Example photo by Pete Alexopoulos on Unsplash, not our project
Tower Hamlets · London
London Docklands Alcove Units
For homes in London Docklands, we make alcove units from moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood. The finish is spray painted or hand painted, in a colour agreed with you.
- A desk that tucks into an alcove
- Tired cupboards in the alcoves
- Shelving for books and records
Need alcove units in London Docklands?
The problems alcove units solve
A bedroom’s alcoves are often the best place for a wardrobe. Built into the alcove, a cupboard holds clothes without taking over the room, which helps in a small bedroom.
Common reasons to get in touch include:
- Everyday clutter left on show
- Old alcove cupboards that have seen better days
- Bare alcoves beside the fireplace
- Bowed walls and sloping floors
If you live near Sir John McDougall Gardens, alcove units can be planned to frame a window with a view rather than block it.
Choosing a carpenter
- How doors and drawers are fitted
- How the furniture will be finished, and where
- Whether the quote says what the furniture is made from
- Whether the route into your home has been checked
How we make alcove units for London Docklands
Alcove units are made from moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood. MDF gives smooth doors and panels that take paint well, and birch plywood is strong for shelves and carcasses. The finish is spray painted in the workshop or hand painted on site, in a colour agreed with you. We make alcove units from birch ply and moisture-resistant MDF, painted by hand or sprayed, and the things people most often want solved are tired cupboards in the alcoves and room to work in an alcove.
A large share of the homes around London Docklands date from 2000 onwards, and newer homes rarely come with any built-in shelving or media storage. We plan alcove units around the existing sockets and aerial points, with routes for cables designed in. Plasterboard on studs takes fitted furniture well, as long as the fixings suit it.
After the design visit, we send you a quote in writing. It sets out the design we’ve talked through, the materials and the finish, so it’s clear what’s included.
- Where
- London Docklands (E14, SE16, E22)
- Area
- Tower Hamlets
- Prices
- Quoted for your room
- To begin
- We visit, measure, then quote
- Making
- In our workshop, then fitted in your home
- Boards and paint
- MDF and plywood, painted to order
- Fitting days
- Weekdays, and Saturdays by arrangement
- Enquiries
- Send us a message
- Updated
- 27 October 2026
Living-room carpentry in London Docklands: local notes
Homes built since 2000 make up about 70% of the housing in the area around London Docklands, with about 14% built between 1945 and 1972, going by the Valuation Office Agency’s 2025 council tax figures. We take that into account at the design visit, since older and newer walls take different fixings. The centre of London Docklands is within about a quarter of a mile of the St Matthias' Church Conservation Area. Conservation area controls are mainly about the outside of buildings, and fitted furniture inside a house does not normally need planning permission. If you want to be certain, ask the council’s planning team. Red routes, run by TfL, have strict rules on stopping and loading. If you live on or close to a main road in London Docklands, let us know during the design visit. We will plan where the van can stop.
Near listed buildings like Church of St Matthias, under half a mile north of the centre of London Docklands, older homes may keep original joinery that alcove units can be designed around. If your own home is listed, check with the council before fixing into original features. For families living near Tower Hamlets College, a cupboard for board games and a shelf for reading books can go into the same design.
London Docklands is in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, about 2 miles west of Whitechapel. We design and make alcove units for homes in London Docklands and across Tower Hamlets. We list London Docklands among 31 places we cover in Tower Hamlets.
Here we cover the E14, SE16 and E22 postcode area for alcove units. Our area takes in homes on streets like Castor Lane, Cassilis Road and Dockyard Lane, along with the roads around them, for alcove units and any of our other fitted furniture. London Docklands sits close to the A1206 and A1261. If your home is on one of them, tell us at the design visit, as some main roads have strict stopping rules. Neighbouring places we cover for alcove units include Canary Wharf (1 mile west), Poplar (1 mile north), Heron Quays (1 mile south-west), Coldharbour (1 mile east) and Blackwall (1 mile east). Elsewhere in Tower Hamlets, we also cover Whitechapel (2 miles west), Spitalfields (3 miles west), Tower Hill (3 miles west), Bethnal Green (2 miles north-west), Cambridge Heath (3 miles north-west) and Stepney (2 miles north-west).
Landmarks near London Docklands
In London Docklands, that includes homes near The Ledger Building pub, Our Lady and St Joseph Catholic Primary School and Canary Wharf College 3, among other places. There’s a railway station in London Docklands itself: Canary Wharf station. Well-known places in the area include Greenwich Castle (2 miles south) and Surrey Quays Shopping Centre (1.4 miles south-west). Not far away are Lavender Pond.
Fitting day, step by step
Finishing comes last. With a spray finish from the workshop, there is normally only filling and touching up to do in the room; hand painting, if that is what you chose, can be done in place once everything is fitted. The finish is always the one agreed in your quote. Newer homes often have stud walls, so fixings go into the studs or use fixings made for the board. Floors are covered while we work, and dust is kept to a minimum.
- To begin, get in touch through our contact form; a brief note on the room and the alcoves is enough.
- We visit to measure the alcoves, talk through the design and check the route from the street to the room.
- We then send a quote in writing for the units.
- 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.
- On fitting day the sections come in, are joined in place and scribed 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
- Let us know where the boiler and meters are
- Get any new sockets or wiring done by your electrician before fitting day
- Move anything in the hall or on the stairs out of the way
How to get a quote
The quote is built from the design visit. We take full measurements, see how true the walls and floors are and work through the design together. Afterwards, we send a written quote for you to look over. To book one, fill in our short enquiry form.
Related advice
FAQs: alcove units in London Docklands
Is London Docklands in the area you cover for alcove units?
Yes. London Docklands is one of the places we work, along with the rest of Tower Hamlets and London. You can drop us a line using the contact form to arrange a design visit.
My home in London Docklands is a flat. How do you get the furniture in?
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. It helps to check any building rules and your lease before fitting day.
What do you do at the measuring visit?
It’s a chance to measure properly and talk through what you’d like. We look at the walls, floors and anything the furniture has to work around, and the written quote comes afterwards.
How tall should alcove units be?
That depends on the room and what you’d like to store. In a tall period room, units can stop under the picture rail or the cornice, or run to the ceiling for a built-in look. The height is settled at the measuring visit.
Can an alcove unit include a desk?
Yes. A desk in one alcove, with shelves above and storage below, works well in many rooms. Height and depth are agreed with you, with a route left for cables.
Can you add sockets inside the units?
We do not do electrical work. If you want sockets moved or added, your electrician should do that before we fit, and some electrical work in homes is covered by Part P of the Building Regulations. We can plan cut-outs and cable routes in the units around them.
Pricing alcove units in London Docklands
We quote each job after the design visit, because no two rooms are the same. This is what makes the difference:
- How square the room is
- The finish: spray painted or hand painted
- The width and height of the space
- How easy it is to get the furniture into the room
Prices are quoted for your room, once we’ve measured and talked through the design. Bigger pieces use more board and take longer to make and fit, so size is the starting point. After that, the number of doors and drawers, the internal fittings and the finish all play a part.
Getting in touch
The more you can tell us at the start, the better the design visit goes. When you contact us, it helps to send:
- Examples of the look you’re after
- Approximate measurements of the space
- Anything fixed to the wall that the furniture needs to work around
- The type of home and how the room is reached
To get a quote for alcove units in London Docklands, send us a few details through our contact form. Let us know the room and the rough idea, with sizes if you have them. Next comes a design visit, followed by a written quote.
What we do not do
Electrics, plumbing, gas, plastering and structural work aren’t part of what we do. Please bear these in mind too:
- Making good damaged walls before fitting
- Curing damp, which needs the right specialist
- Taking out a chimney breast or opening up a fireplace
If you’re not sure what’s possible in your room, you can fill in our short enquiry form and we will give you a straight answer. How it works.
Boards, parts and finishes
- Birch plywood
- Scribed side panels
- Moisture-resistant MDF
- Spray-painted finish
- Hand-painted finish
- Adjustable shelves
- Panelled or flat doors
Also near London Docklands
Also in London Docklands
Flats, conversions and leaseholders
In a flat, the route in matters as much as the room. At the design visit, we measure the stairs, the landings, any lift and the doors, so each section is sized to get through.
If the property is let, we’ll need access agreed with the tenants. An agent can arrange access for you.