Rear extension drawings in Barking and Dagenham

Prior approval or planning permission in Barking and Dagenham

Nationally, a single-storey rear extension is permitted development up to 3 m (attached) / 4 m (detached) beyond the original rear wall, single storey, with a maximum height of 4 metres. A longer one can go through prior approval, where the council has 42 days to respond.

Barking and Dagenham's recent record on that route is mixed: it decided 10 large householder extension prior approvals in favour and 36 against. A deeper extension therefore needs a considered neighbour assessment before you notify. Where the design goes past those limits, a full householder application follows.

How we set out the depth on your house

Depth is measured from the original rear wall, so the survey starts there. We record any earlier extension, because it may already have used part of the allowance, and the position of the neighbour's rear windows. From those we draw the 45-degree line on the plan, so the officer sees the test passed or failed on the sheet itself.

Roof form follows. A flat roof is simplest against the council's height limit, while a pitched roof needs its eaves held low at the boundary. We show both in section where the choice is open, and explain what each does to ceiling height inside.

Conservation areas, Article 4 and Green Belt

Barking and Dagenham has 4 conservation areas and 3 Article 4 directions, and 14 per cent of the borough is Green Belt. An address inside any of these may need a different route, so the check is the first thing we do.

The borough also lists 49 buildings with Historic England. A listed house needs its own consent for most changes, and an extension to it is a separate conversation.

How Barking and Dagenham has been deciding householder applications

The council decided 388 householder applications in its latest published year and granted 66.5 per cent. It decided 100 per cent in time. Those figures cover every kind of householder project and say nothing about any one house, so we use them to set expectations on timing and design care rather than to predict an outcome.

Domestic gardens make up 22.8 per cent of the borough's land, which is why the rule on garden coverage matters here.

What the drawings show and what they cost

A Barking and Dagenham rear extension set shows existing and proposed floor plans, the roof form in section and every elevation, plus the location and block plans. Rear extension drawings start at £695 with VAT included, fixed before you commit, and are normally ready after the survey.

A second chartered technologist checks each sheet. If the council asks for changes, we redraw at no charge until approval. Once the design settles, the same survey carries the extension into the building regulations drawings for insulation, structure and drainage.

Other extension types and nearby boroughs

Thinking beyond the back wall? See side return extension drawings in Barking and Dagenham, wraparound extension drawings or double storey extension drawings. The service overview is at rear extension drawings, and the borough overview at architectural drawings in Barking and Dagenham. Next door, compare Redbridge, Havering and Newham.