Example photo by Pete Alexopoulos on Unsplash, not our project
Southwark · London
St George's Fields Alcove Units
Alcove units in St George's Fields: cupboards and shelves built into the alcoves beside a chimney breast. Each piece is designed at a visit to your home, made at our workshop and fitted by us.
- Clutter with nowhere to go
- Old alcove cupboards that have seen better days
- Shelving for books and records
Alcove units for your home in St George's Fields
St George's Fields homes and alcove units
Homes built since 2000 make up about 43% of the housing in the neighbourhood around St George's Fields, with about 18% built between 1945 and 1972, on the Valuation Office Agency’s council tax figures for 2025. For carpentry, the era of a house is a useful clue to how square its rooms are and what its walls are made of. Within a mile of the centre of St George's Fields, 34 conservation areas are recorded by Historic England. Historic England says England has around 10,000, and the controls mainly cover the outside of buildings, so fitted furniture inside a house does not normally need planning permission. About 43% of homes around St George's Fields were built since 2000, well above the figure for Southwark as a whole, about 28%, according to Valuation Office Agency council tax figures (2025). Newer homes often have stud walls and compact rooms, so fixings and sizes are planned with that in mind.
If your home is one of the older houses near Former Church of St Jude, picture rails and cornices give alcove units a line to finish at. Near listed buildings like Old Vic Theatre, under half a mile north-west of the centre of St George's Fields, 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. If you live near Geraldine Mary Harmsworth Park, a room that looks out on trees deserves a design that leaves the window alone.
St George's Fields is about 3 miles south of East Dulwich, within the London Borough of Southwark. Homes in St George's Fields are part of the area we cover for alcove units, as part of our work in every London borough. We list St George's Fields among 21 places we cover in Southwark.
Here we cover the SE1, SE11 and SE17 postcode area for alcove units. Our area takes in homes on streets such as York Road, Spur Road and Bear Lane, whether you want alcove units or another piece made for the room. Main roads around St George's Fields include the A300 and A302. Nearby, we also make alcove units in Elephant and Castle (1 mile south-east), Newington Butts (1 mile south-east), Vauxhall (1 mile south-west), Lambeth (1 mile south-west) and Westminster (1 mile west). Elsewhere in Southwark, we also cover East Dulwich (3 miles south), Herne Hill (3 miles south), Camberwell (2 miles south-east), Peckham (3 miles south-east), Rotherhithe (3 miles east) and Surrey Quays (3 miles east).
What’s near St George's Fields
The streets we cover here include those near London School of Musical Theatre, Notre Dame Roman Catholic Girls' School and Lambeth Palace Library. There is a railway station in St George's Fields itself: Elephant & Castle station. Other landmarks nearby include Gabriel's Wharf (0.7 miles north) and General Lying-In Hospital (0.5 miles west). For a walk, there is St. James's Park Lake and Ludgate Hill.
Alcove units in St George's Fields: what you get
Skirting boards, picture rails and coving are common in older rooms. Units can be cut around them, stop just below them or run neatly up to them, depending on the look you want. A plinth can be set to line up with the skirting for a tidy line around the room. These details are settled when we visit, before anything is made. Typical reasons to get in touch are bare alcoves beside the fireplace and standard units leaving gaps at the sides; the furniture is made from moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood, spray-painted or hand-painted.
Many homes around St George's Fields 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.
The written quote is your record of the job. It sets out the alcove unit designed for your room, its materials and its finish.
- Location
- St George's Fields (SE1, SE11, SE17)
- Borough
- Southwark
- Prices
- Quoted for your room
- How it starts
- A design visit: we measure and talk it through
- Where it is made
- In our workshop, then fitted in your home
- Made from
- MDF and birch plywood, painted
- Fitting days
- Monday to Friday; Saturdays by arrangement
- Enquiries
- Our contact form
- Last updated
- 27 October 2026
Before and after fitting day
Because fitted furniture stays put, a little upkeep goes a long way. A few pointers help:
- Note the sizes of large things you want to store
- Note any vent or air brick on the chimney breast
- Book your electrician first if sockets need moving
- Make the alcoves easy to reach for measuring
A soft, slightly damp cloth is all painted units typically need. Skip scouring pads and harsh cleaners, which can dull or mark the paint. Wipe it dry when you have finished.
Put the heaviest books and objects low down and spread the weight. Most sagging comes from shelves carrying more than they were planned for.
FAQs: alcove units in St George's Fields
I live near Elephant & Castle station. Is that in your area?
Yes, homes across Southwark and the rest of London are within the area we cover. You can drop us a line using the contact form to arrange a design visit.
Can parking be tricky on fitting day in St George's Fields?
It can be: much of inner London is covered by controlled parking zones. A van may need a visitor permit, a paid bay or a parking bay suspension, which the council arranges, often with notice. It is useful to let us know about parking at the design visit, and we’ll plan around it.
Do you work on Saturdays?
Yes, by arrangement. If a Saturday works better for you, say so when you contact us.
What if the wall is cold or damp?
It can be done with some care: ventilation behind and inside the furniture helps avoid condensation and mould. Damp treatment isn’t something we do, so any damp needs sorting first.
What happens when you come to measure?
We measure the room, check how level the walls and floors are and go through the design with you. Access and parking are worth talking about too.
Do you move sockets for alcove units?
Your electrician handles sockets and wiring. Ideally it is done before fitting so the sockets line up with the design. We then plan cut-outs and cable gaps around them.
Flats, conversions and lettings
If the property is let, we’ll need access agreed with the tenants, at times that suit them. A letting agent can arrange this on a landlord’s behalf.
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 without a struggle.
When is bespoke worth it?
Standard units come in set widths and heights, so there’s often a strip of wasted space at the side or above. Fitted furniture is made to the room’s measurements, so it can run to the ceiling and fill the width.
A confident DIYer can manage simple shelves or a standard wardrobe in a square room. It gets harder with sloping ceilings, out-of-level floors and lath-and-plaster walls, where scribing and fixings that suit the wall are important.
What happens on fitting day
You are welcome to ask questions while we work. Most of the decisions were made at the design visit and set out in your quote, so the day itself is about careful fitting and leaving everything tidy. The time the fitting takes depends on how many alcoves there are and how tall the units go, and your quote sets out the fitting days. Stud walls can carry pipes and cables, so we check before drilling, and heavy pieces are fixed into the studs or stand on the floor. Any new sockets or plumbing are for your electrician or plumber, ideally before fitting day.
- You get in touch and describe the alcoves you want to fill.
- We visit to measure the alcoves top, middle and bottom, and check the floor for level. Then we go through the design together.
- You get a quote in writing for the units, materials and finish.
- In our workshop the units are made from moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood, with a little extra left on the edges that meet the wall.
- On fitting day we level the units and scribe the edges so they follow the line of the plaster.
Getting ready for fitting day
- Keep pets out of the room and the hallway
- Leave a clear route from the front door to the room
- Let us know where the boiler and meters are
Getting a quote
Getting a quote starts with some details: which room it is, rough sizes and a couple of photos if you can take them. When you’re ready, tell us about the room on our contact form. We’ll then arrange a design visit and follow it with a written quote.
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What it costs
Every room is different, so every job is quoted on its own. These are the things that affect it:
- How many doors and drawers there are
- How big the furniture is
- What goes inside: rails, shelves, drawers and dividers
- How easy it is to get the furniture into the room
The inside of the furniture affects the price as well: drawers take more making than shelves, and each rail, divider or pull-out adds to the work. We will talk through what you need inside at the measuring visit.
Getting in touch
Before the design visit, it helps us to know about:
- How you want to use the space
- The postcode, so we can plan the visit
- Pictures of styles you like, if you have any
- Whether it is a house or a flat, and if there are stairs or a lift
Every piece is quoted for your room after the design visit. Each room is different, so we quote after seeing it. For a quote, drop us a line using the contact form.