Building a Home Exteriors Design Dilemma

How planners judge a double storey side extension

2 years ago

Dear Community,

I wanted to hear your opinion on whether local planners have a big issue with how a double storey extension looks like on a street where all the semi-detached look the same, hence very people have tried to do what I envisage to build.

I’m in the process of buying the semi-detached property on the left side of the mid-terraced property (although I doubt the property is more like an end terraced property).

Since the side of the property has a 2m width, I feel it will be best utilised by building a double storey extension (2m by 3m), housing the utility and toilet/shower.

On the same street, there is only one other set of houses that have a mid-terrace house as the are pairs of two.

I’ve attached the 3D floor model of the house from the front and side elevation.

The rear side of the property will be a 6m permitted kitchen extension, hence it will join up to the back of the double storey side extension but only on a single storey level.

Look forward to hearing your thoughts

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Comments (7)

CWD
2 years ago
I think the only issue will be they might want a 1m gap between extension and boundary, which might not be viable. Otherwise it is shown as subservient to original house which is what they want - your roofline might have to be lower than original roof to continuethe subservience.
Munim Chowdhury
Original Author
2 years ago
CWD, thank you for your comments.

I didn’t really thinking that and it appears is it now really worth doing a 1m extension on the side and weather it adds any benefit.

I’ve also forgot to mention that between the two properties, there is a shared access way for the neighbours to access and go around the back of the garden.

Will that make any difference in the the gap the planners ask for.
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@rinked Thanks, good idea - i'll see what it looks like later. @Suzanne C thank you for sharing your experience and pictures. We'll be going out for quotations once our planning is granted so i'll make sure i get a cost for wet UFH. I think it would be the preferred route with the warmth underfloor and extra wall space is always good in open plan extensions. @minipie Thank you. The software really is great once you get to grips with it. We've started to obtain budget costs on the roof lights and one company has offered to take us to see a few recently completed projects which should hopefully give us some inspiration and allow us to gain some feedback from previous clients. I'll aim to get at least one opening roof light after all the advice received on this board. Thank you for sharing your experience. I'll look into the small radiator in the bathroom. Good idea. The extract routes are pretty easy as the kitchen hood is on an external wall, as is the utility. The WC fan will follow the existing route above the utility rooms ceiling. Not sure on the subfloor as not taken up any flooring so far but the house was built around 2003 so you'd expect a pretty thick solid concrete slab so it might not be as easy as excavating in an older property.
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I would suggest to do a bit of research in your local authority’s planning explorer, and see what extensions have been granted in your borough/street. You can search by key words (try ‘two storey side extension’ and ‘two storey back extension’). You can also have a look on zoopla for historic sales of properties on your street. Try and find some that have been extended (google map satellite can help with that) and see if floor plans/ photos are available. In my borough, semi detached houses are fairly routinely granted permission to extend at the side provided the extension is subservient to the original building, existing roof lines are respected and there is no terracing effect. But there are exceptions, and if no house on the street has done it before it may be more difficult to get PP. Every borough is different.
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CWD
2 years ago
I assume the shared access is jointly owned and nobody is allowed to build on it? That might be enough to allow the 2m side extension, I don't know. Best to call your planning dept and have a quick chat - they'll probably want you to do a Pre-Planning application so they can look at in detail for the specific situation, but that will tell you what they will accept and what they won't and always worth doing.
Munim Chowdhury
Original Author
2 years ago
Once again thank you for your comments. I shall be calling the planning department for a pre-planning application. In the meantime, I’ve done a rough outline what it will look in real life and shall share this with the planners.

I personally think it least tick one criteria that they hold:

Visual impact and creation of a terrace effect which would be out of character with the street
CWD
2 years ago
One last comment - they probably won't like the flat roof! They will want it to have the same slope as the existing roof, I don't know whether you have a gable end (like your neighbours) or if you have a hipped roof - if it's hipped they might want to keep it hipped or they might let you do a hip to gable extension.

Space to the side looks ok to me though, but I'm not a planning specialist, I just know what they did/didn't allow for our double-storey side extension.
Munim Chowdhury
Original Author
2 years ago
Your absolutely right! The flat roof will be a no go.

The roof is a hipped roof so I guess they will want it the same.

Thanks again and appreciate the time you’ve taken to look into this.
Munim Chowdhury
Original Author
2 years ago
Correction. It’s a Gabled Roof. Always get confused it!.

How planners judge a double storey side extension

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How planners judge a double storey side extension

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CWD

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