Single-storey, double-storey, rear and side extension drawings for Lewisham homes — measured to Lewisham Council's design guidance, delivered in days and revised free until your decision, with a free approval-odds check before you commit.
Lewisham Council granted 90% of the householder planning decisions it made in its latest published year — 3 points above the 87% England-wide householder average. Policies resist the loss of family-sized houses, so conversions to flats face an added hurdle, which is where a policy-literate drawing pack earns its keep. Its dominant Georgian (1714–1837), Victorian (1837–1901) and Edwardian (1901–1910) 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. Lewisham carries at least one Article 4 direction, and conservation areas including Blackheath, Telegraph Hill and Brockley remove those rights outright, so we confirm your exact address before a line is drawn. A validated householder application in Lewisham is determined against an 8-week statutory target.
Blackheath (grand villas and terraces on the Lewisham side of the heath), Brockley (long Victorian terraces within one of London's largest conservation areas), Telegraph Hill (hilly Victorian terraces framing the two parks), Deptford (Georgian survivals like Albury Street amid dense terraced streets), Forest Hill (Victorian villas and terraces stepping up the slopes) and Sydenham (Victorian terraces and semis toward the Crystal Palace ridge) — these are the Lewisham pockets our drawings cover most. Heritage designations here include Blackheath, Telegraph Hill, Brockley, Deptford High Street and Sydenham. Lewisham Council weighs each proposal against the Lewisham Local Plan and the borough's Alterations and Extensions SPD, where in the Brockley and Telegraph Hill conservation areas original slate roofs and front elevations are closely guarded. Brockley, Forest Hill and Deptford hold large numbers of houses long ago converted into flats and maisonettes, which carry no householder permitted-development rights.. On roofs the borough is London butterfly roofs on the Victorian terraces and gabled roofs on the villas, over Victorian terraces, Victorian and Edwardian villas and converted flats and maisonettes.
Lewisham homes come in a handful of recurring shapes, and each one points to a different extension. The borough is built largely from Victorian terraces, Victorian and Edwardian villas and converted flats and maisonettes, 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. Lewisham Council judges every one of them against the Lewisham Local Plan and the borough's Alterations and Extensions SPD, 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. Policies resist the loss of family-sized houses, so conversions to flats face an added hurdle, so we design around it from the first sketch rather than discover it at validation.
Lewisham also protects whole streets — Blackheath, Telegraph Hill, Brockley, Deptford High Street and Sydenham among them. Lewisham operates Article 4 directions in conservation areas such as Brockley alongside controls resisting the conversion of family houses into flats, so works that are permitted development elsewhere routinely need an application here. 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 Lewisham 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 Lewisham Council if any of these apply:
We draw the footprint, the ridge and eaves heights and the neighbours' daylight on the page — the relationships Lewisham 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 Lewisham Council's real householder decision record, drawn from official planning statistics and refreshed as new data lands. Lewisham grants the large majority of householder applications, though its policy shielding family houses from conversion and its Victorian conservation areas shape roof and rear works street by street. 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 Blackheath, Brockley and Telegraph Hill, 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 terraces, a side-return infill frequently pairs with it to square off the plan; on wider converted flats and maisonettes, a two-storey side or rear extension can add a bedroom above without swallowing the garden.
In the Brockley and Telegraph Hill conservation areas original slate roofs and front elevations are closely guarded. 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 Lewisham 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 Lewisham projects come up most often:
Extension drawings for Blackheath's grand villas and terraces on the Lewisham side of the heath — footprint-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Lewisham Council's guidance.
Extension drawings for Brockley's long Victorian terraces within one of London's largest conservation areas — footprint-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Lewisham Council's guidance.
Extension drawings for Telegraph Hill's hilly Victorian terraces framing the two parks — footprint-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Lewisham Council's guidance.
Extension drawings for Deptford's Georgian survivals like Albury Street amid dense terraced streets — footprint-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Lewisham Council's guidance.
Extension drawings for Forest Hill's Victorian villas and terraces stepping up the slopes — footprint-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Lewisham Council's guidance.
Extension drawings for Sydenham's Victorian terraces and semis toward the Crystal Palace ridge — footprint-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Lewisham Council's guidance.
The right extension in Lewisham 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 Lewisham 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 Blackheath and Telegraph Hill and Article 4 directions can remove permitted-development rights.
A fixed process built around how Lewisham Council validates and decides householder extension applications — most drawings are submission-ready within seven days of survey.
Tell us your Lewisham 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 Lewisham 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 Lewisham 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 Lewisham 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 Lewisham you will need to apply to Lewisham 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 Blackheath and Telegraph Hill.
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 Lewisham Council and a neighbour-consultation period, and it does not apply on designated land such as Lewisham'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 Lewisham 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 Lewisham 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. Lewisham 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 Lewisham Council's building control or an approved inspector can sign the work off.
Every house and brief is different, so we price each Lewisham extension individually and send a fixed, no-obligation quote back within one working day. It covers the full drawing pack with free revisions until Lewisham 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.