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Southwark · London
Alcove Units in Southwark
Walls in older London homes are rarely straight, so we scribe the furniture to follow them. Our work on alcove units in Southwark starts with a design visit, and everything is built in our workshop.
- Shop-bought shelving that does not fill the recess
- Cupboards in keeping with an older house
- Shelving for books and records
Ask about alcove units in Southwark
How it’s made
Shelves
We set shelf spacing around what you own, from paperbacks to tall art books. Upper shelves can be shallower for a lighter look.
Hand-painted finish
Hand painting lets the colour be judged in the room itself. Scribed edges and joins are painted along with the rest.
Alcove units in Southwark
One alcove can be given over to a desk, with shelves above and a drawer or cupboard below. It’s a neat way to work from home without giving up a whole room. We plan the desk height and depth with you. We make alcove units from moisture-resistant MDF and strong birch plywood, with a painted finish, and people most often get in touch about shelving for books and records and bare alcoves beside the fireplace.
A large share of the homes around Southwark date from 2000 onwards, and newer homes seldom have fitted storage in the living room. Alcove units can be planned around where the sockets and aerial points already are, with cable routes built in. Walls in newer homes are often plasterboard on studs, which is fine for fitted furniture when the fixings are right.
Materials are named in the quote: moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood, each used where it suits the job. The finish is stated too, whether that’s spray painting or hand painting.
- Place
- Southwark (SE1, SE11)
- Borough
- Southwark
- Price
- Quoted for your room
- To begin
- We visit, measure, then quote
- Making
- Workshop-made, then fitted
- Made from
- MDF and plywood, painted to order
- Working days
- Monday to Friday; Saturdays by arrangement
- Contact
- The contact form
- Page updated
- 27 October 2026
When is bespoke worth it?
What you pay for with bespoke is mainly the fit: scribed edges, a level base on an uneven floor and furniture that meets the ceiling, skirting and picture rail. In an older room, standard units rarely manage that.
Off-the-shelf cupboards come in fixed sizes, so there’s normally a gap left over at the top or at one end. Furniture we make is built to the room’s own sizes, so it can run to the ceiling and fill the width.
What alcove units can’t fix
Not everything around alcove units is carpentry, like an electrician, a plumber or a Gas Safe registered engineer. Here’s what to know:
- Any structural work on the chimney breast
- Curing damp, which needs the right specialist
- Moving sockets or switches, which needs an electrician
If you’re not sure what’s possible in your room, you can get in touch through our contact form and we will give you a straight answer before you arrange a visit. How a job runs, step by step.
Boards, parts and finishes
- Adjustable shelves
- Scribed side panels
- Hand-painted finish
- Panelled or flat doors
- Birch plywood
- Spray-painted finish
- Moisture-resistant MDF
Common questions about alcove units
Can you fit furniture in a home close to Elephant & Castle station?
Yes. We cover the whole of London. You can get in touch through our contact form to arrange a design visit, and tell us about parking and access at the same time.
Is parking a problem for fitting in Southwark?
It can be, as controlled parking zones cover much of inner London. A van may need a visitor’s permit, a paid parking bay or a bay suspension, which the council arranges, often with notice. Let us know what parking is near you during the design visit.
Should I send pictures?
Yes. They give us a feel for the space before we visit. It helps to show radiators, sockets and anything else on the wall.
How tall should alcove units be?
It depends on the room and the look you want. 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 design visit.
Do both alcove units have to match?
That depends on how you use the room. The two alcoves are often slightly different sizes, so each unit is made to its own measurements. They can share a style while doing different things.
Does fitted furniture need planning permission?
Not normally. Conservation area controls are mainly about the outside of buildings, and furniture inside a house doesn’t normally need it. Listed buildings are different: check with the council’s conservation officer first.
From workshop to your room
With the carcasses fixed and level, any doors go on and any drawers or lids are fitted. Each one is adjusted until the gaps are even and it closes cleanly, then checked again. How long the fitting takes depends on how many alcoves there are and how tall the units go, and the fitting days are set out in your quote. Parking at newer developments can be restricted, with private bays or loading areas, so let us know what applies at the design visit. The furniture comes in sections and is fixed in place. Saturday fitting is possible by prior arrangement.
- You get in touch to say you’d like alcove units.
- We come to measure and talk through cupboards, shelves, heights and doors. If one alcove needs a desk or a TV space, this is when we plan it.
- A written quote follows, with the finish set out.
- We build the units in our workshop, using moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood.
- The units are fitted in your home, ready to fill. Any scribing to the walls is done on the day.
How to prepare
- Let us know if your street is in a controlled parking zone
- Have your electrician move any sockets or switches beforehand
- Clear the area where the furniture is going
Ask for a quote
To get a quote, fill in our short enquiry form and tell us which room you have in mind and roughly what you’d like. From there, we arrange a design visit to measure up and talk through your ideas, and send you a quote in writing afterwards.
Related advice
Southwark homes and alcove units
Homes built since 2000 make up about 46% of the housing in the area around Southwark, with about 17% built before 1919, in the VOA’s 2025 council tax stock figures. It is a good starting point, though every room is still measured, as two homes of the same age rarely match. The National Heritage List has 171 entries within half a mile of the centre of Southwark. Older homes nearby may have original joinery, shutters or panelling worth keeping, and alcove units can be designed to work around them. Much of inner London is covered by controlled parking zones run by the boroughs. So a van fitting furniture in Southwark usually needs a visitor’s permit, a paid parking bay or a bay suspension arranged through the council. Let us know about parking near your home at the measuring visit.
For a family home near Charles Dickens Primary School, low doors that small hands can open, with books and ornaments higher up, suit a busy family room. Living in a block of flats near Elephant & Castle station? Then it is useful to book the lift and tell the concierge before fitting day. Close to Little Dorrit's Playground? Alcove units can be planned to frame a window with a view rather than block it.
Southwark is in the London Borough of Southwark, about 3 miles south of East Dulwich. Anywhere in Southwark, it works the same way: we visit and measure, send a quote in writing, make the furniture in our workshop and fit it. Our work takes in places right across the rest of London, large and small.
We make alcove units across the SE1 and SE11 postcode area for alcove units. If your home is on a street such as Borough Square, Trinity Church Square and Merrick Square, or close by, we can arrange a design visit for alcove units. The A300 and B240 run close to Southwark, so if your home is on a main road, mention it when you contact us. We also cover the places around Southwark: Tower Hill (1 mile north-east), City of London (1 mile north), Aldgate (1 mile north-east), Bishopsgate (1 mile north-east) and Barbican Estate (1 mile north). We also make alcove units in nearby places such as East Dulwich (3 miles south), Herne Hill (3 miles south), Camberwell (2 miles south), Peckham (3 miles south-east), Rotherhithe (2 miles east) and Surrey Quays (2 miles east).
Local landmarks in Southwark
Around Southwark, we cover homes near The BFI Reuben Library, The Gladstone Arms and London School of Musical Theatre, among other places. Other local landmarks include St Mary-at-Hill (0.9 miles north-east) and Ark Globe Academy (a few minutes’ walk south-east). Southwark’s nearest station is Elephant & Castle station, about 0.5 miles south of the centre. Well-known places in the area include Surrey Dispensary (within half a mile south-east) and Baynard's Castle (0.8 miles north). For a walk, there’s Ludgate Hill.
Also near Southwark
What else we make in Southwark
Flats, blocks and rented homes
In conversions and newer blocks, many internal walls are timber or metal stud with plasterboard. We choose fixings to suit the wall, after checking the walls at the measuring visit.
If you live in a flat, getting the furniture in is planned from the start. At the design visit, we measure the stairs, the landings, any lift and the doors, so the furniture can be made in sections that fit through.