Construction Management Plans in Kensington and Chelsea

Kensington and Chelsea manages construction differently from most London boroughs. Rather than a free-form Construction Management Plan, RBKC’s Code of Construction Practice prescribes exactly what each site must submit — and the council’s Construction Management Team must approve those documents in writing before work can start. Here is how the system works.

The RBKC Code of Construction Practice

RBKC’s Code of Construction Practice (adopted April 2019, with a refreshed summary published in October 2024) is the framework every construction project in the borough operates under. Each site is categorised by impact before work starts, and the category determines what must be submitted:

Category 1 — highest impact: major developments (10+ homes or 1,000+ sq m), full demolition or reconstruction, basement excavation, or a full-size piling rig for three months or more. Requires a Section 61 prior consent application, a CTMP, the signed Code checklist and a Site Construction Management Plan (SCMP).
Category 2 — partial demolition, extensions, or minor basement works with under 50 cubic metres of excavated material, typically 3–12 months on site. Requires the signed Code checklist and an SCMP; a CTMP may also be required on constrained sites.
Category 3 — internal refurbishment and cosmetic external works under three months. No formal submission, although the Code’s terms should still be followed.

SCMP Approval Before Work Starts

For Category 1 and 2 sites, a pre-commencement planning condition requires the Code checklist and SCMP to be approved in writing by the council’s Construction Management Team before development commences. RBKC advises allowing at least eight weeks for this approval. The SCMP, completed on RBKC’s own template, is the borough’s equivalent of the Construction Management Plan other councils ask for — it covers the same ground of methodology, hours, noise, dust, waste and neighbour protection.

CTMP Requirements in Kensington and Chelsea

RBKC requires a draft Construction Traffic Management Plan with every planning application for basement development, and for major schemes or constrained sites. The council’s CTMP pro-forma is effectively mandatory: submissions in the wrong format can be returned, and vague wording such as “approximately” or “generally” is a common reason for rejection. Notable RBKC rules include:

Deliveries and collections restricted to 9.30am–4.30pm Monday to Friday (9.30am–3pm in term time where a school is on the route); none at weekends or on public holidays
Documented neighbour consultation before submission, including the street’s residents’ association, with a minimum of two weeks for responses
A minimum 1.2m clear footway and 3m clear carriageway maintained at all times
FORS Silver accreditation expected of all construction vehicle operators
For residential basement extensions, no more than one vehicle servicing the site on the highway at any time

Construction Working Hours in RBKC

Noisy work audible at the site boundary is permitted 8am–6pm Monday to Friday only — RBKC was the first UK authority to ban noisy construction work on Saturdays. “High impact activities” such as demolition, excavation with percussive equipment and pile breaking are further restricted to 9am–12 noon and 2pm–5.30pm on weekdays. Concrete deliveries and waste collections count as noisy works and must stay within permitted hours.

Basements in Kensington and Chelsea

RBKC determines some of the highest volumes of basement applications in the country, and Policy CD11 of its 2024 Local Plan attaches specific construction-management requirements to them. A basement application needs a Construction Method Statement prepared by a suitably qualified engineer, circulated to neighbours, plus a draft CTMP submitted with the application and a full CTMP approved by condition. Basement excavation automatically places a site in Category 1 under the Code unless the excavation is minor.

Fees, Bonds and Timescales

RBKC charges a construction bond to fund Code monitoring, invoiced once the SCMP and checklist are approved: currently £8,500 including VAT per year (or part year) for Category 1 domestic projects, £17,500 for Category 1 non-domestic, and £5,000 for Category 2, with unspent amounts repaid at completion. The national discharge-of-conditions application fee applies on top, and RBKC says CTMP approval alone can take up to eight weeks — highways licences, parking suspensions and traffic orders are only issued after the CTMP is approved, so late submission delays the whole programme.

How CMP Construct Helps in Kensington and Chelsea

CMP Construct prepares council-compliant Construction Management Plans across Kensington and Chelsea and more than 20 other London boroughs. We draft most plans within 7-10 working days, submit in the format RBKC expects, and handle officer comments through to discharge of your condition. Where your condition also asks for a Construction Traffic Management Plan (CTMP) or a Construction Logistics Plan (CLP), we produce them as one consistent package. New to the process? Start with our complete guide to Construction Management Plans or see what a CMP costs.

Official Kensington and Chelsea Guidance

The council documents below set out RBKC's own requirements. We work to these day to day; they are linked here so you can verify any requirement directly:

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Kensington and Chelsea require a Construction Management Plan?

Yes, although RBKC calls it a Site Construction Management Plan (SCMP). Under the borough’s Code of Construction Practice, Category 1 and Category 2 sites must have a signed Code checklist and an SCMP approved in writing by the council’s Construction Management Team before work starts, secured by a pre-commencement planning condition. CMP Construct prepares SCMPs on RBKC’s template alongside any CTMP the site needs.

What is an SCMP and how does it differ from a CMP?

An SCMP (Site Construction Management Plan) is RBKC’s name for the construction management document that other London boroughs call a CMP. It is completed on the template appended to the Code of Construction Practice and covers the same subject matter: construction methodology, programme, working hours, noise and dust control, waste, deliveries and neighbour protection. If your architect or planning consultant refers to a CMP for an RBKC project, the SCMP is the document the council will actually approve.

How long does RBKC take to approve construction management documents?

RBKC advises allowing at least eight weeks for the Construction Management Team to approve the Code checklist and SCMP, and separately notes that CTMP approval through a discharge-of-conditions application can take up to eight weeks. Because highways licences and parking suspensions are only issued after CTMP approval, we recommend commissioning the documents as soon as planning permission is granted rather than waiting until your contractor is ready to mobilise.

What are the permitted construction hours in Kensington and Chelsea?

Noisy work audible at the site boundary is permitted 8am–6pm Monday to Friday, with no noisy work on Saturdays, Sundays or public holidays. High impact activities — demolition, percussive excavation and pile breaking — are limited further to 9am–12 noon and 2pm–5.30pm weekdays. Construction deliveries are tighter still under a CTMP: 9.30am–4.30pm Monday to Friday, reduced to 3pm in term time where the route passes a school.