Tag Archives: home extension

Unveiling the Larger Home Extension Scheme: A Comprehensive Guide

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As an architect with over two decades of experience in creating thoughtful, sustainable designs, I’ve encountered countless homeowners who dream of extending their homes. Perhaps you’ve often wondered about the possibilities a large extension could bring to your living space? Many share this dream – a chance to transform their home into an expansive haven filled with creative, exciting interior spaces that they love. If that sounds like you, then you’ve landed in the right place.

However, an inevitable question soon follows: How big can you build? How far can you extend? Well, I have some good news for you. Under the ‘prior approval larger home extension mechanism’ and thanks to permitted development rights, you can build a significantly large house extension.

In today’s discussion, we’ll delve into the nitty-gritty of this process. We’ll explore the prior approval procedure in detail, provide insights into how to extend your terraced, semi-detached, or detached house, and guide you through the specific conditions you need to comply with for a prior approval house extension. I’ll also share tips on how to sail smoothly through the neighbour consultation scheme and get your consent with ease. So let’s get started.

Larger Home Extension Scheme
Larger Home Extension Scheme – Douglas House, Kensal Rise, London

What is the Prior Approval Mechanism for Larger Home Extensions?

First, let’s understand what the prior approval mechanism is. According to Part 1 Class A of the permitted development rights, you can construct a large single-storey rear extension as long as you meet the requirements of the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015, without seeking explicit planning permission. This is often referred to as the prior approval larger home extension mechanism, or the neighbour consultation scheme.

So how large can your extension be if you use a prior approval application? In a terraced or semi-detached property, permitted development rights allow you to extend the rear of your house by up to six metres. In a detached property, the allowance extends to a whopping eight metres. Quite a spacious addition.

However, you must remember to take these measurements from the original rear wall of your property and adhere to certain conditions, which we’ll explain shortly.

Which Properties are Excluded from the Neighbour Consultation Scheme?

The prior approval legislation for larger house extensions does exclude some properties from the scheme. These include flats or maisonettes, statutorily listed buildings, properties within a conservation area, National Park, area of outstanding natural beauty, World Heritage Site or a site of special scientific interest, and properties that have had permitted development rights removed due to a planning condition or through an Article 4 direction.

If your property falls into one of these categories, you won’t benefit from the prior approval for a larger home extension scheme. But don’t worry – I can assure you there’s still a solution. A very large house extension is still possible by submitting a householder planning permission with the aid of professional extension architects. The end results are often the same or even better.

What are the Conditions I Need to Comply with to Build My Large House Extension?

Building your dream extension will require you to meet certain conditions as per Part 1 Class A of The Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015. I’ve summarised these for you below:

  • Your proposed extension should be a single story.
  • If the extension goes beyond the line of the side of your house, it can’t be wider than half the width of the existing house.
  • The proposed extension should not exceed 4 meters in height, as measured from the highest point of natural surface ground.
  • If your extension is within two meters of the boundary of the house, the eaves of your proposed extension should not exceed three meters in height.
  • The proposed extension should cover no more than half the area of land around the original house (as it was on 1 July 1948 or if it was built later, as it stood when built).
  • The materials used should match the existing appearance of your house.

Adherence to these conditions is crucial. Failure to comply may result in your application being rejected.

How to Apply for Prior Approval to Build a Larger Home Extension

Submitting your prior approval application for a larger home extension allows you to build an extension between 4 and 8m in length beyond the original rear wall for a detached house and between 3 and 6m for all other houses. However, to build under the prior approval neighbour consultation scheme, you need to apply to your council for prior approval – a process distinct from a typical planning application.

This application allows your council to consider whether your proposed extension meets the conditions outlined in the prior approval legislation and the likely impact of your extension on your neighbours’ homes. When submitting your application, be sure to provide the following information:

  • A detailed description of your proposed extension.
  • Planning drawings with existing and proposed floor plans and elevations, along with measurements.
  • The addresses of any adjoining premises.
  • Your contact details.

Remember, construction should not commence until the notification and prior approval process is complete. If the extension is already built, you’ll need to submit a retrospective full planning application, which I would advise against.

What Happens When You Submit a Prior Approval Application?

After receiving your prior approval application, your council will consult your adjoining neighbours by letter, initiating a minimum consultation period of 21 days. If your council doesn’t receive any comments within this period and decides that your proposal meets all the necessary conditions, your extension will be considered permitted development, meaning further planning consent is not required.

If your council doesn’t decide within 42 days from the date the application is valid, you have the right to submit an appeal to the Planning Inspectorate for non-determination.

What Happens if My Neighbours Object to My Prior Approval Application?

If your neighbours object to your proposed development, your council must assess the impact of your extension on all adjoining premises’ “amenity”. If further information is required at this stage, your extension architects and planning consultants can submit factual evidence to prove that your extension won’t detrimentally impact neighbouring properties. After assessing your application and any objections received, your council will issue a decision.

Can My Council Refuse My Large Home Extension Application?

Achieving approval for a planning application, including a prior approval application, requires a fair amount of skill and experience. If your application gets refused, you have the right to submit an appeal to the Planning Inspectorate against the refusal. The local planning authority cannot consider any other planning matters when determining a prior approval application.

Can I Start Building My Extension Straightaway?

You should not commence construction of your large house extension without receiving a written notice from your council. Following approval, the next stage is seeking building control approval before commencing construction work. Be sure to notify your council as soon as reasonably practicable after the completion of works.

How Can RISE Design Studio Help You?

RISE Design Studio is a London-based RIBA Chartered Architecture practice. With a special focus on design and planning strategies and expertise in residential extensions, conversions, and new build homes, we help homeowners create spaces they love living in.

If you would like to talk through your project with the team, please do get in touch at mail@risedesignstudio.co.uk or give us a call on 020 3290 1003.

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How will architecture adapt to Covid-19 and beyond?

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The global Covid-19 pandemic has created a new world for all of us. While the fight against the virus continues, we are all learning to adjust to life in a socially-distanced society. How we move through our cities, towns and villages has changed, and we have had to refamiliarise ourselves with adapted indoor and outdoor spaces. What will these changes mean for the design of housing, work spaces and placemaking in the future? We think there will be some key changes that architects will need to respond to.

RISE Design Studio architecture and Covid-19

Seeing our homes in new ways

Even those of us who have always loved spending time in our homes will feel, after many weeks of lockdown, overly familiar with our own living space. Bedrooms have become the office or the home gym, kitchen tables have become the home school, and the quiet space that was once a reading nook may now be overrun by all members of the family seeking that rare moment of solitude.

As we contemplate the reality of more time in our home in the weeks and months to come, we are valuing our homes more than ever before and thinking about how to maximise the space. Storage has become more important as we appreciate the simplicity and order of life at home while the world outside seems increasingly complex. What was originally a temporary workspace may become a permanent feature and this presents an opportunity to create a soulful space that inspires creativity and productivity.

Even the tiniest bit of outdoor space has provided a huge boost for those lucky enough to have some. For those without, sunrooms or spaces with good quality natural light for urban farming provide a welcome alternative.

Perhaps the most important question is about how we delineate the spaces in our home that we use to rest, eat and play from those in which we now work. How can smaller spaces be used to perform these multiple roles but still allow a separation of home and work life? The creative solutions need to flow.

The importance of our local surroundings and supply chains

The pandemic has made us all acutely more aware of our local surroundings and what effect these can have on our health and wellbeing. Encouraged to walk, run and cycle close to home, we have become very familiar with our local streets, paths and parks, perhaps much more than we could have ever imagined.

As many of us continue to spend more time at home during the working week, there is an opportunity to implement energy-efficient standards, and push for faster decarbonisation of heating systems to ensure the carbon footprint of the home is reduced and energy costs are manageable.

New developments will need to adopt strong placemaking principles likely walkability to local social infrastructure. This will be crucial to ensure that local businesses can be accessed quickly and safely, particularly as home workers are likely to make these sorts of trips more regularly than in the past.

The longer we spend without regular social contact, the more important our greenspaces become for our mental and physical wellbeing. There is a need to embed these spaces in our local communities and look after them for the years to come.

Adaptable and healthy cities

Perhaps most striking has been the decline of the use of cars in our cities. Streets have been left empty and air pollution levels have dropped significantly. As people are converted into ‘full-time pedestrians and cyclists’, the benefits of making streets safer for those of us not in vehicles couldn’t be more apparent.

There is likely to be a greater focus on health in city planning and development. For example, in Singapore, therapeutic gardens have been built into public parks, and in Tokyo citizens are working with urban designers to create more greenspace in their neighbourhoods to improve their health.

Across the world, architects have been working hard to identify and adapt buildings and other spaces into temporary health care facilities. The pandemic has highlighted the need for fast design and build projects, which has made the use of modular construction – buildings assembled using prefabricated modules – more common.

Perhaps most exciting is the growth in the adaptive reuse approach to design. Using existing structures to serve new purposes, this is a real opportunity to use a sustainable and efficient approach to upgrading our living environments in this new world.

Permitted Development Rights II: House extensions

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An extension or addition to your home is something that you can do under ‘Permitted Development Rights’ (PDR), meaning that you do not need to apply for planning permission to undertake the work (see the general introduction to PDR in our last post). There are, however, certain limits and conditions that you need to be aware of and we cover some of those in this post.

Permitted Development Rights II

For all types of extension, no more than 50% of the area of land around the ‘original house’ can be covered by the addition (bear in mind that ‘original house’ means the house as it was first built, or as it stood on 1 July 1948, if it was built before then). You will need to check whether a previous owner added an extension as this is included in the calculation, as are sheds and any other outbuildings.

Single-storey extensions

For single-storey extensions, if the project is completed by 30 May 2019, the rear wall of a detached home can be extended by up eight metres. If you live in a semi-detached or terraced house, this is reduced to six metres. These upper limits have been temporarily increased and if you extend more than four metres beyond the rear wall (detached) or three metres (semi-detached/terraced), you will need to go through the Neighbour Consultation Scheme to notify the local planning authority of your intention to use PDR in this case.

Under PDR, the extension must not be to the front or side of the building (if it is, it requires planning permission). The materials used in the extension should be similar in appearance to those on the exterior of the rest of the house, and the extension must not exceed four metres in height.

Double-storey extensions

For higher extensions of more than one storey, the addition can be no higher than the existing house and it may not extend more than three metres beyond the rear wall. You will also need seven metres between any boundary opposite the rear wall of the house. As with single-storey extensions under PDR, the materials you use must be similar to the existing house, and there are some additional rules about upper floor/roof windows.

Other points to bear in mind

The permitted development allowances that we have described in this post apply to houses in England only. If you are seeking to alter or extend a flat/maisonette, a converted house (or a house created through the PDR to change use), other buildings, or your house is in an area where there may be a planning condition (e.g. protected/designated area), you will need to check separate guidance and rules with your local authority. Some local authorities are able to confirm in writing (for a small fee) whether or not a planning application is necessary. Most extensions still require approval under Building Regulations.

You can read more detailed guidance on the Department for Communities and Local Government Planning Portal, or contact us for advice about a project you are considering.