Walk Aldgate from The Gherkin at 30 St Mary Axe outwards and the post-war pattern is obvious: 98% of the 4,914 households in EC3 live in flats, 2% in houses.
Private renting sits at 48% and owner-occupation at 37%; the first group books garage clearance at short notice, the second plans it.
Expect with metal stud partitions between rooms, over dot-and-dab plasterboard over blockwork — where 37% owner-occupation means the same home is booked again rather than a new tenant each year behind the plaster in EC3. That is why fixings are picked in the room rather than off a van shelf, and why in EC3, short screws that grip only the board and slowly lever it off the dabs — which is why City of London Corporation kerb rules get settled before the van is loaded is the fault we are called back to undo.
Two streets can behave very differently in Aldgate: eastern edge of the Square Mile where office towers meet Whitechapel's high street. The quote reflects the street the job is actually on. Aldgate sits inside the Congestion Charge zone as well as ULEZ, so both are itemised on the quote rather than absorbed into an hourly rate.
On access, aldgate gyratory red routes, tower-block concierge sign-in and lift booking — one reason two operatives with a transit-sized van as standard, upsized to a Luton for a double garage or a lock-up with heavy workshop contents. Fitters travelling in use Aldgate (Circle, Metropolitan).
