Hi Mark National planning rules state that: Adding a porch to any external door of your house is considered to be permitted development, not requiring an application for planning permission, provided: - the ground floor area (measured externally) would not exceed three square metres. - no part would be more than three metres above ground level (height needs to be measured in the same way as for a house extension). - no part of the porch would be within two metres of any boundary of the dwellinghouse and the highway If you are exceeding any of the above, then you need to apply for planning permission.

I guess you can never have too much space with 4 children, I can imagine how I would use the existing living room and dining room :-). Few questions - is that an opening from the existing dining room to extension? what is the dotted line section on bottom left of extension next to kitchen? are you having an island? I'm not sure about having all the kitchen units down the left hand of the wall, 10m is a long way to walk to get some from one cupboard. I think its better to have kitchen 'contained' in a section of extension, then you can create a zone for living and dining space.

Just on the chimney point. We knocked through between our kitchen and small sitting room. We needed a structural engineer to specify the steel. as part of the work they took out a similar chimney and supported the chimney higher up with a diagonal steel. the whole job was £15k and the diagonal steel wasnt itemised but we had the wall taken out, new plaster throughout, lights, new floor, radiators etc included. so i guess a couple of thousand pounds for the chimney removal to first floor.

Fitting all your desired elements into the open-plan living area will require careful planning. Consider utilising the longest wall for your built-in wall unit, which could incorporate your TV, books, and files, along with a compact, retractable work-from-home space. Position the three-seater sofa and two wingback chairs facing or adjacent to this unit for a cohesive look. In addition, accommodating an eight-seater dining table might necessitate a more streamlined arrangement, possibly a rectangular table placed parallel to the kitchen area. Hope this gives you some ideas!