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Southwark Council

Architectural technology in Southwark

Planning drawings, building regulations, loft conversions, house extensions and mansards — delivered across Southwark by MCIAT chartered technologists with deep knowledge of Southwark Council's policies.

Southwark at a glance

Planning authority
Southwark Council
Population
318,000
Conservation areas
43
Article 4 Direction
Yes — HMO and more
Postcodes
SE1, SE5, SE15, SE16, SE17, SE21, SE22
Typical housing
Georgian and Regency in Bermondsey and Borough

London terraced street — typical residential housing for architectural drawings in Southwark
Services available in Southwark

Every architectural service in Southwark — one chartered team.

Planning Drawings in Southwark

Building Regulations Drawings in Southwark

A construction-ready drawing package compliant with every Approved Document — Part A structure, Part B fire, Part L thermal, Part M accessib...

Loft Conversions in Southwark

Every loft type across every Southwark roof line — dormer, mansard, hip-to-gable, L-shape, Velux. LDC or full planning route, building regu...

House Extensions in Southwark

The whole spectrum — rear extensions, side returns, wraparounds, double-storey, basement digs. Planning-led design with detailed technical p...

Mansard Roof Extensions in Southwark

Southwark's most space-efficient loft solution when PD-route dormers are blocked. Our chartered team designs mansards that get approved in ...

Garage Conversions in Southwark

Turn your unused Southwark garage into a bedroom, home office or open-plan kitchen-diner. Planning route assessment, full building regulati...

Basement Conversions in Southwark

Full architectural technology service for basement digs and cellar conversions in Southwark — structural underpinning design, waterproofing...

Structural Calculations in Southwark

Chartered structural engineer calculations for every residential intervention in Southwark — steel beams, lintels, pad foundations, wall re...

Measured Building Surveys in Southwark

Measured surveys across Southwark — floor plans, elevations and sections to ±3mm accuracy. Leica Disto laser + BLK360 point-cloud scanning,...

Party Wall Services in Southwark

End-to-end Party Wall Act 1996 service for Southwark — Section 1, 3 and 6 notices, schedule of condition surveys, party wall award coordina...

Rear Dormer Loft Conversions in Southwark

London's most popular loft type — the full-width rear dormer. Planning or Permitted Development route assessed for your Southwark property,...

Southwark planning context

Planning in Southwark

Housing stock: Georgian and Regency in Bermondsey and Borough; Victorian terraces in Camberwell and Peckham; Dulwich Estate controlled housing; riverside new-build.

Character: Dulwich Estate private planning scheme affects much of SE21 and SE22; Southwark planning for rest of borough; strong heritage context.

Notable conservation areas: Camberwell Grove, Bermondsey Street, Dulwich Village, Peckham Rye, Borough

Article 4 Direction: Article 4 for HMOs borough-wide; additional Article 4 for office-to-residential in Bermondsey and Elephant & Castle.

Areas within Southwark

Drawings across Southwark by area

An architectural technologist checking a printed set of house drawings, marking a proposed elevation in red — architectural technology in Southwark
Every set is checked line by line against the validation checklist before it leaves the office.
Nearby boroughs

Boroughs adjacent to Southwark

Georgian and Victorian terraces in Bermondsey SE1
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All services in Southwark

What we do in Southwark

Planning Drawings in Southwark

Building Regulations Drawings in Southwark

A construction-ready drawing package compliant with every Approved Document — Part A structure, Part B fire, Part L thermal, Part M accessib...

Loft Conversions in Southwark

Every loft type across every Southwark roof line — dormer, mansard, hip-to-gable, L-shape, Velux. LDC or full planning route, building regu...

House Extensions in Southwark

The whole spectrum — rear extensions, side returns, wraparounds, double-storey, basement digs. Planning-led design with detailed technical p...

Mansard Roof Extensions in Southwark

Southwark's most space-efficient loft solution when PD-route dormers are blocked. Our chartered team designs mansards that get approved in ...

Garage Conversions in Southwark

Turn your unused Southwark garage into a bedroom, home office or open-plan kitchen-diner. Planning route assessment, full building regulati...

Basement Conversions in Southwark

Full architectural technology service for basement digs and cellar conversions in Southwark — structural underpinning design, waterproofing...

Structural Calculations in Southwark

Chartered structural engineer calculations for every residential intervention in Southwark — steel beams, lintels, pad foundations, wall re...

Measured Building Surveys in Southwark

Measured surveys across Southwark — floor plans, elevations and sections to ±3mm accuracy. Leica Disto laser + BLK360 point-cloud scanning,...

Party Wall Services in Southwark

End-to-end Party Wall Act 1996 service for Southwark — Section 1, 3 and 6 notices, schedule of condition surveys, party wall award coordina...

Rear Dormer Loft Conversions in Southwark

London's most popular loft type — the full-width rear dormer. Planning or Permitted Development route assessed for your Southwark property,...

Speak to a technologist

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Leave your number and an Architectural technologist covering Southwark will call you back within 30 minutes during working hours.

A printed planning application drawing set — proposed elevations, floor plans and the os location plan with the site outlined in red — architectural technology in Southwark
The planning set that goes to the council through the Planning Portal: proposed elevations, plans, and the OS location plan with your site outlined.

Which Southwark postcodes does this drawing package service cover?

Every Southwark postcode district we draw in, the stock that dominates it and the authority that validates a drawing package there. Southwark fees below are the statutory England rates for 2026, not drawing package estimates.

PostcodeAreaDominant stockWhat it means for a drawing package
SE1Bermondsey / Borough / WaterlooGeorgian terraces, post-war flats, new-buildBermondsey / Borough / Waterloo is split at SE1. Either Southwark Council or Lambeth Council can determine a drawing package here, so the SE1 address is checked against both policies maps first.
SE5CamberwellGeorgian villas, Victorian terracesA drawing package in Camberwell may land with Southwark Council or Lambeth Council — SE5 crosses the boundary, and the SE5 policies map decides it street by street.
SE15Peckham / NunheadVictorian terraces, post-war estatesA drawing package at an SE15 address in Peckham / Nunhead is determined by Southwark Council under its own Local Plan policies for Peckham / Nunhead.
SE16Bermondsey / RotherhitheWarehouse conversions, Georgian terraces, new-buildSE16 covers Bermondsey / Rotherhithe only; Southwark Council handles the drawing package, and Bermondsey / Rotherhithe case officers apply the SE16 conservation-area map.
SE17WalworthPost-war estates, new-build towersA drawing package at an SE17 address in Walworth is determined by Southwark Council under its own Local Plan policies for Walworth.
SE21Dulwich VillageGeorgian villas, Edwardian villas (Dulwich Estate)Dulwich Village is split at SE21. Either Southwark Council or Lambeth Council can determine a drawing package here, so the SE21 address is checked against both policies maps first.
SE22East DulwichVictorian and Edwardian terracesSE22 covers East Dulwich only; Southwark Council handles the drawing package, and East Dulwich case officers apply the SE22 conservation-area map.
SE24Herne HillVictorian villas, Edwardian terracesHerne Hill is split at SE24. Either Lambeth Council or Southwark Council can determine a drawing package here, so the SE24 address is checked against both policies maps first.

Which Southwark neighbourhoods suit a drawing package best?

Roof pitch, wall build-up and plot depth change every few Southwark streets, and each one changes what a drawing package can achieve at that address.

How do conservation areas and Article 4 affect a drawing package in Southwark?

Southwark conservation designations: there are 43 across Southwark Council, Peckham Rye, Borough, Camberwell Grove among them. Designation costs a Southwark owner the permitted-development route: a drawing package then needs a £548 householder application over 8 weeks, in place of the £249 prior approval route that takes 6 weeks. Dulwich Village is the Southwark designation that most often changes a drawing package design.

Article 4 and your Southwark drawing package: Article 4 for HMOs borough-wide; additional Article 4 for office-to-residential in Bermondsey and Elephant & Castle. At a SE1 address that matters twice over, because Southwark Council applies the direction unevenly across Southwark — we read the Southwark policies map for the exact SE1 address before quoting architectural drawings.

The building fabric around Southwark: Georgian and Regency in Bermondsey and Borough; Victorian terraces in Camberwell and Peckham; Dulwich Estate controlled housing; riverside new-build. Dulwich Estate private planning scheme affects much of SE21 and SE22; Southwark planning for rest of borough; strong heritage context. A drawing package in Southwark is scoped against that stock first, because it decides whether the scheme runs as permitted development, a £274 Lawful Development Certificate, or a full £548 application to Southwark Council.

Who decides a drawing package on the edge of Southwark?

Sources for this Southwark drawing package page: borough policies maps and conservation-area registers (2025–26), Royal Mail postcode district boundaries, the Town and Country Planning (Fees for Applications) (England) Regulations, the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015 as amended, and the Party Wall etc. Act 1996.

What are the chances of approval in Southwark?

Over the 12 quarters from 2023 Q2 to 2026 Q1, Southwark decided 1,617 householder planning applications and approved 93.8% of them — 10.8 percentage points above the London average of 83%. That places Southwark 2nd of 32 London boroughs on householder approval rate. These are decisions the council reported to MHCLG, not our own sample.

93.8%of householder applications approved
1,517approved in Southwark
100refused over the same period
95.8%decided within 8 weeks
Southwark planning decisions, 2023 Q2 to 2026 Q1
MeasureSouthwarkContext
Householder applications decided1,61777,680 across London
Householder approval rate93.8%83% London average
Decided within 8 weeks95.8%8th fastest of 32 boroughs
Took longer than 13 weeks1.2%the applications that overran the statutory target
Minor dwellings approval rate88.0%new-build and conversion schemes under 10 units
All application types90.6%across 4,303 decisions
Certificates of lawfulness issued604confirmations that work was permitted development

Speed matters as much as the odds. Southwark decided 95.8% of householder applications inside the eight-week statutory period and let 1.2% run past thirteen weeks. A drawing package that is complete and correctly described at validation is the part of that timeline you control; the rest belongs to the council's caseload.

Source: MHCLG District Planning Application Statistics (PS1 and PS2), 2023 Q2 to 2026 Q1, published quarterly by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. Counts are decisions made in the window, not applications submitted. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

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Neighbourhoods we cover in Southwark

9 Southwark neighbourhoods

We've delivered architectural drawings across every part of Southwark. Each neighbourhood has its own conservation context and dominant housing stock — click through for area-specific guidance.

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