and the family bathroom moves to suit the new plan. In a flat, that list stops at the freeholder and soil stack.

Sequencing decides the order. Scaffolding goes up once, drainage is altered while the floor is open, and the rewire follows the final layout. We appoint the structural engineer first so the steel schedule is settled before demolition, then build to it with temporary support until the load is transferred. A list that long is a home renovation, planned as one job.

Conservation streets, roads and site logistics decide the planning route

Wandsworth Council has designated conservation areas around Clapham Common, the Wandsworth and Tooting commons and parts of Putney and Battersea. Inside them, the council lists front and side extensions and two-storey rear extensions among the works that need planning permission, roof extensions do too, and eight conservation areas carry Article 4 directions that go further, so almost any addition beyond a modest single-storey rear one needs a planning application. Outside them, much of the borough retains normal rights, so check the designation early.

On the ground, the constraints are parking zones, narrow Victorian streets and busy through routes such as the roads around Battersea and Tooting Broadway. Skip permits and suspended bays are arranged in advance. Where a family stays in the house through the work, we dust-seal the live zone, keep one working bathroom where possible, and agree the noisy stages with you week by week.

Popular starting points in Wandsworth: kitchen renovation in Wandsworth, house extensions across Wandsworth, builders in London and Listed Building Renovation.