Where we work
Covering SE24 · SW2 · Southwark and Lambeth
Rear extensions with the kitchen at the garden end, and family bathrooms.
In the news
The rules and money around energy upgrades moved a long way in 2026. The short version, with the sources.
The government's Warm Homes Plan, published in January 2026, offers grants and low- and zero-interest loans for solar panels, batteries and heat pumps, with fully funded upgrades for low-income households.
The Future Homes Standard amends the Building Regulations from 24 March 2027, with a 12-month transition: new homes in England must generate renewable electricity on site — in most cases rooftop solar — and be built with low-carbon heating. It covers new homes, not extensions or refits, but it shows where the regulations are heading.
The Energy Saving Trust notes that installation costs less if scaffolding is already up for roof work. If you are planning a loft conversion or an extension, settle where panels, cables and a battery would go while the roof and the walls are open.
The houses here
Victorian terraces and semis, with larger houses towards the Dulwich side. The borough boundary runs through the area, so which council you apply to is not always obvious.
What you need permission for
Much of Dulwich sits under the Dulwich Estate's Scheme of Management, which is a second consent on top of council planning permission. Freeholders need a licence from the Estate before any structural change or anything that alters the outside of the building — which includes removing an internal wall, replacing windows and fitting a boiler flue. Replacing kitchen units on their own does not need it; knocking the kitchen through to the dining room does. The Estate's own guidance puts rear extensions at around 3m from the rear wall and 3m high to a flat-roof parapet, and asks for a 600mm offset from a shared boundary unless your neighbour agrees in writing. Southwark's householder guidance is the one to read before you draw anything. Permitted development does not apply to flats or maisonettes at all, so any external change needs a full application. A large single-storey rear extension can go ahead under permitted development but needs Prior Approval, which means the council writes to your neighbours first. In a conservation area, or anywhere the council has an Article 4 direction, those permitted development rights are cut back again.
Rules vary street by street, and none of this is advice about your particular house — we check yours before we quote, and we handle the applications.
Read the rules yourself
Photographs from our own finished jobs across South East London.
Check your postcode
We cover Herne Hill and all of London. We are Herne Hill builders first, with Herne Hill on our doorstep, but the answer is yes a good deal further out than that. Put a postcode in and see.
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