Rear extension drawings in Hounslow

Measuring from the original wall in Hounslow

Because every figure is measured from the original rear wall, the first job is to establish what the original wall was. Where an earlier owner added a kitchen or a conservatory, the guide counts it against you.

We use the survey and the planning history to separate the original house from later additions, and we draw that line on the plans. Then the new depth is shown from it, so officers see the same measurement they would make themselves.

The overhang rule catches people out. Eaves and gutters count towards depth, so a design that fits on the wall can exceed the limit on the plan. We dimension to the outermost edge, and the drawing sets out the arithmetic.

The sheet we produce for this purpose is a simple annotated plan. It shows the original rear wall, the later additions in a different line style, the new wall and the dimension between them, and the garden area before and after. An officer can check the three numbers that matter without reading anything else.

Heritage, Green Belt and the route to permission

Hounslow has 33 conservation areas and Historic England lists 519 entries in the borough. The borough has 3 Article 4 directions, and around 22 per cent of its area is covered by Green Belt polygons.

For a house with full permitted rights, a modest single-storey extension may not need permission, and a longer one can use prior approval. That route has been hard going here: Hounslow granted 20 larger home extension prior approvals and refused 59 in the latest return.

That record is one reason we often advise householder planning permission with a design tuned to the SPD. The council fee is £548, paid to the council.

Heritage and constraint checks come before design, not after. We look at the address against conservation areas, Article 4 directions, listed buildings and the Green Belt, and tell you what applies before you spend money on a scheme that might not be allowed.

How Hounslow decides householder applications

Hounslow decided 689 householder applications in its latest published year and granted 78.5 per cent. Of those, 97.8 per cent were decided within the statutory period or an agreed extension.

Those figures cover all householder projects and cannot predict the result for a specific house, so we draw to the guidelines from the first sketch.

Timing is easy to plan around when the council works to its target dates. We usually run the building regulations drawings in parallel, so the builder can start soon after permission is granted.

What the drawings include and what they cost

A Hounslow set includes existing and proposed floor plans, elevations and sections, with a location plan and block plan. Our fee is £695 including VAT, fixed before you commit. Each sheet is checked by a second chartered technologist, and if the council asks for changes we redraw at no charge until approval.

The first step is a site visit, where we measure the house, the garden and the existing additions, and photograph the rear elevation. Drawings are normally ready about a week later, and you see them before anything is submitted, so the layout can still change.

If you would like the wider context first, start at architectural drawings in Hounslow or at the London guide to rear extension drawings.

Related extensions and nearby councils

If the design needs more room than the guide allows at the back, consider side return extension drawings in Hounslow or wraparound extension drawings in Hounslow. A larger first-floor plan is covered by double-storey extension drawings in Hounslow.

For comparison, look at Richmond upon Thames, Ealing and Hammersmith and Fulham.