Example photo by Pete Alexopoulos on Unsplash, not our project
Tower Hamlets · London
St George in the East Alcove Units
We make alcove units for homes in St George in the East, designed around the room you have. Your alcove unit is designed at a visit to your home and made at our workshop.
- Standard units leaving gaps at the sides
- Alcoves that are wasted space
- Tired cupboards in the alcoves
Alcove units designed for your room
Pricing alcove units in St George in the East
Prices vary from room to room, for these reasons:
- Spray painting or hand painting
- The internal fittings
- Where a van can park, such as a permit bay or a bay suspension
- How big the furniture is
There’s no price list: each design is priced in writing after we’ve seen the space. Size, the number of doors and drawers and the internal fittings make the biggest difference to the price.
Before the design visit
These details help when you contact us:
- The type of home and how the room is reached
- Where you live, with the postcode
- How you want to use the space
- Examples of the look you are after
Getting a quote starts with some details: which room it is, rough sizes and a couple of photos if you can take them. To send them, tell us about the room on our contact form. We will then arrange a design visit and follow it with a quote in writing.
Alcove units in St George in the East
We fit alcove units across Tower Hamlets and the rest of London. The first step is a design visit to measure the alcoves and agree the layout. Then you receive a quote; the units are then made in our workshop and fitted in your home. We make alcove units from birch plywood and moisture-resistant MDF with a spray-painted or hand-painted finish, and people most often get in touch about a desk that tucks into an alcove and standard units leaving gaps at the sides.
Many homes around St George in the East have been built since 2000, and in a newer home the living space is typically open-plan, without a chimney breast. That means alcove units often create the structure of the room, framing a screen or running a full wall. Plasterboard stud walls are common in newer homes, so heavy pieces are fixed into the studs or stand on the floor.
Once you’ve read the quote and decided to go ahead, the furniture is made in our workshop. It describes the design, the materials and the finish agreed at the visit, so you can check every detail beforehand.
- Place
- St George in the East (E1, E1W, SE16)
- Area
- Tower Hamlets
- Cost
- Quoted for your room
- To begin
- We visit, measure, then quote
- Making
- Made in our workshop and fitted on site
- Boards and paint
- MDF and birch plywood, painted
- Fitting days
- Weekdays; Saturdays on request
- Enquiries
- Our contact form
- Page updated
- 27 October 2026
FAQs: alcove units in St George in the East
Will parking be an issue for fitting furniture in St George in the East?
It can be, as controlled parking zones cover much of inner London. Depending on the street, a visitor permit, a paid bay or a bay suspension through the council may be needed, and suspensions often need notice. Let us know what parking is near you at the measuring visit.
Can you make alcove units for a home in St George in the East?
Yes. St George in the East is one of the places we work, along with the rest of Tower Hamlets and London. You can fill in our short enquiry form to arrange a design visit.
Which finishes are there for alcove units?
There are two options: a spray-painted finish done in our workshop, or a hand-painted finish done on site. Either way, the colour is agreed with you. Spray painting is smooth and even, while hand painting is easy to touch up.
How do I get a quote for alcove units in St George in the East?
The first step is to send us a few details through our contact form and tell us about the room. We then arrange a design visit, measure up and send a written quote.
Do alcove units affect the chimney’s ventilation?
Any vent is kept clear in the design. Air moving through a capped chimney helps stop damp, which protects the units as well as the wall. If there is damp on the breast already, it is best sorted before fitting.
Can you add sockets inside the units?
That is a job for your electrician. Ideally it’s done before fitting, and we can tell you where the units will sit so the sockets end up in the right place. We then plan cut-outs and cable gaps around them.
What prompts alcove units in St George in the East
In bedrooms, the alcoves may be the only place for hanging space. Built into the alcove, a cupboard holds clothes without taking over the room, which matters in a smaller room.
Requests we hear often include:
- Shelving for books and records
- Room to work in an alcove
- Bowed walls and sloping floors
- Empty alcoves either side of the chimney breast
Mansion House, about 1.2 miles west, is one of the historic houses in the wider area. For a period home anywhere nearby, walls that bow and floors that slope are why alcove units are scribed to fit rather than pushed into place.
Before you hire any carpenter
- Whether they measure the room themselves
- Real projects you can actually look at
- Where they’ll park and unload
- Will the quote be in writing?
St George in the East homes and alcove units
Homes built since 2000 make up about 37% of the housing in the streets around St George in the East, with about 29% built between 1973 and 1999, on the Valuation Office Agency’s council tax figures for 2025. It is a good starting point, though every room is still measured, as two homes of the same age rarely match. There are 120 entries on the National Heritage List within half a mile of the centre of St George in the East. Older homes nearby may have original joinery, shutters or panelling worth keeping, and alcove units can be designed to work around them. On TfL’s red routes, the rules on stopping and loading are strict. Where a home in St George in the East is on or beside a main road, it’s useful to mention that at the design visit. We’ll plan where the van can stop.
Near listed buildings like Church of St George in the East, less than half a mile north-east of the centre of St George in the East, older homes may keep original joinery that alcove units can be designed around. For a listed home, fixing into original features may need listed building consent. For an older house near St Peter's, picture rails and cornices give alcove units a line to finish at.
St George in the East is about 1 mile north-west of Whitechapel, part of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. We design and make alcove units for homes in St George in the East and the rest of Tower Hamlets. St George in the East is one of 31 places on our list for Tower Hamlets.
Every address in E1, E1W and SE16 is within our area for alcove units. Streets in the area include Glamis Road, Redmead Lane and Wapping Lane, and we cover homes on all of them for alcove units. St George in the East sits close to the A1210 and A1211, and we plan where the van can stop before fitting day. Neighbouring places we cover for alcove units include Wapping (1 mile south-east), East End of London (1 mile north-east), Whitechapel (1 mile north-west), Tower Hill (1 mile west) and Shadwell (1 mile east). Other parts of Tower Hamlets we cover include Cambridge Heath (2 miles north), Mile End (2 miles north-east), Bow Common (2 miles east), Bromley (2 miles north-east), Old Ford (3 miles north-east) and Poplar (2 miles east).
What’s near St George in the East
Around St George in the East, we cover homes near Bishopsgate Institute Special Collections and Archives, St Mary-at-Hill and St Mellitus College, among other places. Other local landmarks include Mulberry School for Girls (under half a mile north) and Town of Ramsgate pub (close by, under half a mile south). St George in the East has its own railway station: Shadwell station. Well-known places in the area include Surrey Quays Shopping Centre (1.1 miles south-east) and Tower of London (0.6 miles west). For a walk, there’s Tower Hill and Lavender Pond.
What alcove units can’t fix
We design, make and fit the furniture. In practice, that means:
- Curing damp, which needs the right specialist
- New sockets or wiring (your electrician handles those)
- Taking out a chimney breast or opening up a fireplace
If in doubt, you can tell us about the room on our contact form and describe the room. How it works.
What goes into it
- Birch plywood
- Panelled or flat doors
- Adjustable shelves
- Hand-painted finish
- Moisture-resistant MDF
- Scribed side panels
- Spray-painted finish
From workshop to your room
However carefully a piece is made in the workshop, it still has to meet the room, and that happens on fitting day. Few walls in older London homes are truly flat or square, so we scribe the edges by hand to follow the wall. How long the fitting itself takes depends on the size and number of units, and we confirm the fitting days in your quote. Parking at newer developments can be restricted, with private bays or loading areas, so it helps to let us know during the design visit. On fitting day, the sections are carried in, assembled and fixed. Saturday fitting is possible by prior arrangement.
- You get in touch about alcove units and the room they’re for.
- We visit to measure the alcoves and talk through the design, including the paint finish.
- The written quote then sets out the design, the materials and the finish you’ve picked.
- We make the units in our workshop from moisture-resistant MDF, which takes paint well, and birch plywood. If you chose spray painting, that’s done in the workshop too, for a smooth, even surface.
- We fit the units in your home and scribe them to the walls; a hand-painted finish is done on site after fitting and is easy to touch up later.
- New paintwork takes a while to cure fully, so treat the surfaces gently at first.
Getting ready for fitting day
- If you live in a block, book the lift and tell the building manager
- Mention any parking restrictions on your street
- Take anything hanging off the wall we are fitting to
Starting with a design visit
It is useful to see the room before we come. Pictures of the whole wall, the corners and the ceiling line give us a good feel for the space. To send them over, fill in our short enquiry form, and we will suggest a time for a design visit.
Read more
Neighbourhoods near St George in the East
What else we make in St George in the East
Flats, blocks and rented homes
Many London terraces have been converted into flats, which often brings a shared hall and tight turns on the stairs. Each section is sized with that in mind.
If you live in a flat, getting the furniture in is planned from the start. We measure the stairs, landings, lift and doorways not just the room, so the furniture can be made in sections that fit through.