Extensions · Forest Hill
Kitchen extensions in Forest Hill
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 Forest Hill start with the house, the address and the way you cook.
SE6 · SE23 · SE26 · Lewisham
Start with the kitchen
Kitchen extensions in Forest Hill: where to start
On Forest Hill's slopes, the kitchen floor and the garden are often at different levels.
An extension has to decide where that step goes: inside the kitchen, at the doors, or out in the garden.
That choice shapes the glazing, the drainage and the build more than the cabinets do.
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 Forest Hill
A rear extension on a sloping plot can need retaining walls and deeper foundations.
Digging close to a neighbour's house brings in the Party Wall Act.
In a conservation area, an extension beyond the side wall needs planning permission.
The Article 4 direction in the Forest Hill conservation area covers changes seen from the street.
Access matters too: materials for a back garden on a hill often have to travel through the house.
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
Forest Hill sits in Lewisham, and several of its streets are conservation areas.
There, permitted development rights are cut back, and windows, doors and front boundaries come into the application.
The hills matter too, and not just for the view.
A level change across a rear garden can pull retaining work and a party wall agreement into a simple extension.
Lewisham has also made an Article 4 direction across most houses in the Forest Hill conservation area.
Changes to windows, doors, the roof and front boundaries seen from the street need planning permission there.
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 Forest Hill.
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.