House extension drawings in Hackney

Conservation areas and Article 4 in Hackney

Hackney has 37 conservation areas and 77 Article 4 directions covering 197 separate areas. An Article 4 direction removes the specific permitted development rights named in it, so its wording matters for your street.

Historic England lists 555 entries in the borough. A listed house needs consent for most work, and the setting of a listed neighbour can matter to an extension even when your own house is not listed.

Where any of these layers applies, a householder application may be needed even for a modest extension. We check each address against every layer before recommending a route.

Permitted development or planning permission in Hackney

Where permitted development applies, a single-storey rear extension may go 3 m (attached) / 4 m (detached) beyond the original rear wall, single storey, up to 4 m high. A Lawful Development Certificate in Hackney records that. The council's guide figures apply when an application is needed, so it is worth knowing first whether the house qualifies for permitted development.

Prior approval allows deeper single-storey rear extensions, 6 m (attached) / 8 m (detached), single storey, height max 4 m; not on article 2(3) land or an SSSI. Hackney mostly grants this route: in the latest published year it granted 15 larger home extension prior approvals and refused 1. Prior approval is not available on conservation land, though, so it helps mainly outside those areas.

For everything else, the householder route applies; see our planning drawings in Hackney.

How Hackney has been deciding householder applications

Hackney decided 415 householder applications in its latest published year. It granted 84.6 per cent, and 91.3 per cent were decided within eight weeks or an agreed extension.

The count covers all householder work, so we use it to set expectations about timing and not to predict a result.

What the drawings include and what they cost

A Hackney set contains existing and proposed floor plans, elevations and sections, with location and block plans, and the 45-degree line where it applies. Extension drawings start at £695 including VAT, fixed in advance.

A second chartered technologist checks each sheet. If the council asks for changes, we redraw at no charge until approval. The council's own application fee is £548.

Where the work involves a party wall, the Act sets the notice period: 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

For one specific form, see rear extension drawings in Hackney, side return extension drawings in Hackney or wraparound extension drawings in Hackney. For all our work in the borough, start at architectural drawings in Hackney.

Neighbouring councils use different guides. Compare house extension drawings in Islington, in Tower Hamlets or in Haringey.