Side return extension drawings in Camden

Conservation areas and Article 4 directions around Camden homes

The council lists 40 conservation areas and has issued 21 Article 4 directions. In a conservation area the permitted development route for a side extension is closed, and an Article 4 direction can take away rights that other houses keep.

The national rule explains the starting point: Side extension: single storey, max 4 m high, max half the width of the original house. A Camden side return usually fails one of those limits or sits on land where the right does not apply, so most of our Camden drawings are prepared as a full householder application rather than a certificate. We check the address before we quote the route.

Camden also has 1,971 list entries. If your house or its neighbour is listed, the extension needs a listed building consent as well, and the drawings are heavier on junction details. Our planning drawings in Camden page sets out what that package contains.

How Camden decides householder applications

In its latest published year Camden decided 394 householder applications and granted 89.1 per cent of them. Only 77.7 per cent were decided within the statutory period, so a proposal that needs a second round of questions can run past the date you planned for.

Appeals tell a different story. The Planning Inspectorate decided 76 Camden householder appeals and allowed 35.5 per cent. Roughly one appeal in three went the applicant's way, which in our reading means the council's reasons for refusal are usually specific, and a scheme that answers them on the drawings in advance has less to argue about later.

None of these figures predicts your own decision. We use them for planning the programme and for deciding how much explanation the drawings should carry.

Flats, houses and the value of the strip beside the kitchen

Only 13.3 per cent of Camden households live in a house, and an average terraced house sells for £1,554,868. With that much value in a small number of houses, owners tend to want the extension drawn properly the first time, with every dimension the builder needs.

If you own a ground-floor or maisonette flat, check your lease before spending anything. The garden or side passage may belong to the freeholder, and the right to build may need their consent. Our location and block plans service marks the red line so that the ownership question is settled on paper.

Party walls, glazing and the structure

A side return in a Camden terrace almost always meets the neighbour's flank wall, so a party wall notice is usually part of the programme. Our party wall notice service prepares the notices from the same drawings, which keeps the two documents in agreement.

Taking out the old side wall of the back addition needs a steel beam, and the opening sizes on our elevations come from the engineer's calculation. Where the design leans on a large rooflight, we work the glazing area against the energy rules at the start, so it is not discovered at Building Regulations stage.

What you receive and what you pay

A Camden set contains existing and proposed floor plans, elevations, a long section through the new room and the boundary junction, a block plan and a location plan. Our price from £745 including VAT is fixed before you commit, and the council's own householder fee of £548 is paid separately to the council.

A second chartered architectural technologist checks every sheet. If Camden asks for amendments, we redraw them free until approval. Owners who want the rear extended too should read about wraparound extension drawings in Camden, and the borough overview is at architectural drawings in Camden.