Rear extension drawings in Hammersmith and Fulham

Decisions: high grant rate, slower timetable

The council decided 506 householder applications in its latest published year and granted 97.8 per cent. Only 79.8 per cent were decided within eight weeks or an agreed extension.

The pairing matters for planning your build. A generous grant rate does not decide any one home, and the timing figure tells you to expect the process to run longer than the target. We suggest you keep builders' start dates flexible until a decision is issued.

Conservation areas and listed buildings in Hammersmith and Fulham

The council publishes 47 conservation areas, and Historic England lists 268 entries in the borough. In a conservation area, permitted development is narrower and the officer will look closely at the view of the back of the house from neighbouring properties.

If your house is listed, work to its rear needs its own consent, and we say so before any design fee. Where it is simply near a listed building, the setting becomes part of the case and the drawings should show it.

Prior approval and the national routes here

National rules allow a single-storey rear extension of 3 m (attached) / 4 m (detached) beyond the original rear wall, single storey on a house without constraints, and prior approval reaches 6 m (attached) / 8 m (detached), single storey, height max 4 m; not on article 2(3) land or an SSSI. In the latest twelve months of national statistics the council granted 3 larger home extension prior approvals and refused 1, a small sample that shows how rarely it is used.

That is not surprising. Only 24.6 per cent of households live in a house, and domestic gardens cover 17.1 per cent of the borough's land, so many owners lack the national rights or the room to use them.

Boundaries, party walls and plot cover in a terrace

In a terrace the new wall nearly always sits on or beside the boundary. For work to the foundations the Party Wall Act says: 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. Serving notice early protects your programme, and a neighbour who dissents starts a surveyor process that adds weeks.

There is also a plot rule that catches short gardens. Buildings (other than the original house) may not cover more than 50% of the curtilage. With gardens covering so small a share of the borough, we add up the outbuildings and earlier extensions before settling the depth.

Rear extension drawings for Hammersmith and Fulham: the set and the fee

A set shows existing and proposed plans, sections and elevations with location and block plans, from £695 including VAT, fixed up front. A second chartered technologist checks every sheet and we redraw at no charge if the council asks for changes. The council's fee is £548, paid separately.

Related projects and neighbouring councils

Need more room than a straight extension gives? See wraparound extension drawings in Hammersmith and Fulham. For the borough overall, start at architectural drawings in Hammersmith and Fulham. Across the boundary, see Ealing and Hounslow.