Architect drawings for Sidcup homes, at a fixed price

Arkiplan is a remote-first architectural practice working with homeowners across Sidcup and the wider London Borough of Bexley. We produce the planning and building regulations drawings you need for an extension, loft conversion or internal remodel – quoted at a fixed price upfront, with no hourly billing and no surprises. Our founder has personally designed more than 1,500 homes over 20 years, and our drawings hold a 94% approval rate with councils. We're rated 4.7 stars from 574 Trustpilot reviews.

Everything is done online, so you're not paying for a high-street office – just experienced UK-qualified designers who know how Bexley Council assesses applications. A full package of planning drawings starts from Price confirmed in your proposal, and you can spread the cost over 3 monthly instalments with no interest and no credit checks.

Planning permission in Sidcup: who decides, and the local rules

Sidcup sits within the London Borough of Bexley, so Bexley Council is your local planning authority. Its current Local Plan was adopted on 26 April 2023 and runs to 2038, replacing the older Core Strategy and Unitary Development Plan. If you're planning an extension or loft, this is the document that shapes what the council will and won't accept – from design and neighbourhood character to protecting garden space and trees.

Two local points catch Sidcup homeowners out:

Borough-wide Article 4 direction (HMOs). Bexley has removed permitted development rights for changing a house (use class C3) into a small house in multiple occupation (C4) across the whole borough. Convert to a shared HMO and you'll need a full planning application – this doesn't affect a standard family extension, but it matters if you're a landlord.
Conservation areas. Several parts of Sidcup are designated conservation areas, including The Green, Old Forge Way, Longlands Road, Halfway Street, and Willersley Avenue and Braundton Avenue, with Foots Cray nearby. Inside these areas permitted development is tighter, and some works that would be automatic elsewhere need a planning application – so the drawings have to be right first time.

For a standard householder application, Bexley works to the statutory 8-week determination period, and the council's application fees typically run a few hundred pounds (roughly £300–£700 depending on the type of application) – separate from our fee and paid directly to the council. We check whether your home falls in a conservation area, or has had its permitted development rights removed by a past condition, before we draw anything.

What Sidcup homeowners usually build

Much of Sidcup is interwar suburban housing – 1920s and 1930s semi-detached and detached homes – with pockets of Victorian and Edwardian terraces closer to the High Street and the station. That housing stock lends itself to a few well-worn projects:

Rear and wraparound extensions on the semis, opening up a kitchen-diner across the back and side return.
Hip-to-gable and rear dormer loft conversions, which suit the hipped roofs common on interwar Sidcup semis and add a bedroom and bathroom without extending the footprint.
Garage and single-storey side extensions, plus internal remodels to reconfigure tight 1930s layouts.

Many of these fall under permitted development, but not all – and in a conservation area, or where rights have been removed, they'll need a planning application. We'll tell you which route yours takes before you commit.

What you get, and how we protect you

A fixed-price Arkiplan package covers the measured survey (via a 3D home scan), your planning drawings, building regulations drawings and structural calculations, and we handle the council submission for you. Because it's fixed price, the number we quote is the number you pay.

You start by paying Price confirmed in your proposal for your 3D scan, fully refundable right up until the scan takes place. After the survey and initial design, if the proposal isn't right for you, you can cancel – you'll only be charged for the survey and initial design work, and the balance is refunded. And on eligible packages we back the outcome with our Planning Permission Guarantee: if your application is refused, we keep working with you for free until it's approved, or we refund 50% of our fees.

Architect drawings for Sidcup homes, at a fixed price.