Single-storey, double-storey, rear and side extension drawings for Brentwood homes — measured to Brentwood Borough Council's design guidance, delivered in days and revised free until your decision, with a free approval-odds check before you commit.
Brentwood Borough Council granted 84% of the householder planning decisions it made in its latest published year — 3 points below the 87% England-wide householder average. Roughly 89% of the borough is Metropolitan Green Belt, so most growth is steered to allocated sites and village and countryside proposals face strict very-special-circumstances tests, which is where a policy-literate drawing pack earns its keep. Its dominant Georgian (1714–1837), Victorian (1837–1901), Edwardian (1901–1910), interwar (1918–1939) and postwar (1945–1970) housing stock sets the design brief on most streets.
Under Class B, a rear dormer stays permitted development up to 40m³ of added roof volume on a terrace or 50m³ on a semi-detached or detached house, while Class A allows a single-storey rear extension of 3m beyond the original rear wall on a terrace and 4m on a detached house before a full application is needed. Brentwood carries at least one Article 4 direction, and conservation areas including Brentwood Town Centre, Hutton Village and Ingatestone Village Centre remove those rights outright, so we confirm your exact address before a line is drawn. A validated householder application in Brentwood is determined against an 8-week statutory target.
Brentwood (the town centre with Victorian and Edwardian terraces and a High Street conservation area), Shenfield (affluent interwar and postwar semis and detached houses at the Elizabeth line commuter hub), Hutton (interwar-to-modern suburban housing, with the prestige detached enclave of Hutton Mount), Ingatestone (a historic village with a Georgian and timber-framed core and a station-area conservation zone), Blackmore (a green-belt village of timber-framed and period cottages around the green) and Herongate (a small green-belt village of rural detached and period housing) — these are the Brentwood pockets our drawings cover most. Heritage designations here include Brentwood Town Centre, Hutton Village, Ingatestone Village Centre, Blackmore, South Weald and Herongate. Brentwood Borough Council weighs each proposal against the Brentwood Local Plan 2016–2033 (adopted March 2022), where woodland Article 4 directions remove permitted-development rights over designated woodlands to protect habitat. Converted flats appear around Brentwood town centre and Shenfield station, and none of them hold householder permitted-development rights.. On roofs the borough is hipped roofs on the interwar and postwar suburban semis and steep tiled and gabled roofs on the timber-framed village cottages, over Victorian and Edwardian and twentieth-century suburban housing around Brentwood and Shenfield, the interwar detached enclave of Hutton Mount, timber-framed and Georgian cores in the historic villages of Ingatestone and Blackmore and rural detached and period housing across the green-belt villages.
Brentwood homes come in a handful of recurring shapes, and each one points to a different extension. The borough is built largely from Victorian and Edwardian and twentieth-century suburban housing around Brentwood and Shenfield, the interwar detached enclave of Hutton Mount, timber-framed and Georgian cores in the historic villages of Ingatestone and Blackmore and rural detached and period housing across the green-belt villages, so a Victorian terrace usually wants a rear or side-return infill, while an interwar semi has room for a wider single-storey wrap or a two-storey side addition. Brentwood Borough Council judges every one of them against the Brentwood Local Plan 2016–2033 (adopted March 2022), weighing footprint, height and the impact on the house next door before it looks at the elevations.
That is why the drawings decide the outcome. We set the extension depth against the permitted-development limits precisely, keep the eaves and ridge within the allowances, and plot the 45-degree daylight lines to the neighbours' windows so the case officer can see the amenity test is passed. Roughly 89% of the borough is Metropolitan Green Belt, so most growth is steered to allocated sites and village and countryside proposals face strict very-special-circumstances tests, so we design around it from the first sketch rather than discover it at validation.
Brentwood also protects whole streets — Brentwood Town Centre, Hutton Village, Ingatestone Village Centre, Blackmore, South Weald and Herongate among them. Brentwood's Article 4 directions are used chiefly to withdraw permitted-development rights over designated woodlands so that works there require planning permission, and the borough's thirteen conservation areas such as Hutton Village and Ingatestone add further character controls. On designated land the larger-home extension route and most side extensions stop being permitted development, so we confirm your address against those layers before drawing a line.
Plenty of Brentwood extensions are permitted development and need no planning application — a single-storey rear extension within the depth and height limits is the common case. You will normally need to apply to Brentwood Borough Council if any of these apply:
We draw the footprint, the ridge and eaves heights and the neighbours' daylight on the page — the relationships Brentwood Borough Council's officers weigh first — and submit a validation-complete pack, whether that is a lawful development certificate, a prior-approval notification or a full householder application.
Below is Brentwood Borough Council's real householder decision record, drawn from official planning statistics and refreshed as new data lands. Brentwood grants a little below the national average of applications, with heavy Green Belt coverage and conservation-village character the pressures that shape most schemes. A complete, policy-literate extension pack anticipates those pressure points before submission, which is why professionally drawn applications are decided faster and refused less often than DIY ones.
Source: MHCLG planning application statistics (householder decisions, England, 1 April 2025 - 31 March 2026). Compare every borough on our London approval-rate league table.
Tell us about your project and get a fixed, no-obligation quote back within one working day. If you don't need planning permission at all, we'll tell you that too — for free.
Across Brentwood, Shenfield and Hutton, the extension that lands most often is the single-storey rear addition — a glazed kitchen-diner across the back of the house, kept within the permitted-development depth or taken to a full application where the ground floor wants more. On the borough's victorian and edwardian and twentieth-century suburban housing around brentwood and shenfield, a side-return infill frequently pairs with it to square off the plan; on wider rural detached and period housing across the green-belt villages, a two-storey side or rear extension can add a bedroom above without swallowing the garden.
Woodland Article 4 directions remove permitted-development rights over designated woodlands to protect habitat. We size the extension to the amenity and daylight tests, match the roof and materials to the host house, and keep enough garden to satisfy Brentwood Borough Council's space standards — so the scheme answers the borough's questions before an objection can raise them. Where permitted-development rights are used up or removed, we prepare the householder application to the council's extension design guidance instead.
We draw extensions on every street in the borough. A few of the neighbourhoods where Brentwood projects come up most often:
Extension drawings for Brentwood's the town centre with Victorian and Edwardian terraces and a High Street conservation area — footprint-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Brentwood Borough Council's guidance.
Extension drawings for Shenfield's affluent interwar and postwar semis and detached houses at the Elizabeth line commuter hub — footprint-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Brentwood Borough Council's guidance.
Extension drawings for Hutton's interwar-to-modern suburban housing, with the prestige detached enclave of Hutton Mount — footprint-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Brentwood Borough Council's guidance.
Extension drawings for Ingatestone's a historic village with a Georgian and timber-framed core and a station-area conservation zone — footprint-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Brentwood Borough Council's guidance.
Extension drawings for Blackmore's a green-belt village of timber-framed and period cottages around the green — footprint-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Brentwood Borough Council's guidance.
Extension drawings for Herongate's a small green-belt village of rural detached and period housing — footprint-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Brentwood Borough Council's guidance.
The right extension in Brentwood depends on your house type and how much garden you can give up. This is how the main options compare on planning route and what they add.
| Extension type | Permitted development? | What it adds | What Brentwood Borough Council checks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Single-storey rear | Often, within 3m/4m depth (6m/8m via prior approval) | Bigger kitchen-diner across the back | Depth, height, neighbour daylight (45°) |
| Side-return infill | Sometimes, if within width and height limits | Squares off an L-shaped ground floor | Width vs the original house, glazing to boundary |
| Two-storey rear/side | No — full application | Extra bedroom or bathroom above | Bulk, overlooking, 7m rear-boundary gap |
| Wraparound (rear + side) | No — full application | Whole-width open-plan ground floor | Combined footprint and garden retained |
Route depends on your street — conservation areas such as Brentwood Town Centre and Hutton Village and Article 4 directions can remove permitted-development rights.
A fixed process built around how Brentwood Borough Council validates and decides householder extension applications — most drawings are submission-ready within seven days of survey.
Tell us your Brentwood postcode and house type. We confirm your conservation and Article 4 status, how much permitted-development depth you have left, and score your odds against live Brentwood Borough Council decisions.
We measure the existing footprint, floor and eaves levels, boundary distances and the neighbours' window positions — the numbers the depth limits and daylight tests depend on.
Chartered designers develop the single-storey, two-storey or side extension to your brief, drawn inside the permitted-development limits or to Brentwood Borough Council's extension design guidance.
We submit the certificate, prior-approval notice or application, manage validation and case-officer queries, and revise the drawings free until Brentwood Borough Council issues its decision.
Not always. A single-storey rear extension up to 3 metres deep on a terrace or semi, or 4 metres on a detached house, and no higher than 4 metres, is usually permitted development. In Brentwood you will need to apply to Brentwood Borough Council for two-storey extensions, side extensions wider than half the house, anything forward of the front wall, deeper rear extensions under the larger-home prior-approval route, and any extension in a conservation area such as Brentwood Town Centre and Hutton Village.
Standard permitted development allows 3 metres on a terraced or semi-detached house and 4 metres on a detached one. The larger-home extension scheme can double that to 6 or 8 metres, but it needs a prior-approval notification to Brentwood Borough Council and a neighbour-consultation period, and it does not apply on designated land such as Brentwood's conservation areas. We confirm which route your property qualifies for before drawing.
Two-storey and double-storey extensions almost always need a full householder application to Brentwood Borough Council, because they fall outside permitted development on most homes. The council looks closely at bulk, overlooking of neighbours and the 7-metre gap a two-storey rear extension must keep from the rear boundary. We design to those tests and show the daylight and privacy angles on the drawings.
A householder planning application in Brentwood runs to a statutory eight-week target, a larger-home prior-approval notification to around six weeks including the neighbour-consultation period, and a lawful development certificate to eight weeks. Incomplete submissions stall at validation, so we submit a complete pack and manage officer queries to keep the decision on schedule. Brentwood Borough Council is the decision-maker.
Yes — planning permission and building regulations are separate consents, and almost every extension needs both. Planning governs whether you can build it; building control governs how it is built, covering structure, insulation, drainage and fire safety. We prepare the building-regulations drawings alongside the planning set so Brentwood Borough Council's building control or an approved inspector can sign the work off.
Every house and brief is different, so we price each Brentwood extension individually and send a fixed, no-obligation quote back within one working day. It covers the full drawing pack with free revisions until Brentwood Borough Council approves, and we tell you upfront whether your extension qualifies as permitted development. Call 020 7864 7245 to get started.
Answer five quick questions and get a free planning score for your exact address — instantly. Then, if you want the full picture, unlock the detailed analysis: your council's live approval rates, local precedents, constraints on your street and a step-by-step route to permission.
Same fixed quotes, same fast drawings — wherever your project is.