Single-storey, double-storey, rear and side extension drawings for Havering homes — measured to Havering Council's design guidance, delivered in days and revised free until your decision, with a free approval-odds check before you commit.
Havering Council granted 85% of the householder planning decisions it made in its latest published year — 2 points below the 87% England-wide householder average. Green Belt coverage across the east restricts the scale of extensions and any new outbuildings on affected plots, which is where a policy-literate drawing pack earns its keep. Its dominant 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. Havering carries at least one Article 4 direction, and conservation areas including Langtons (Hornchurch), Upminster (Tithe Barn) and Rainham Village remove those rights outright, so we confirm your exact address before a line is drawn. A validated householder application in Havering is determined against an 8-week statutory target.
Romford (denser interwar and postwar housing around the town centre and Marshalls Park), Hornchurch (interwar semis and the Langtons conservation area), Upminster (larger suburban homes near the Tithe Barn conservation area), Emerson Park (low-density detached houses on generous plots under Article 4), Rainham (historic village core alongside newer housing near the Thames marshes) and Elm Park (planned interwar semi-detached suburb) — these are the Havering pockets our drawings cover most. Heritage designations here include Langtons (Hornchurch), Upminster (Tithe Barn), Rainham Village, Emerson Park and Corbets Tey. Havering Council weighs each proposal against Havering Local Plan 2016–2031 and the borough's residential extensions and alterations guidance, where generous plot sizes make front-of-house impact and the gaps between detached homes a key design test. On roofs the borough is hipped roofs on the suburban semis and gabled roofs on the detached and older stock, over interwar and postwar semi-detached houses, detached houses on larger plots and village-core cottages and period frontages.
Havering homes come in a handful of recurring shapes, and each one points to a different extension. The borough is built largely from interwar and postwar semi-detached houses, detached houses on larger plots and village-core cottages and period frontages, 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. Havering Council judges every one of them against Havering Local Plan 2016–2031 and the borough's residential extensions and alterations guidance, 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. Green Belt coverage across the east restricts the scale of extensions and any new outbuildings on affected plots, so we design around it from the first sketch rather than discover it at validation.
Havering also protects whole streets — Langtons (Hornchurch), Upminster (Tithe Barn), Rainham Village, Emerson Park and Corbets Tey among them. Prized low-density enclaves such as Emerson Park sit under Article 4 controls, and with much of eastern Havering falling inside Metropolitan Green Belt, extension potential is tightly held on the borough's fringes. 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 Havering 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 Havering Council if any of these apply:
We draw the footprint, the ridge and eaves heights and the neighbours' daylight on the page — the relationships Havering 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 Havering Council's real householder decision record, drawn from official planning statistics and refreshed as new data lands. Havering grants a fair majority of householder applications, with extensive Green Belt on its eastern side the main brake on what larger schemes can achieve. 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, rolling year). 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 Romford, Hornchurch and Upminster, 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 interwar and postwar semi-detached houses, a side-return infill frequently pairs with it to square off the plan; on wider village-core cottages and period frontages, a two-storey side or rear extension can add a bedroom above without swallowing the garden.
Generous plot sizes make front-of-house impact and the gaps between detached homes a key design test. 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 Havering 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 Havering projects come up most often:
Extension drawings for Romford's denser interwar and postwar housing around the town centre and Marshalls Park — footprint-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Havering Council's guidance.
Extension drawings for Hornchurch's interwar semis and the Langtons conservation area — footprint-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Havering Council's guidance.
Extension drawings for Upminster's larger suburban homes near the Tithe Barn conservation area — footprint-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Havering Council's guidance.
Extension drawings for Emerson Park's low-density detached houses on generous plots under Article 4 — footprint-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Havering Council's guidance.
Extension drawings for Rainham's historic village core alongside newer housing near the Thames marshes — footprint-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Havering Council's guidance.
Extension drawings for Elm Park's planned interwar semi-detached suburb — footprint-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Havering Council's guidance.
The right extension in Havering 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 Havering 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 Langtons (Hornchurch) and Upminster (Tithe Barn) and Article 4 directions can remove permitted-development rights.
A fixed process built around how Havering Council validates and decides householder extension applications — most drawings are submission-ready within seven days of survey.
Tell us your Havering 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 Havering 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 Havering 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 Havering 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 Havering you will need to apply to Havering 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 Langtons (Hornchurch) and Upminster (Tithe Barn).
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 Havering Council and a neighbour-consultation period, and it does not apply on designated land such as Havering'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 Havering 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 Havering 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. Havering 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 Havering Council's building control or an approved inspector can sign the work off.
Every house and brief is different, so we price each Havering extension individually and send a fixed, no-obligation quote back within one working day. It covers the full drawing pack with free revisions until Havering Council approves, and we tell you upfront whether your extension qualifies as permitted development. Call 020 7864 7245 to get started.
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Same fixed quotes, same fast drawings — wherever your project is.