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City of London, London

Rear extension drawings in the City of London

The Square Mile has almost no houses, so a rear extension here is an unusual project and the first question is whether your home can be extended at all. Our rear extension drawings for the City of London start at £695 including VAT, after a check of what the property and its listing allow.

From £695 (VAT included)

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    House extension under construction with scaffolding, new glazed doors and building materials

    How the City of London handles rear extensions

    This page quotes only rules we can trace to a page of the council's own document. For rear extensions in the City we hold none with a figure, so there is no depth or garden limit to quote. The one residential guidance document in our data is the Barbican Estate Listed Building Management Guidelines: Volume I Introduction and Volume II Residential (SPD), and it applies to a single listed estate.

    The development plan is the City of London Local Plan 2015, adopted in 2,015. For most homes the practical test is the same as everywhere: officers look at the neighbours, the rear elevation and the heritage setting. The difference is that the setting here is dense and old, so the heritage layer usually matters more than any depth rule.

    That is why we begin with the property, not the design: what it is, who owns the structure, and what has been listed around it.

    Brick house being extended, with a wide new opening supported over the ground floor

    Local figures for City of London

    Figures with their unit, period and source
    MeasureValuePeriodSource
    Households living in a house2 % of households living in a house or bungalow (detached, semi-detached or terraced)Census 2021nomisweb.co.uk
    Conservation areas28 named conservation areas published by the council—planning.data.gov.uk
    Article 4 directions1 Article 4 directions published by the council—planning.data.gov.uk
    Listed building entries637 list entries (Historic England, within the LPA boundary)—planning.data.gov.uk
    Scheduled monuments53 scheduled monuments intersecting the LPA boundary (Historic England)—planning.data.gov.uk
    Householder decisions1 decisions1 July 2025 - 30 June 2026assets.publishing.service.gov.uk
    Domestic gardens share of land (GLUD 2005)0.1 % of land that is domestic garden (GLUD 2005)2005data.london.gov.uk
    GPDO 2015 Sch 2 Pt 1 Class A, para A.1(f)(i)3 m (attached) / 4 m (detached) beyond the original rear wall, single storey—legislation.gov.uk

    A blank value means the figure has not been published, not that there are none. Check your own address with the council.

    Councils bordering City of London
    Single-storey rear extension: the permitted development limitsDepth beyond the original rear wall: 3 m (attached) / 4 m (detached) beyond the original rear wall, single storey. Maximum height: 4 m. Within the zone near the boundary: Eaves no higher than 3 m where within 2 m of the curtilage boundary. Larger extension under prior approval: 6 m (attached) / 8 m (detached), single storey, height max 4 m; not on article 2(3) land or an SSSIABCD

    Single-storey rear extension: the permitted development limits

    The house in section with a rear extension; the dashed lines mark the zone near the boundary.

    A · Depth beyond the original rear wall
    3 m (attached) / 4 m (detached) beyond the original rear wall, single storey
    B · Maximum height
    4 m
    C · Within the zone near the boundary
    Eaves no higher than 3 m where within 2 m of the curtilage boundary
    D · Larger extension under prior approval
    6 m (attached) / 8 m (detached), single storey, height max 4 m; not on article 2(3) land or an SSSI

    A borough with very few houses

    Only 2 per cent of the City's 4,914 households live in a house or bungalow, and the rest are in flats. National permitted development for rear extensions covers houses, not flats, so most extension work in the Square Mile needs a full application and the freeholder's agreement.

    Gardens are scarce too: domestic gardens cover 0.1 per cent of the land. With so little garden, a conventional garden extension is rarely possible, and the design starts from whatever space the building actually has at the back.

    Conservation areas, Article 4 and listed buildings

    The City has 28 conservation areas, 1 Article 4 direction, and Historic England lists 637 entries, among them 86 at Grade I. A further 53 scheduled monuments lie within the boundary.

    For a rear extension this means a check for listing on the building itself and on its neighbours, and sometimes for archaeology below the ground. If the property is listed, work to the back wall needs separate consent, and we will say so before any design fee.

    Decisions on home extensions in the City

    In its latest published year the City decided 1 householder application, and it was granted. One case cannot show a pattern, and it would be wrong to read it as a promise about yours. Across every kind of application the City decided 477, so home extensions are a sliver of its caseload.

    The honest reading is that householder extensions are rare here, so there is little local record to learn from, and a clear, well-evidenced application matters more than usual.

    Structure, party walls and shared buildings in the City

    Where a home is a flat in a larger building, an extension touches the shared structure, the freeholder and often neighbouring floors. We ask early who owns the roof and the walls, because that decides who must consent and what the engineer must show.

    Where excavation or deep foundations are needed beside a neighbour, 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. In tight, old City plots this is common, and we prepare the notices alongside the drawings so that the paperwork and design agree.

    Rear extension drawings for the City of London: the set and the fee

    A set shows existing and proposed plans, sections and elevations, with the location and block plans. The fee starts at £695, VAT included, and is quoted fixed. A second chartered technologist checks every sheet, and we redraw free of charge if the council asks for changes.

    The council's own householder fee, £548, is paid to it separately.

    Related projects and neighbouring councils

    For a wider look at the borough, start with architectural drawings in the City of London. Neighbouring councils with more houses to extend include Islington and Southwark. If you are also reshaping the whole home, see house extension drawings in the City of London.

    What you receive

    Planning drawing sheet for a rear extension with plans, elevations and sections
    Sample drawing. Planning drawings for a rear extension: plans, elevations and sections on one sheet set.
    Finished white-rendered rear house extension with large glazed doors
    Every side considered
    Flick across the turntable to spin it.

    Other services in City of London

    Rear extension drawings nearby

    Questions

    Can I extend the back of a flat in the City of London?

    Not as permitted development, because those rights cover houses. It needs a planning application and usually the freeholder's consent, and the building may be listed.

    Does the City have a depth limit for rear extensions?

    We hold no council depth figure for it. The national permitted development limit is 3 m (attached) / 4 m (detached) beyond the original rear wall, single storey, but it applies only to houses, and an Article 4 direction or a planning condition can remove it.

    How much do rear extension drawings cost in the City of London?

    From £695 including VAT, fixed up front.

    Sources and dates

    City of London skyline glowing at dusk across the Thames under a dramatic orange sky

    Tell us about your property.

    We check the constraints, then send a fixed fee. Messages before 3pm get a reply the same working day.

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