What time can builders start work in London?

In every borough we cover, noisy work audible at the site boundary can start at 8am on weekdays and must stop by 6pm. Saturdays differ more: 8am–1pm in most boroughs, 9am–2pm in Southwark and the City of London, only with the council’s agreement in Camden, and not at all in Kensington and Chelsea or Tower Hamlets. Deliveries are often tighter still: Camden, Islington and Tower Hamlets keep construction vehicles to around 9.30am–4.30pm on weekdays.

Can builders work on Sundays and bank holidays in London?

Not noisy work. None of the boroughs we cover allows work audible at the site boundary on Sundays or bank holidays without the council’s prior agreement, which most give only for exceptional reasons such as police traffic restrictions, emergencies or public safety. In most boroughs the route is a Section 61 prior consent; the City of London uses its own Site Hours Variation Request instead.

How do I get permission to work outside normal hours?

Most boroughs expect a Section 61 prior consent under the Control of Pollution Act 1974, and the council has 28 days from receipt to decide one, so it needs to go in at least four weeks before the work. Some have quicker routes for short jobs: Southwark’s out-of-hours permission needs 7 days’ notice for work lasting under eight weeks, Islington asks for at least 7 days, and the City of London’s Site Hours Variation Request needs five working days. In Camden the approved CMP must also be amended, using its Extension to Working Hours form.

Do construction working hours apply to deliveries?

Usually, and often more strictly. Camden and Tower Hamlets limit construction vehicles to 9.30am–4.30pm on weekdays and Islington treats that as the generally acceptable window, with all three tighter in term time where a school is near the site or its route. Hammersmith & Fulham and Wandsworth apply their working hours to deliveries and to vehicles arriving at or leaving the site, and Kensington and Chelsea counts concrete deliveries and waste collections as noisy works.

Which London boroughs ban noisy building work on Saturdays?

Of the boroughs we cover, Kensington and Chelsea and Tower Hamlets. Kensington and Chelsea introduced its ban in 2016 and says it was the first local authority in the country to do so. Tower Hamlets followed with its 2023 Code of Construction Practice, under which Saturday working needs a Section 61 dispensation, although sites approved under its 2006 Code keep 8am–1pm on Saturdays. Camden allows Saturday mornings only with its agreement, and Westminster allows Saturday work but no piling, excavation or demolition.

Construction Working Hours in London, Borough by Borough

Most London boroughs allow noisy building work from 8am to 6pm on weekdays and from 8am to 1pm on Saturdays, with none on Sundays or bank holidays. The exceptions are what catch projects out: two boroughs allow no noisy work on Saturdays, two start it at 9am, and several confine piling, demolition and breaking out to shorter windows. Here are the standard hours in each borough we publish a guide to, checked against the councils’ own documents.

At a glance

Weekday hours: 8am–6pm in every borough covered
Saturday hours: Usually 8am–1pm; none in RBKC or Tower Hamlets
Sundays and bank holidays: No noisy work without council consent
Out-of-hours work: Section 61 consent, usually 28 days ahead

On this page

Standard Working Hours by Borough

These are the hours for work audible at the site boundary, the hours a Construction Management Plan has to commit to. On a particular site, a planning condition or a Section 61 consent can set tighter ones.

Standard hours for noisy work. None of these boroughs allows it on Sundays or bank holidays without the council’s prior agreement.
Borough	Monday to Friday	Saturday	Also note
Westminster	8am–6pm	8am–1pm	No piling, excavation or demolition on Saturdays.
Camden	8am–6pm	8am–1pm, only with Camden’s agreement	Construction vehicles 9.30am–4.30pm on weekdays.
Kensington and Chelsea	8am–6pm	No noisy work	High-impact work only 9am–12 noon and 2pm–5.30pm on weekdays.
Southwark	8am–6pm	9am–2pm	Excessively noisy work runs two hours on, two hours off.
Islington	8am–6pm	8am–1pm	Construction vehicles generally 9.30am–4.30pm on weekdays.
City of London	8am–6pm	9am–2pm	Reduced impact hours of 10am–12 noon and 2pm–4pm near businesses.
Lambeth	8am–6pm	8am–1pm	Section 61 applications need to go in at least four weeks ahead.
Tower Hamlets	8am–6pm	No noisy work	High-impact work only 9am–12 noon and 2pm–5.30pm on weekdays.
Hammersmith and Fulham	8am–6pm	8am–1pm	High-impact work 9am–12 noon and 2pm–5.30pm, Saturdays 9am–12 noon.
Wandsworth	8am–6pm	8am–1pm	Scaffolding counts as noisy work; vehicles and plant keep to the same hours.
Haringey	8am–6pm	8am–1pm	No published Section 61 guidance: raise out-of-hours work early.

Saturdays: Where the Rules Differ

Saturday morning is where boroughs part company. Kensington and Chelsea allows no noisy work on Saturdays at all: it introduced the ban in 2016 and says it was the first local authority in the country to do so. Tower Hamlets has done the same since its 2023 Code of Construction Practice, and Saturday working there needs a Section 61 dispensation, although sites approved under its 2006 Code keep 8am–1pm.

Southwark and the City of London allow Saturday work from 9am to 2pm rather than 8am to 1pm. Camden’s standard hours include 8am–1pm on Saturdays, but only with Camden’s agreement, which can be refused, and sites in its cumulative impact area start from an assumption of no weekend working. Westminster allows Saturday mornings, but piling, excavation and demolition are weekday-only.

Piling, Demolition and Other High-Impact Work

Several boroughs go further for the noisiest activities. Kensington and Chelsea and Tower Hamlets confine high-impact work such as demolition, percussive excavation and piling to 9am–12 noon and 2pm–5.30pm on weekdays. Hammersmith & Fulham applies the same weekday windows, plus 9am–12 noon on Saturdays, to demolition, pile breaking and percussive concrete break-out, unless neighbours agree otherwise or the noise can be shown to stay below 70 dB LAeq,10hr.

Elsewhere the limit is the noise level rather than the clock. Camden moves works onto a two-hours-on, two-hours-off pattern where noise at homes exceeds 75 dB LAeq, and Southwark does the same for excessively noisy works: for example 8–10am, 12 noon–2pm and 4–6pm on weekdays. Where businesses are likely to be disturbed, the City of London imposes reduced impact hours of 10am–12 noon and 2pm–4pm, when cutting and breaking out with power tools are not usually permitted, and Islington’s Code advises negotiating similar quiet periods next to offices and restaurants.

Deliveries and Construction Vehicles

Vehicle hours are often tighter than working hours. Camden restricts construction vehicle movements to 9.30am–4.30pm on weekdays, and where a school is near the site or on its route, deliveries must also avoid 3pm–3.30pm in term time. Tower Hamlets limits vehicles to 9.30am–4.30pm, or 9.30am–3pm in term time near schools, and Islington treats 9.30am–4.30pm on weekdays as generally acceptable, ending at 3pm in term time near a school. Westminster expects deliveries near schools to avoid start and finish times, typically 8am–9am and 3pm–4pm.

Other boroughs fold deliveries into the working hours themselves. Hammersmith & Fulham and Wandsworth apply the standard hours to deliveries and to vehicles arriving at or leaving the site, Kensington and Chelsea counts concrete deliveries and waste collections as noisy works, and both Kensington and Chelsea and the City of London expect concrete pours to be planned to finish within permitted hours.

Working Outside Permitted Hours

Noisy work outside the standard hours needs the council’s agreement before it starts. The usual route is a Section 61 prior consent under the Control of Pollution Act 1974: the contractor applies with the proposed hours, methods and predicted noise, and the council has 28 days from receipt to decide, so applications need to go in at least four weeks ahead. Councils can also serve a Section 60 notice setting hours and methods themselves, as Westminster does on basement and other Level 3 sites. Lead times and routes differ by borough:

Westminster, Islington and Kensington and Chelsea: a Section 61 application at least 28 days before work starts. Westminster encourages a draft up to three months ahead, and Islington wants the draft a month before the final application
Hammersmith & Fulham: a draft at least six weeks ahead and the final application strictly 28 days before work starts
Camden: a Section 61 consent at least 28 days ahead, and an amendment to the approved CMP through its Extension to Working Hours form
Southwark: a short-term out-of-hours permission at least 7 days ahead, only for work lasting under eight weeks, with neighbours leafleted before it starts
Islington: out-of-hours permission from the Environmental Pollution, Policy and Projects team at least 7 days ahead
City of London: a Site Hours Variation Request at least five working days ahead; the City does not advise Section 61 consents
Haringey: no published Section 61 guidance, so raise out-of-hours work early with the council’s pollution team

Getting the Hours Right in Your CMP

Every CMP has to state the site’s working hours, and officers check them against the borough’s rules: proposing deliveries in school-run windows, or works outside permitted hours without justification, is one of the common reasons Construction Management Plans are sent back. We write each plan to the borough’s own hours and delivery windows from the start, and flag early where the programme needs a Section 61 consent, so the hours are settled before the condition is discharged rather than after work begins. Where deliveries are the constraint, a Construction Traffic Management Plan sets out the routes and timings in detail.