House extension drawings in Ealing

What Ealing's guide rules out

Some answers are firmer than others. The guide treats roof terraces and balconies on extensions as unacceptable in most cases, because of overlooking, so a flat roof that looks like a terrace opportunity should be drawn as a flat roof and nothing more.

Inside conservation areas the stance tightens. Rear extensions there should not span the full width of the house, and wraparound side-and-rear extensions are discouraged and usually refused. Ealing has 31 conservation areas, so this is a live constraint for many owners, not a footnote.

Two-storey rear extensions must look subordinate and, where possible, sit back from shared boundaries. Those that harm a neighbour's light, outlook or privacy will not be permitted, which is why we test the neighbours' windows on the survey.

Permitted development or planning permission in Ealing

The national rule allows a single-storey rear extension of 3 m (attached) / 4 m (detached) beyond the original rear wall, single storey, no higher than 4 m. The guide's figure applies to planning applications, so a project beyond the permitted limits still has a route: a householder application, set out in our planning drawings in Ealing.

Prior approval offers more depth, 6 m (attached) / 8 m (detached), single storey, height max 4 m; not on article 2(3) land or an SSSI, but Ealing's record shows it is hard to win. In the latest published year the council granted 18 larger home extension prior approvals and refused 70.

Where the house qualifies for permitted development, a Lawful Development Certificate in Ealing is worth having before the build begins. Green Belt covers 6 per cent of the borough, so check that too if your house is near its edge.

How Ealing has been deciding householder applications

Ealing decided 946 householder applications in its latest published year and granted 87.2 per cent. 95.3 per cent were decided within eight weeks or an agreed extension. Those figures cover all householder work, so they tell you about the council and not about your plans.

What the drawings include and what they cost

An Ealing set contains existing and proposed floor plans, elevations and sections, plus location and block plans, with the garden area shown so the council can check it against its guide. Extension drawings start at £695 with VAT included, fixed before you commit.

A second chartered technologist checks every sheet before submission. If the council asks for changes, we redraw at no charge until approval. The council's application fee, £548 for a householder case, is paid to the council.

If the work touches a shared wall or digs near a neighbour's foundations, the Party Wall Act applies: Adjacent excavation notice at least 1 month before work: within 3 m and deeper than the neighbour's foundations, or within 6 m and cutting a 45° line from their foundations.

Other extension types and nearby boroughs

To look at one shape, see rear extension drawings in Ealing, side return extension drawings in Ealing or wraparound extension drawings in Ealing. For everything we do in the borough, start at architectural drawings in Ealing.

Next door, the guidance differs. Compare house extension drawings in Hounslow, in Brent or in Hillingdon, or see the London-wide guide to house extension drawings.