Example photo by Pete Alexopoulos on Unsplash, not our project
Southwark · London
Bankside Alcove Units
Alcove units for your home in Bankside: cupboards and shelves built into the alcoves beside a chimney breast. Each piece is designed at a visit to your home, made in our workshop and fitted by us.
- Cupboards in keeping with an older house
- Worn or badly fitted alcove units
- Alcoves that are not square
Alcove units designed for your room
Alcove units in Bankside
An alcove can also take a small desk, with shelving overhead and storage underneath. It’s a neat way to work from home without giving up a whole room. We plan the desk height and depth with you, and leave a route for cables to reach the sockets. People normally come to us about somewhere to keep books and records and standard units leaving gaps at the sides, and the answer is made in our workshop from moisture-resistant MDF and strong birch plywood, with a painted finish.
Internal walls in newer homes are typically plasterboard on metal or timber studs, and the board alone isn’t meant for heavy loads. Around Bankside, where many homes were built since 2000, that shapes how alcove units are fixed: tall units stand on the floor and are tied into the studs, and shelves use fixings made for the board where there is no stud.
Everything we agree during the design visit goes into the written quote: the layout, what goes inside, the materials used and the finish. If you’d like to change anything, it is easier before the furniture is made.
- Where
- Bankside (SE1, EC4Y, EC4V)
- Borough
- Southwark
- Price
- Quoted for your room
- First step
- A design visit: we measure and talk it through
- Making
- Made in our workshop and fitted on site
- Materials and finish
- MDF and plywood, painted to order
- When we fit
- Weekdays; Saturdays on request
- Contact
- The contact form
- Last updated
- 27 October 2026
How we price alcove units
Not every room costs the same, for these reasons:
- Access to the room, such as stairs, lifts and narrow halls
- Spray painting or hand painting
- The internal fittings
- Doors and drawers, and how many
What goes inside matters as much as the outside: rails, shelves, drawers and dividers all add work. At the design visit, we work out what you need inside, then set it out in the quote.
Helping us understand the room
These details help when you get in touch:
- Any ideas or images you have saved
- What you’d like to store or use the space for
- Anything in the way, like radiators, sockets, switches, a boiler or meters
- Whether it’s a house or a flat, and if there are stairs or a lift
We quote once we have seen the room. We measure the space, check the walls and floors and discuss what you’d like, and the written quote comes after. Every piece is quoted for your room after the design visit. To book a design visit, send us a few details through our contact form.
Nearby places to Bankside
What else we make in Bankside
Flats, leases and landlords
Some blocks ask for notice before trades arrive, often through a building manager or concierge. If there is a lift, it may need booking, and its size matters when we plan the sections. Mention it when you get in touch.
If the property is let, we’ll need access agreed with the tenants, at times that suit them. An agent can arrange access for you.
Questions we’re often asked
I live in a flat in Bankside. How will the furniture get up the stairs?
At the design visit, we measure the way in along with the room itself. Alcove units are built in our workshop in sections sized to fit that route, then assembled in your flat. If your building has rules on lift booking or working hours, or your lease needs consent for alterations, it’s worth checking those early.
Do I need permission for fitted furniture in a conservation area?
Typically not: conservation area rules mainly cover the outside of buildings, and fitted furniture inside a house doesn’t normally need planning permission. Listed buildings are different, as works inside that affect their character may need listed building consent from the council. The council’s planning or conservation team can tell you if in doubt.
Do I need to be at home on fitting day?
We need someone to let us in at the start of the day. It’s good to have someone there at the end to look over the work with us.
How do I get a quote?
Just message us from the contact page. It is useful to send rough sizes and a few photos, and then we arrange a visit to measure and discuss the design, followed by a written quote.
What if the wall is cold or damp?
An outside wall can be colder and damper than an inside one, so we allow for ventilation behind and inside the furniture. Any damp needs sorting by the right specialist before fitting.
What do you do at the measuring visit?
We take full measurements, look at the walls and floors and work through the design together. Access and parking are worth talking about too, and a quote in writing follows.
Do you need alcove units in Bankside?
Where a fireplace has been blocked up or removed, the chimney breast can look bare. A pair of alcove units frames it and gives the wall a sense of order, whether or not the fireplace is used.
A few of the things people ask us to solve are these:
- Clutter with nowhere to go
- Old alcove cupboards that have seen better days
- Standard units leaving gaps at the sides
- Empty alcoves either side of the chimney breast
The wider area includes historic houses such as Mansion House, about 0.6 miles north-east. If your own home is a period one, the alcoves beside a chimney breast are the natural place for alcove units.
Before you hire any carpenter
- Who does any electrics, plumbing or gas work
- Where they’ll park and unload
- How the furniture will be finished, and where
- Are the boards named, such as MDF or plywood?
Alcove units for homes in Bankside
Homes built since 2000 make up about 48% of the housing in the streets around Bankside, with about 19% built before 1919, on the Valuation Office Agency’s council tax figures for 2025. We take that into account during the design visit, since older and newer walls take different fixings. Entries on the National Heritage List near the centre of Bankside include Church of St Benet (Grade I), under half a mile north, and College of Arms (Grade I), under half a mile north. If your own home is listed, works inside that affect its character, like fixing into or removing original joinery, can need listed building consent. It’s worth speaking to the council’s conservation officer before the design is final. The ULEZ (Ultra Low Emission Zone) now covers the whole of London, Southwark included. So any van that delivers or fits furniture in Bankside is covered by it. We plan parking and access with you at the design visit.
For a family home near London Nautical School, a cupboard for board games and a shelf for reading books can go into the same design. If you live in a period home close to St Mary Mounthaw, the alcoves beside a chimney breast are the natural place for alcove units.
Bankside is about 3 miles south of East Dulwich, within the London Borough of Southwark. Wherever you are in Bankside, it works the same way: we visit and measure, send a written quote, make the furniture in our workshop and fit it. We list Bankside among 21 places we cover in Southwark.
Postcode districts we cover here for alcove units: SE1, EC4Y and EC4V. Streets in the area include Bear Lane, Bush Lane and Swan Lane, and we cover homes on all of them for alcove units. Bankside sits close to the A201 and A300, and we plan where the van can stop before fitting day. We also cover the places around Bankside: Blackfriars (1 mile north-west), Temple (1 mile north-west), Temple Bar (1 mile north-west), Waterloo (1 mile south-west) and Smithfield (1 mile north). Across the rest of Southwark, our area takes in East Dulwich (3 miles south), Herne Hill (4 miles south), Camberwell (2 miles south), Peckham (3 miles south-east), Rotherhithe (3 miles east) and Surrey Quays (3 miles south-east). Bankside is among the bigger places we cover in Southwark.
What’s near Bankside
The streets we cover here include those near The Cathedral School of St Saviour and St Mary Overy, St Andrew's and St John's Church of England Primary School and St Mary-at-Hill. Nearby too are Barts Health Archives (0.6 miles north) and Founders Arms (a few minutes’ walk west). Bankside has its own railway station: London Blackfriars station. Well-known places in the area include Royal Waterloo Hospital for Children and Women (0.6 miles west) and Gabriel's Wharf (a few minutes’ walk west). Not far away are St. James's Park Lake and Ludgate Hill.
Materials and finishes
Birch plywood
Birch plywood is strong and holds screws well, which makes it a good choice for shelves and carcasses. You can paint its layered edge or leave it on show.
Spray-painted finish
A sprayed coat covers edges and corners evenly. The colour is agreed with you before we start.
How fitting day works
You will not need to do much on the day. We need someone to let us in at the start, and it is useful to have the room cleared beforehand, as we’ll have talked about at the design visit. After that, it is over to us: the floors are covered, the sections come in and the fitting begins. How long the fitting takes depends on how many alcoves there are and how tall the units go, and we confirm the fitting days in your quote. Stud walls can carry pipes and cables, so we check before drilling, with heavier pieces tied into the studs. Any new sockets or plumbing are for your electrician or plumber, ideally before fitting day.
- To begin, fill in our short enquiry form; a brief note on the alcoves is plenty, and mention if you live in a flat or up a few flights of stairs.
- We visit to measure the alcoves, discuss the design and check the route from the street to the room.
- Your written quote sets out the design, materials and finish.
- In our workshop we build the units from moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood, sized so each piece gets up the stairs and round the corners.
- We carry the sections in, assemble them in the alcoves and scribe them to the walls. A spray-painted finish arrives done; a hand-painted one is applied once the units are in.
Getting ready for fitting day
- Arrange any electrical changes with your electrician ahead of time
- Book any lift and let the concierge or building manager know
- Empty the space we will be working in
Starting with a design visit
Rough measurements are fine at the start. We measure everything properly during the design visit, along with the walls, floor and ceiling. To arrange it, drop us a line using the contact form with a few details about the room. You receive a written quote after the visit.