Extensions · Blackheath
Kitchen extensions in Blackheath
Design-led: we plan the room before we price the work, so the drawing and the build match.
Build-led: our own builders, plumbers and electricians on site, one team from strip-out to finish.
We design and build extensions, from a side return to a full-width rear addition, and fit the kitchen inside them.Good kitchen extensions in Blackheath start with the house, the address and the way you cook.
SE3 · SE9 · SE10 · SE12 · SE13 · Greenwich and Lewisham
Start with the kitchen
Kitchen extensions in Blackheath: where to start
Many Blackheath kitchens sit at the back of a period house, behind a dining room or in a narrow rear addition.
Before drawing an extension, decide what the new room is for: a kitchen that opens to the garden, a place to eat, or both.
On a Span house the starting point is different.
The original plan and glazing are protected, so the brief begins with what may change at all.
We draw the kitchen layout and the new structure together.The steel, drainage and glazing are placed for the room you will use.
Sometimes a refit or an internal opening does the job without extending at all, and we will say so.
Make it buildable
House extensions and side returns in Blackheath
A side return, a full-width rear extension and a wrap-around are three different planning questions.
Large parts of Blackheath are conservation areas.
There, an extension beyond the side wall of the house needs planning permission.
The heath splits the district between Greenwich and Lewisham.
The council comes from the address, not the area's name.
One team handles the structure, the services, the kitchen and the finish, so nothing is left between two contractors.
The local check
What changes from one property to another
Blackheath is split between Greenwich and Lewisham, with the heath itself as the boundary.
The bigger point is the post-war housing.
Several Span estates around Blackheath Park are listed or have their own conservation area.
What may change there is tightly defined, down to window frames and front-door colours.
Much of this area is a conservation area, which removes permitted development rights that apply elsewhere.
Windows, doors, roofs and front gardens come into the application.
Each conservation area has its own appraisal of the materials the council considers appropriate.
They differ, so the answer on one street is not the answer on the next.
We check the actual address and the proposed work before saying what consent is needed.
Check the rules for your address
These are the local authority and estate sources relevant to Blackheath.
The national rules
Permitted development, in plain terms
These apply across England.Conservation areas, Article 4 directions and estate covenants can tighten them, which is why the address comes first.
- A house, not a flat or maisonette, can usually add a single-storey rear extension without a planning application.The limit is 3m deep, or 4m if detached.
- The larger home extension route allows up to 6m, or 8m if detached, once the council has consulted the neighbours.It is not available in a conservation area.
- In a conservation area, an extension beyond the side wall of the house needs planning permission.That usually includes a side return.
- Every extension needs Building Regulations approval, whatever the planning route.
- Building on the boundary, working on a shared wall or digging near a neighbour's house needs notice.That is under the Party Wall etc. Act 1996.
From our work
A closer look at our work
Finished kitchens from our work across South East London.Ask us which details could work in your own home.
Talk it through
Start with a call, then a site visit if it helps.
Tell us the postcode, the house as it is and what the room needs to do.The calculator gives a free provisional bracket; anything firmer comes from a call and a site visit.
Keep exploring
Related work nearby
Further reading
The regulations: the official guidance
- Planning Portal: Extensions
When a rear or side extension can go ahead under permitted development, and when it needs permission.
- GOV.UK: Permitted development rights for householders: technical guidance
The government's detailed guide to what you can build without a planning application.
- GOV.UK: The Party Wall etc Act 1996: explanatory booklet
Notices to neighbours for work on a shared wall, at the boundary, or excavating near their foundations.
- Historic England: Practical advice for home improvements in older houses
What to check before altering a period house, including listed status and conservation areas.