Walk Woolwich from The Royal Arsenal and Woolwich Ferry outwards and the post-war pattern is obvious: 63% of the 13,241 households in SE18 live in flats, 37% in houses.
Owner-occupation runs at 28% in Woolwich, so alongside the 25% rental churn there is steady planned work — refurbishments, downsizes and probate clearances booked weeks ahead.
Woolwich substrates run to often with surface conduit — and precast concrete panels and dense blockwork — and with 25% of homes here privately rented, it sets the booking date as often as the job does. Nothing is drilled until the wall has been sounded, because in SE18, drilling blind into a panel with reinforcement or a buried cable behind it — with 47% social-rented stock locally, block access is agreed with the estate office first is the mistake that costs a SE18 customer twice.
Two streets can behave very differently in Woolwich: the Arsenal's converted barracks, a market town centre and the ferry across the river. The quote reflects the street the job is actually on. Woolwich is outside the Congestion Charge zone but inside ULEZ; our vehicles are compliant, so nothing is added for it.
On access, royal Arsenal estate permits, town-centre one-way loading and booked lifts in the towers — one reason two to three operatives as standard, with a specialist F-gas engineer booked in for any unit holding refrigerant-charged equipment. Fitters travelling in use Woolwich (Elizabeth line, DLR).
