Backland development in Camden

Selling part of your garden and building on it yourself are very different things, and owners in Camden can do either with us. Selling means you receive money for the plot and the new home belongs to someone else. Building means you keep the land, take on the cost and end up with a new home of your own.

Between those two sit options, planning promotion and joint ventures, where you share more of the outcome without managing the build yourself. A London borough like Camden can have very different plots from one street to the next, so the free garden plot appraisal is where we start. It costs nothing and commits you to nothing.

Planning authority
London Borough of Camden
Postcodes
N6, NW1, NW3, NW5, NW6
Noon sun, 21 March
About 38°
Noon sun, 21 December
About 15°
Planning plan
Local Plan
County
Greater London

The kinds of plot we look at in Camden

In Camden we look at most kinds of land behind and beside houses. That includes long back gardens, the classic backland plot; wide side gardens and corner plots, which often have their own frontage; garage courts, lock-up blocks and old yards; land with narrow, shared or no access; and bungalows on large plots, which can sometimes take a second home alongside or be replaced with several new ones. Size matters, but access usually matters more, and the free appraisal checks both.

Planning and light in Camden

If your plot is in Camden, the application will normally go to the London Borough of Camden, which judges it against its Local Plan and the council’s design guide or supplementary planning document. Those documents set local expectations on design, parking, garden sizes and how new homes should relate to the street, while the NPPF sets the wider national framework. For an address in N6, NW1, NW3 and NW5 or nearby, the exact postcode also tells us which flood maps, sewer records and tree orders to check. Where it helps, we ask the council for pre-application advice before anything is drawn in detail.

Section showing noon sun and shadows in Camden: about 38 degrees on 21 March and 15 degrees on 21 December21 m21 Mar, noon: sun 38°, shadow 6.3 m21 Dec, noon: sun 15°, shadow 18.6 mExistingNew home
This section is worked out for the latitude of Camden: around 38° of sun at midday in late March and about 15° at midwinter. It shows why the gap between your house and a new home behind it is about light as well as privacy. Garden assumed to face north.

What we can do in Camden

Sell or partner

Design and build

By plot type

What happens next

If you’d like to talk it through first, call us. There’s no script and no hard sell. We’ll ask a few questions about your plot in Camden, explain how the free appraisal works and answer what we can on the spot. If it makes sense to go further, we’ll agree the next step together; if it doesn’t, you’ve lost nothing.

Questions about garden plots in Camden

Do you look at garage courts and yards in Camden?

Yes. Garage courts, lock-up blocks, old yards and outbuildings behind houses can sometimes take a new home, especially where a vehicle access already exists. We check who owns the access, what rights others have over it and what the ground was used for, as part of the free appraisal.

How do you stop a new home in Camden overshadowing the neighbours?

By testing the layout against the sun and the council’s guidance. At midday on 21 March the sun in Camden is about 38° up, so a 5 m eaves line casts a shadow of roughly 6.3 m; in December it is far lower. Spacing, roof height, orientation and single-storey designs all help keep light where it belongs.

Can you build a house in my back garden in Camden that I keep?

Yes. Our design and build route covers the survey, design, planning application, Building Regulations, construction and handover, while the land and the new home stay yours. You can sell it, let it or use it for family. You’ll get a written quote once the design and survey are done, and any earlier price range is a guide only.

Can I sell part of my garden in Camden?

Often, yes, if the plot is big enough, has a workable access and stands a reasonable chance of planning. We buy suitable plots directly, with or without planning, subject to survey, title and contract, or agree a sale that only completes if the London Borough of Camden grants permission. If planning is refused on a conditional sale, you keep your land.

Nearby

Find out what your garden could become

Free garden plot appraisal. No cost, no obligation, and a straight answer if it won’t work.