Air conditioning in Southwark

Southwark's homes and what they mean for an install

In the 2021 Census, 64.4 per cent of Southwark households lived in a purpose-built block of flats and another 13.6 per cent in other flats, mostly in converted houses. Only about 1 in 5 lived in a whole house. About 4 in 10 households rented from the council or a housing association.

That gives three very different jobs. In council and housing association blocks across Walworth, Bermondsey, Peckham and Camberwell, a leaseholder needs the landlord's written consent first, and the outdoor unit usually goes on a balcony. In the new towers at Elephant and Castle, London Bridge, Bankside and Canada Water, the managing agent sets the rules on balconies, plant space and working hours.

Whole houses are mostly in the south of the borough: Victorian and Edwardian terraces in Camberwell, Peckham Rye, East Dulwich and Herne Hill, and larger houses in Dulwich Village. There 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.

Southwark's view of air conditioning: the cooling hierarchy

Planning questions go to Southwark Council, which decides applications against the Southwark Plan 2022, adopted on 23 February 2022, and the London Plan. Policy P69 asks development to reduce the risk of overheating by following a cooling hierarchy: keep heat out with orientation, shading and insulation, cut heat made inside, use thermal mass and high ceilings, then passive ventilation, then mechanical ventilation, and only then active cooling, which must be the lowest-carbon option.

Policy P56 protects neighbours from noise and vibration, and the council's Technical Guidance for Noise sets a firm test for new plant. The rating level of the unit, assessed under BS 4142, must not exceed the typical lowest background level at any time, and the unit's own sound must sit at least 10 dB below that background. So an application for an outdoor unit needs a noise assessment, and we pick quiet models and positions to pass it.

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.

Conservation areas and Article 4 directions

Southwark's conservation areas run from the old streets around Borough High Street to the Victorian and Edwardian suburbs of Camberwell, Peckham and Dulwich, and along the Old Kent Road. The council has also made Article 4 directions that remove some permitted development rights: on the Sunray Estate near Herne Hill since 1987, in the Cobourg Road, Glengall Road and Trafalgar Avenue conservation areas, and around Dulwich and Sydenham Hill Woods (the Great North Wood). Others cover changes of use, such as pubs and railway arches. Check the council's Article 4 map for your address.

• Borough High Street, Union Street, Thrale Street, Bear Gardens and Old Barge House Alley
• Trinity Church Square, King's Bench, Liberty of the Mint and St George's Circus
• Bermondsey Street, Tooley Street, Tower Bridge, St Saviour's Dock and Pages Walk
• St Mary's Rotherhithe and Edward III's Rotherhithe
• Walworth Road, Larcom Street, Liverpool Grove, Pullens Estate, Sutherland Square and West Square
• Camberwell Grove, Camberwell Green, Addington Square, Grosvenor Park and Sceaux Gardens
• Rye Lane Peckham, Holly Grove, Nunhead Green, Nunhead Cemetery and The Gardens
• Cobourg Road, Glengall Road, Trafalgar Avenue, Kentish Drovers and Bird in Bush, and Livesey
• Dulwich Village, Dulwich Wood, Sunray Estate, Stradella Road and Honor Oak Rise

Dulwich: the Estate's Scheme of Management

Much of Dulwich has an extra layer of control. Just over 4,000 properties are in the Dulwich Estate's Scheme of Management, which grants licences for building work to protect the area's character. It is separate from planning, so a home can need a Scheme licence even when the council's permission isn't needed. The Estate has dealt with heat pump applications, sometimes asking for screening to protect neighbours.

If your home is in the Scheme, apply to the Estate as well as checking the planning position. We give you a drawing, the unit's size and its sound data for both.

Parking, the Congestion Charge and working hours

When the van needs to stay outside, we ask Southwark to suspend a bay. The council needs at least seven days' notice, and puts yellow signs up five days before. It charges a £93 non-refundable admin fee plus £53.15 a day for each car space. For shorter jobs in a resident bay, a trader's permit costs £40 a day. If your job needs either, the fee is on your quote.

The north-west of the borough, including Bankside, Borough and London Bridge, is inside the Congestion Charge zone. Its edge follows Tower Bridge Road and New Kent Road, so we check TfL's map for addresses in Bermondsey and around Elephant and Castle. The ULEZ covers all of London.

Southwark's hours for noisy building work are 8am to 6pm on weekdays and 9am to 2pm on Saturdays, with none on Sundays or bank holidays. We keep drilling inside those hours, and inside any shorter hours your building sets.

Air conditioning for Southwark businesses

We fit and look after systems in offices around Bankside, London Bridge and Blackfriars Road, in restaurants and shops in Borough, Bermondsey Street, Peckham and Lordship Lane, and in studios and workshops in railway arches. 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, restaurant or office usually needs planning permission, judged against the cooling hierarchy and the council's plant noise standard. We provide the drawings, siting and sound data for the application.

Prices in Southwark

Our standard London prices. Business prices are plus VAT. Planning drawings, noise assessments, enclosures and long pipe runs are separate and 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:

• Bankside, Borough and London Bridge (SE1)
• Bermondsey, Rotherhithe, Surrey Quays and Canada Water (SE1, SE16)
• Elephant and Castle, Walworth and Newington (SE1, SE17)
• Old Kent Road and South Bermondsey (SE1, SE15, SE16)
• Camberwell (SE5)
• Peckham, Peckham Rye and Nunhead (SE15)
• East Dulwich (SE22)
• Dulwich Village, West Dulwich and Herne Hill (SE21, SE24)

Southwark questions