Desk-based assessments are generally commissioned by clients in advance of development, sometimes in support of planning applications and sometimes as a requirement of planning consent. They often form the 'first stage' of archaeological work - as a way of understanding whether further work is necessary. They typically include documentary and cartographic research, use of the 'Historic Environment Record', a site-visit, and consideration of the impact of the proposed development.

Recent desk-based assessments include work on developments in Deptford, the Old Kent Road, the Church of the English Martyrs in Streatham, and Earlsfield, to name a view. Some of these sites had interesting histories - such as the site of an old coaching inn in Southall.

Photograph of an existing St Mary le Strand boundary marker, observed on a visit to the Old Kent Road site	Rocque’s 1746 Map, depicting Garratt Lane, Earlsfield
1867 Map of the estate of St Mary le Strand, Old Kent Road	World War II Bomb Damage map, depicting destruction of buildings around the Church of the English Martyrs in, Streatham
1910 image of ‘The White Hart’, Southall