Single-storey, double-storey, rear and side extension drawings for Selly Oak homes — measured to Birmingham City Council's design guidance, delivered in days and revised free until your decision, with a free approval-odds check before you commit.
Birmingham City Council granted 84% of the householder planning decisions it made in its latest published year — 3 points below the 87% England-wide householder average. The HMO concentration policy — refusing conversions where 10% or more of homes within 100m are already non-family — bites hardest in Bournbrook, which is where a policy-literate drawing pack earns its keep. Its dominant Victorian (1837–1901), Edwardian (1901–1910) and interwar (1918–1939) housing stock sets the design brief on most streets.
Before permission is required, Class B allows 40m³ of added loft volume on a terrace and 50m³ on a semi or detached house, and Class A allows a 3m single-storey rear extension on a terrace or 4m on a detached house. Selly Oak carries at least one Article 4 direction, and conservation areas including Selly Park and Selly Park Avenues remove those rights outright, so we confirm your exact address before a line is drawn. A validated householder application in Selly Oak is determined against an 8-week statutory target.
Bournbrook (dense Victorian terraces beside the university, largely student HMOs), Selly Park (a conservation area of spacious plots and architect-designed houses), Selly Park Avenues (a distinct conservation area of Edwardian avenue housing), Tiverton Road (terraced streets in the thick of the student lettings market), Weoley Castle edge (interwar council-built semis to the west) and Ten Acres (terraces and light-industrial frontages towards Stirchley) — these are the Selly Oak pockets our drawings cover most. Heritage designations here include Selly Park and Selly Park Avenues. Birmingham City Council weighs each proposal against Birmingham Development Plan (2017) and the Birmingham Design Guide / relevant SPDs, where the Selly Park conservation-area appraisal protects mature planting, front-boundary walls and generous plot spacing. Much of the Bournbrook terraced stock operates as HMOs and converted flats, none of which hold householder permitted-development rights.. On roofs the borough is gabled roofs on the terraced streets and hipped roofs on the Selly Park villas and interwar semis, over Victorian and Edwardian terraces across Bournbrook and the student core, larger architect-designed villas in Selly Park and interwar semi-detached houses on the outer estates.
Selly Oak 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 terraces across Bournbrook and the student core, larger architect-designed villas in Selly Park and interwar semi-detached houses on the outer estates, 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. Birmingham City Council judges every one of them against Birmingham Development Plan (2017) and the Birmingham Design Guide / relevant SPDs, 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. The HMO concentration policy — refusing conversions where 10% or more of homes within 100m are already non-family — bites hardest in Bournbrook, so we design around it from the first sketch rather than discover it at validation.
Selly Oak also protects whole streets — Selly Park and Selly Park Avenues among them. Selly Oak sits at the heart of Birmingham's student belt, where the city-wide Article 4 direction requires planning permission for any C3-to-C4 HMO conversion, while the Selly Park and Selly Park Avenues conservation areas protect the leafier residential streets to the east. 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 Selly Oak 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 Birmingham City Council if any of these apply:
We draw the footprint, the ridge and eaves heights and the neighbours' daylight on the page — the relationships Birmingham City 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 Birmingham City Council's real householder decision record, drawn from official planning statistics and refreshed as new data lands. Birmingham grants a high share of householder applications overall, but Selly Oak is defined by HMO-concentration control in the student core set against conservation protection in Selly Park. 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 Bournbrook, Selly Park and Selly Park Avenues, 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 terraces across bournbrook and the student core, a side-return infill frequently pairs with it to square off the plan; on wider interwar semi-detached houses on the outer estates, a two-storey side or rear extension can add a bedroom above without swallowing the garden.
The Selly Park conservation-area appraisal protects mature planting, front-boundary walls and generous plot spacing. 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 Birmingham City 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 Selly Oak projects come up most often:
Extension drawings for Bournbrook's dense Victorian terraces beside the university, largely student HMOs — footprint-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Birmingham City Council's guidance.
Extension drawings for Selly Park's a conservation area of spacious plots and architect-designed houses — footprint-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Birmingham City Council's guidance.
Extension drawings for Selly Park Avenues's a distinct conservation area of Edwardian avenue housing — footprint-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Birmingham City Council's guidance.
Extension drawings for Tiverton Road's terraced streets in the thick of the student lettings market — footprint-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Birmingham City Council's guidance.
Extension drawings for Weoley Castle edge's interwar council-built semis to the west — footprint-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Birmingham City Council's guidance.
Extension drawings for Ten Acres's terraces and light-industrial frontages towards Stirchley — footprint-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Birmingham City Council's guidance.
The right extension in Selly Oak 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 Birmingham City 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 Selly Park and Selly Park Avenues and Article 4 directions can remove permitted-development rights.
A fixed process built around how Birmingham City Council validates and decides householder extension applications — most drawings are submission-ready within seven days of survey.
Tell us your Selly Oak 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 Birmingham City 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 Birmingham City 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 Birmingham City 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 Selly Oak you will need to apply to Birmingham City 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 Selly Park and Selly Park Avenues.
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 Birmingham City Council and a neighbour-consultation period, and it does not apply on designated land such as Selly Oak'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 Birmingham City 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. This applies to your Selly Oak address specifically.
A householder planning application in Selly Oak 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. Birmingham City 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 Birmingham City Council's building control or an approved inspector can sign the work off. This applies to your Selly Oak address specifically.
Every house and brief is different, so we price each Selly Oak extension individually and send a fixed, no-obligation quote back within one working day. It covers the full drawing pack with free revisions until Birmingham City 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.