Air conditioning in Lewisham

Victorian houses, conversions and new blocks

In the 2021 Census, 42.2 per cent of households lived in a whole house, mostly terraced, 39.1 per cent in a purpose-built block of flats and 16.3 per cent in a flat in a converted or shared house. Nearly 3 in 10 households rented from the council or a housing association.

Whole houses in Catford, Hither Green, Lee, Grove Park and Sydenham are the simplest installs. The outdoor unit usually goes at the back, on the ground or on the back-addition wall, with the pipes going straight through the wall behind the indoor unit.

Converted houses are common in Brockley, Ladywell, Honor Oak and Forest Hill. In a Victorian house split into flats, the back wall and garden usually belong to the freeholder or the ground-floor flat. We work out the pipe route and outdoor position first, then you ask for the freeholder's consent. Newer blocks around Lewisham town centre, Deptford and New Cross have managing agents with their own rules on balconies and plant space.

Lewisham's view of air conditioning: managing heat risk

Planning questions go to Lewisham Council. Its new Lewisham Local Plan 2020 to 2040 was adopted on 16 July 2025 and replaced the old Core Strategy and development management policies. Policy SD5 says all new development must be designed to reduce internal overheating and reliance on air conditioning, following the London Plan cooling hierarchy: keep heat out, cut heat made inside, use thermal mass and ventilation, and only then active cooling.

The council only supports proposals where there is enough evidence that the higher steps of the hierarchy have been given priority. Policy QD7 also asks every proposal to show how noise will be mitigated and managed. So an application that includes an outdoor unit should explain why cooling is needed and come with the unit's sound data.

This only matters when your install needs planning permission. A heating-capable unit on an unlisted house that meets every national permitted development rule, including 37 dB(A) at a neighbour's window under MCS 020(a), doesn't need an application. A cooling-only unit always does. We tell you at the survey which side of the line you're on.

Conservation areas and Article 4 directions

Lewisham has made Article 4 directions in many of its conservation areas, including Brockley, Telegraph Hill, Hatcham, Ladywell, Forest Hill, Lee Manor, Culverley Green, St Mary's, St Stephen's, Lewisham Park, Perry Vale and the Christmas Estate, Sydenham Thorpes and Deptford High Street, and in some Blackheath streets. The council says they apply only to houses used as a single home.

The directions we've read in the government's planning data remove rights over windows, doors, roofs, porches, front gardens, boundary walls and painting, and changes visible from the street need planning permission. None of them lists heat pumps, but a unit on a front or side wall in these streets should still be checked with the council first. Usually the back of the house is the answer.

Part of the borough around Blackheath also sits in the buffer zone of the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site. The buffer zone isn't part of the Site itself, but the council takes the Site's setting into account in applications.

• Blackheath, Belmont and Lee Manor
• Brockley, Telegraph Hill and Hatcham
• Deptford High Street and St Paul's, Deptford Creekside, Deptford Town Hall, Halifax Street and Brookmill Road
• Ladywell, St Mary's, Lewisham Park, Mercia Grove, St Stephen's, St John's and Somerset Gardens
• Forest Hill, Perry Vale and the Christmas Estate, and Perryfields
• Sydenham Park, Sydenham Hill, Sydenham Thorpes, Jews Walk and Cobb's Corner
• Culverley Green, Stanstead Grove and Beckenham Place Park

Parking, red routes and working hours

When the van needs to stay outside, we ask Lewisham to suspend a bay. The council needs at least five working days' notice. It charges £62 per application for admin, plus £56 per bay per day for pay-to-park or shared-use bays, or £62 per bay for resident permit bays. If your job needs a suspension, the fee is on your quote.

Lewisham can't suspend parking on red routes, the main roads such as the South Circular that Transport for London runs. For homes on those roads, we plan loading from a side street. Lewisham is outside the Congestion Charge zone. The ULEZ covers all of London.

Lewisham's hours for building work are 8am to 6pm on weekdays and 8am to 1pm on Saturdays, with none on Sundays or bank holidays. We keep drilling inside those hours.

Air conditioning for Lewisham businesses

We fit and look after systems in shops, cafes and restaurants on the high streets of Lewisham, Catford, Deptford, Forest Hill, Sydenham and Lee, and in offices, studios, clinics and salons across the borough. We fit wall units and ceiling cassettes in business hours, and service and repair existing systems, including ones another company fitted.

Business premises fall outside the householder rules, so a new outdoor unit for a shop or restaurant usually needs planning permission. Several high streets are in conservation areas, so we look for a rear position and provide the drawings and sound data for the application.

Prices in Lewisham

Our standard London prices. Business prices are plus VAT. Planning drawings, long pipe runs through converted houses and access equipment for upper floors are quoted after the survey.

• A bedroom or study

  2.5 kW wall unit, 5 m pipe, fitted in a day

  from£1,850inc. VAT

• A living room

  3.5 kW wall unit

  from£2,050inc. VAT

• Two rooms, one outdoor unit

  Multi-split

  from£3,650inc. VAT

• Three rooms

  Multi-split

  from£5,100inc. VAT

• Premium range upgrade

  Quieter, more efficient unit

  from£250inc. VAT

• Commercial wall unit

  Fitted in business hours

  from£1,795+ VAT

• An annual service

  Keeps the manufacturer warranty valid

  from£119inc. VAT

Neighbourhoods we cover

We work across the whole borough, including:

• Deptford and New Cross (SE8, SE14)
• Brockley, Crofton Park and Honor Oak (SE4, SE23)
• Lewisham, Ladywell and Hither Green (SE13)
• Blackheath and Lee (SE3, SE12)
• Catford and Bellingham (SE6)
• Grove Park (SE12)
• Forest Hill and Sydenham (SE23, SE26)
• Downham (BR1)

Lewisham questions