Building work in Charlton: area guide

This is our area guide to building work in Charlton (SE7, Greenwich): the housing, the council rules that apply (the Royal Borough of Greenwich for planning) and every service we offer here. For whole-house refurbishment go to Home renovation in Charlton.

Charlton sits on rising ground between the river and the heath, and the slope turns up in the buildings. Terraces step down the hill in short runs, ground levels differ front to back on one house, and rear gardens are often a storey above or below the floor they open onto. Most SE7 homes are flats, where freeholder consent and the shared stack come first. In the Victorian terraces of solid brick walls, closet wings and suspended floors, levels decide the job: drainage falls and how a rear extension meets the garden are measured, not assumed.

The valuation list shows roughly 9,540 homes in Charlton, of which 29% are pre-1919, 22% interwar and 49% post-1945, split 49% flats to 51% houses. VOA Council Tax stock of properties, March 2025, for Charlton Village, Charlton Slopes and Hornfair Park. Counts rounded by the VOA.

Charlton terraces on a slope: levels before layout

The most common surprise in SE7 is level. A house that looks conventional from the front can have a garden well above the internal floor, raising external ground against a solid wall and pushing moisture straight through it. Or the reverse: the garden drops away and any rear addition needs real foundation depth and retaining before a course shows above ground. Neither is a problem in itself, but both are expensive to find late, so a house extension job here starts with levels taken at quotation stage rather than priced from photographs.

Slope affects drainage too. Falls that work on flat ground do not always work here, and a rear addition often sits over or beside existing runs that must be diverted or built over with the correct protection. Building over a drain needs agreement and proper detailing, and it does get checked. Surface water matters as well: a new patio or roof adds run off, and where it goes has to be resolved rather than left to find its own way into the garden below yours. In a ground floor flat those drains are often shared, so the freeholder agrees any diversion first.

Charlton closet wings: side return infill is a steel job first

The rear of a Charlton terrace usually steps in, a two storey closet wing leaving a narrow strip of garden alongside it. Filling that strip is the classic change for this house type, turning a dark, useless passage into the width the kitchen never had. It means taking out part of the original rear wall, which carries floor and roof load, so the opening is engineered before it is cut: an independent structural engineer specifies the beam and its bearings, and we install what is specified under building control inspection. That is RSJ installation first, kitchen renovation second.

Inside, these houses share the same wear: lath and plaster on ceilings and stud walls, suspended ground floors with airbricks blocked beneath them, chimney breasts in every principal room and original joinery usually worth saving. We prefer to repair sashes, panelled doors and staircases where they survive, because replacements rarely match the proportions and the originals were better timber. Taking a breast out is a chimney breast removal: the retained stack is supported to an engineer's design, and the party wall position is dealt with first. Work through every room is home renovation.

Where to go next for work in Charlton: house extensions in Charlton, the Greenwich area guide, building work in Woolwich, building work in Eltham and Listed Building Renovation.