Housing design standards under London Plan policy D6

London Plan policy D6 sets the housing quality standards that a borough will test your residential scheme against, and it goes well beyond the Nationally Described Space Standard. The additions that catch schemes out are the floor to ceiling height expectation, the presumption against single aspect north-facing units, the private outdoor space minimum and the limit on units served from a single core. Design to the space standard alone and you will be asked to redesign.

Verify the current wording before you rely on any summary, including this one. The London Plan is a living document and boroughs add local requirements on top of it through their own plans and design codes.

Minimum space standards and how they apply

The internal area standards in the London Plan follow the national space standard: minimum gross internal areas by number of bedrooms, bed spaces and storeys, plus minimum bedroom areas and widths, minimum storage and a minimum floor to ceiling height applied as a separate requirement.

The arithmetic trips people up in two places. Bed spaces rather than bedrooms drive the area, so a two-bedroom three-person flat and a two-bedroom four-person flat are different standards, and the schedule must state which each unit is. And built-in storage counts towards the gross internal area but only the specified amount counts towards the storage requirement.

Present it as a schedule, one row per unit type, with the standard alongside the proposal. A Design and Access Statement that asserts compliance without the table invites the case officer to measure the drawings themselves.

The presumption against single aspect north facing units

Policy D6 expects dwellings to be dual aspect, and it sets out the circumstances in which single aspect units are to be avoided: where they face north, where they are exposed to noise levels above which significant adverse effects on health and quality of life occur, and where they contain three or more bedrooms.

The word doing the work is "avoid" rather than "prohibit", so a single aspect north-facing one-bedroom flat is not automatically unacceptable. It has to be justified, and justification means demonstrating that the unit still achieves acceptable daylight, outlook, ventilation and overheating performance, and that the layout could not reasonably have been arranged otherwise.

Boroughs vary in how hard they press this. Some set a maximum proportion of single aspect units in their own plans. Where a scheme has any, state the number and percentage in the schedule, and deal with each north-facing one on its own terms rather than in a general paragraph.

Corner units and units with a shallow return are the arguments worth having. A unit whose second aspect is a 1.5 m return on the same elevation is not dual aspect in any meaningful sense, and claiming it is damages the credibility of the rest of the submission.

Floor to ceiling height expectations

The policy expects a minimum floor to ceiling height of 2.5 m for at least three quarters of the gross internal area of each dwelling, which is higher than the national minimum and has structural and cost consequences at the top of a tall building.

Two practical consequences. Service zones have to be designed rather than assumed, because a 400 mm ceiling void running through the middle of a flat takes the height below the standard across a large area. And the ground floor usually needs more than 2.5 m anyway, since active frontage, level access and plant all want the extra.

Show the compliance on a floor plan hatched by ceiling height, not as a single sentence. It is the fastest way to answer the question and it exposes the problem while it can still be designed out.

Private outdoor space requirements

Each dwelling is expected to have private outdoor space, with the London Plan minimum starting at 5 m² for one to two person dwellings and adding a further 1 m² for each additional occupant, subject to minimum depth and width dimensions so the space is usable rather than decorative.

Balconies need checking against more than area. Wind microclimate on upper floors, overlooking between stacked balconies, the structural thermal bridge, the drainage of the balcony floor and the fire strategy for combustible materials all bear on whether the space is deliverable as drawn. A Wind Microclimate Assessment is commonly required on taller schemes precisely because balconies at height can be unusable in normal conditions.

Where private space cannot be provided, the usual route is a commuted contribution towards public open space or a compensating communal amenity area, agreed with the borough. Say which route you are taking and why, rather than leaving a blank in the schedule.

Core to unit ratios and circulation

The policy expects the number of dwellings accessed from a single core on each floor to be limited, generally to no more than eight, with more than that requiring the design to demonstrate a good standard of amenity including daylight to circulation, means of escape and the quality of the shared space.

This is where the fire strategy, the daylight strategy and the unit mix collide. Long internal corridors with units on one side, a single core and no daylight to circulation will be resisted, and the answer is usually more cores rather than a better corridor. On a building over 18 m, the Fire Statement required at Planning Gateway One has to be consistent with whatever you propose here, and that document must be prepared by someone with the necessary fire engineering competence.

Daylight and outlook within the unit

Policy D6 is concerned with daylight inside the dwelling, which is a different exercise from the neighbour amenity assessment most people think of first. Internal daylight is assessed against the relevant BRE guidance and the daylight standard it refers to, typically through illuminance or daylight factor calculations room by room.

Kitchens in deep open-plan living spaces are the recurring failure. A kitchen at the back of a 9 m deep living space with a single window will not meet the target, and the fix is either a shallower plan, a larger opening or a second aspect.

Outlook is separate again and is judged qualitatively: the distance to the facing building, what the window looks at, and whether the view is of a wall 6 m away. Boroughs apply their own separation distances, so check the local plan rather than assuming a London-wide figure.

Evidencing compliance in a schedule

One table does most of the work. Unit reference, type, bed spaces, gross internal area against the standard, bedroom areas and widths, storage, ceiling height compliance, aspect, private outdoor space area and dimensions, and units per core.

Add a short commentary for every row that departs from a standard, giving the reason and the compensating design measure. Officers approve departures they can explain to a committee. They refuse departures they discover themselves.

A Daylight and Sunlight Assessment usually accompanies the schedule on any scheme of scale, and councils expect a suitably qualified author for it. PlanScope can draft the supporting statements around your unit schedule and send them for professional review before submission.

This is general guidance, not legal advice; check the position with your local planning authority or a qualified professional before relying on it. PlanScope provides AI-assisted draft reports for planning applications. Reports should be reviewed before submission. We do not guarantee planning approval.