London's most popular loft type — the full-width rear dormer. Planning or Permitted Development route assessed for your Southwark property, building regulations, structural steelwork and Party Wall notices, all fixed fee.
London's most popular loft type — the full-width rear dormer. Planning or Permitted Development route assessed for your Southwark property, building regulations, structural steelwork and Party Wall notices, all fixed fee.
Housing stock in Southwark: 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.
Article 4: Article 4 for HMOs borough-wide; additional Article 4 for office-to-residential in Bermondsey and Elephant & Castle.
We confirm whether your Southwark rear dormer qualifies for Permitted Development — checking volume limits (40m³ terraced, 50m³ semi/detached), Article 4, conservation area and prior extension history.
If PD applies, we obtain a Lawful Development Certificate for certainty. If not, we submit full planning with Design & Access Statement to Southwark Council.
Full-width flat-roof rear dormer with matching materials, set in from party walls, cheeks clad to match existing roof — the design that Southwark Council approves most readily.
Part B fire escape (protected staircase, fire doors, smoke alarms), Part K staircase, Part L insulation, Part E acoustic separation.
Steel ridge beam, purlin supports, dormer framing, floor joist upgrade — chartered engineer sign-off for Building Control.
Most rear dormers in Southwark's terraced streets trigger Section 6 Party Wall notices. We draft, serve and coordinate the process.
Single planning or regs submission.
Planning + building regs + structural.
Listed, conservation, complex sites.
Direct answers to the questions Southwark homeowners ask every week about rear dormer drawings.
Start a free quote →It depends on your exact address in Southwark. Most standard loft conversions qualify as Permitted Development (no planning permission needed) if under 40m³ for terraced or 50m³ for semi-detached, with matching materials and 20cm eaves setback. However Southwark has Article 4 Directions that may remove these rights — and flats, conservation areas and listed buildings always require full planning. We confirm permitted development eligibility at the free feasibility visit. Full-width rear dormers are the most common PD loft type in Southwark — provided the volume, materials and setback conditions are met. We check every condition before committing to a route.
Our fixed-fee architectural package for a Southwark rear dormer starts at £1,225 (drawings + building regs + structural). Typical build costs in Southwark are £45,000–£70,000 for a standard full-width rear dormer with en-suite, depending on access, floor area and specification.
A full-width rear dormer in Southwark typically adds 15–25 square metres of habitable floor area — enough for a double bedroom with en-suite, or two single bedrooms. The flat roof gives full standing height across the entire width of the house, unlike a rooflight-only conversion which is constrained by the roof pitch.
Rear dormers in Southwark's conservation areas usually need full planning permission because PD rights are restricted. However, because they face the rear (not the street), Southwark Council typically views them more favourably than front dormers or mansards. A well-designed rear dormer with matching materials and sensitive proportions has a strong approval record.
A standard rear dormer in Southwark takes 8–12 weeks to build once on site. Our architectural package takes 3–5 weeks from instruction to submission. Building Control approval adds 2–4 weeks. Total timeline from survey to move-in: approximately 4–5 months.
We cover every London borough with the same fixed-fee approach. If your property sits on a boundary, here are the neighbouring options.
We cover every architectural technology service in Southwark with one chartered team.
From £840. A fixed-fee, end-to-end service — measured survey, scaled drawings, Design & Access Statement where required, Planning P...
From £840. A construction-ready drawing package compliant with every Approved Document — Part A structure, Part B fire, Part L ther...
From £1,225. Every loft type across every {location} roof line — dormer, mansard, hip-to-gable, L-shape, Velux. LDC or full planning ...
From £1,225. The whole spectrum — rear extensions, side returns, wraparounds, double-storey, basement digs. Planning-led design with ...
From £1,575. {location}'s most space-efficient loft solution when PD-route dormers are blocked. Our chartered team designs mansards t...
From £995. Turn your unused {location} garage into a bedroom, home office or open-plan kitchen-diner. Planning route assessment, fu...
From £1,950. Full architectural technology service for basement digs and cellar conversions in {location} — structural underpinning d...
From £350. Chartered structural engineer calculations for every residential intervention in {location} — steel beams, lintels, pad ...
From £450. End-to-end Party Wall Act 1996 service for {location} — Section 1, 3 and 6 notices, schedule of condition surveys, party...
Free quote in 60 seconds. Fixed fee from £1,225. MCIAT chartered.
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