Walk Penge from The Watermen's Almshouses outwards and the mainly Victorian pattern is obvious: 60% of the 8,101 households in SE20 live in flats, 40% in houses.
Private renting sits at 24% and owner-occupation at 43%; the first group books clearance services at short notice, the second plans it.
Walls are often with surface conduit, over precast concrete panels and dense blockwork — which is what a 60% flat share across the ONS neighbourhood covering Penge actually produces, so the fixing that matters in Penge is chosen on site — the usual failure here is in SE20, drilling blind into a panel with reinforcement or a buried cable behind it — and with 35% one-person households in Penge, one adult is usually the only pair of hands on site.
Two streets can behave very differently in Penge: victorian terraces and almshouses below Crystal Palace, with a reviving high street. The quote reflects the street the job is actually on. Penge is outside the Congestion Charge zone but inside ULEZ; our vehicles are compliant, so nothing is added for it.
Steep approaches from Crystal Palace, narrow terraced streets and permit bays. Nearest station is Penge East (Southeastern), and standard crews are two people with a 3.5-tonne Luton; bigger clears run two vans or return the same day rather than overfilling.
