House extensions in Woolwich, Plumstead and Charlton. Rear, side-return and wrap-around builds: drawings, Building Control, structure and finish, one team throughout.
Often not - many rear extensions fall under permitted development, and most side returns on a terrace do too. But permitted development has real limits on depth and height, and the borough has its own quirks. We check before you commit to a design.
On a terrace or semi you will almost certainly need to serve a party wall notice, and that has a statutory timetable. Start it early. It is the single most common reason an extension starts later than the owner expected.
A single-storey rear or side return is typically twelve to sixteen weeks on site, plus the design and approvals before it. Anyone quoting six weeks is quoting the shell, not the finished room.
Yes. Permitted development only covers planning. Building Regulations still apply to the foundations, structure, insulation and drainage, and the work has to be inspected and signed off.
Usually, yes. Most of the work happens outside until the final stage, when the new room is opened into the existing house. That part is planned so the kitchen is out of action for as short a time as possible.
The Victorian terraces through Plumstead and Woolwich were built with a narrow side return that does almost nothing, and filling it in is the change that transforms the ground floor of that kind of house. It is also structural work next to a party wall, which is where the process matters as much as the building.
In the Plumstead and Charlton terraces most extensions are side returns, filling the narrow strip beside the back addition to make a wider kitchen. The boundary wall, the neighbour's drainage and the steel over the new opening all have to be worked out before anything is dug.
The classic terrace job. Steel over the opening, the kitchen moved into the new space, and light brought into a room that never had any.
Structural calculations, the notice, the inspections and the sign-off, handled rather than handed to you.
On a Woolwich terrace there is nearly always a party wall notice to serve. We tell you early, because it takes time and it is not something to discover late.
Groundwork through to plastering and second fix, so nobody is blaming the last trade.
A drain survey where needed, so a shared sewer under the side return is known about early and built over with the right approval.
Send a photo or a quick video of the room on WhatsApp, or get a free fixed quote, no obligation, and we’ll tell you straight what it needs.