Chartered side extension drawings that turn the dead alley beside your terrace into a wide, light-filled kitchen — designed around the boundary, daylight and amenity rules that make side returns tricky, and revised free until your council approves.
Most side return extensions in London do need planning permission, because permitted development caps a side extension at half the width of the original house and excludes conservation areas — limits many Victorian side returns breach. You will need a full planning application for your side return if any of the following apply:
The side return — that narrow strip of wasted garden beside the back projection of a Victorian or Edwardian terrace — is where London kitchens grow. But it is also where planning applications most often stumble. Building hard against the boundary triggers the 45-degree daylight tests most boroughs apply, raises party wall questions, and puts your neighbour's kitchen window at the centre of the case officer's assessment. Generic extension drawings ignore all of that; ours are built around it.
We design side return extension plans to the exact wording of your borough's residential design guidance: roof forms that step down at the boundary, rooflights positioned to keep the neighbouring habitable rooms lit, and eaves heights that pass the daylight tests before the council ever runs them. Your pack includes existing and proposed floor plans, elevations, sections through the boundary condition and a site plan — everything your local planning authority requires from a householder application.
Every set of side extension drawings is prepared by chartered professionals, delivered within seven days of survey, and revised free of charge until your council issues a decision. And before you spend anything, our free approval-odds score — built from live decision data for your borough — tells you how your street's planners have treated side returns like yours.
The same fixed process behind thousands of approved London extension packs — most side return drawings are submission-ready within seven days.
Enter your postcode and project details. We score your approval odds against live council decision data and flag any conservation-area or Article 4 constraints on your street.
We measure your home and the boundary condition precisely — the side return lives or dies on accurate dimensions — and draw your existing plans and elevations.
Chartered designers develop your side return to your brief and your borough's daylight and amenity guidance, with roof and glazing options planners accept.
We submit the application, respond to your case officer, and amend the drawings free until you have a decision in hand.
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.
From Victorian terraces in Islington to Edwardian semis in Wandsworth, we know how each borough tests a side return — and we draw yours to pass first time.
One chartered team takes your side extension from first sketch to a pack your builder can price and build from.
Existing and proposed floor plans, elevations and sections drawn to your council's validation checklist — the core of every side return application.
Roof profiles and eaves heights composed to pass the 45-degree tests, so the neighbouring windows that sink most side return applications are answered on the drawings.
Frameless glass, raised parapets or pitched rooflights — we draw the option that suits your budget and your conservation officer, if you have one.
Forms, fees, Planning Portal upload and case-officer correspondence handled end to end, so you never deal with the council directly.
Side returns almost always engage the Party Wall Act. We flag what notices you will need and prepare drawings your surveyor can work from.
After approval, we produce the building regulation drawings and coordinate structural calculations for the steel work a side return typically needs.
Each terrace and borough is different, so we price every project individually and guarantee a fixed, no-obligation quote within one working day. Your quote covers the complete drawing pack with free revisions until your council approves, and we will tell you honestly if a simpler consent route is available.
Most side return extension plans are delivered within 7 days of the measured survey. The council then has a statutory 8 weeks to determine a householder application. We prepare, submit and chase everything, so the process moves as fast as your borough allows.
Sometimes. A side extension can be permitted development if it is single storey, no wider than half the original house, no taller than 4m and outside a conservation area. Many London side returns fail one of those tests, so we check your property first and recommend the strongest consent route.
Neighbours can object, but objections only carry weight on material planning grounds such as daylight, outlook and overbearing impact. Our side return drawings are composed to answer those tests before they are raised — stepped roofs, controlled eaves heights and carefully placed glazing — which is why 96% of our applications are approved.
A side return extension fills only the alley beside the rear projection of the house, while a wraparound combines the side return with a rear extension in one L-shaped addition. Wraparounds add more space but almost always need full planning permission; we draw both and will advise which suits your home.
Almost certainly. Building on or near the boundary and cutting into the shared wall engage the Party Wall etc. Act 1996, which is separate from planning permission. You serve notice on the adjoining owner before work starts; our drawings give your party wall surveyor exactly what they need.
All 33 London boroughs and the surrounding Home Counties, including Surrey, Kent, Essex and Hertfordshire. We track live approval data for every local planning authority we work in, so your side extension drawings reflect how your council actually decides. Call 020 7864 7245 to talk it through.
Local drawings tuned to each council's design guidance, with live borough approval rates. Pick your area:
Side return extension plans in Ealing — infill the side alley of a period terrace, drawn to council rules and revised free until approval.
View Ealing →Side return extension plans in Wandsworth — infill the side alley of a period terrace, drawn to council rules and revised free until approval.
View Wandsworth →Side return extension plans in Bromley — infill the side alley of a period terrace, drawn to council rules and revised free until approval.
View Bromley →Side return extension plans in Barnet — infill the side alley of a period terrace, drawn to council rules and revised free until approval.
View Barnet →Side return extension plans in Harrow — infill the side alley of a period terrace, drawn to council rules and revised free until approval.
View Harrow →Side return extension plans in Sutton — infill the side alley of a period terrace, drawn to council rules and revised free until approval.
View Sutton →Side return extension plans in Richmond upon Thames — infill the side alley of a period terrace, drawn to council rules and revised free until approval.
View Richmond upon Thames →Side return extension plans in Kingston upon Thames — infill the side alley of a period terrace, drawn to council rules and revised free until approval.
View Kingston upon Thames →Side return extension plans in Camden — infill the side alley of a period terrace, drawn to council rules and revised free until approval.
View Camden →Side return extension plans in Islington — infill the side alley of a period terrace, drawn to council rules and revised free until approval.
View Islington →Side return extension plans in Haringey — infill the side alley of a period terrace, drawn to council rules and revised free until approval.
View Haringey →Side return extension plans in Enfield — infill the side alley of a period terrace, drawn to council rules and revised free until approval.
View Enfield →Side return extension plans in Waltham Forest — infill the side alley of a period terrace, drawn to council rules and revised free until approval.
View Waltham Forest →Side return extension plans in Hillingdon — infill the side alley of a period terrace, drawn to council rules and revised free until approval.
View Hillingdon →Side return extension plans in Hounslow — infill the side alley of a period terrace, drawn to council rules and revised free until approval.
View Hounslow →Side return extension plans in Hammersmith and Fulham — infill the side alley of a period terrace, drawn to council rules and revised free until approval.
View Hammersmith and Fulham →Side return extension plans in Kensington and Chelsea — infill the side alley of a period terrace, drawn to council rules and revised free until approval.
View Kensington and Chelsea →Side return extension plans in Westminster — infill the side alley of a period terrace, drawn to council rules and revised free until approval.
View Westminster →Side return extension plans in Merton — infill the side alley of a period terrace, drawn to council rules and revised free until approval.
View Merton →Side return extension plans in Lambeth — infill the side alley of a period terrace, drawn to council rules and revised free until approval.
View Lambeth →Side return extension plans in Croydon — infill the side alley of a period terrace, drawn to council rules and revised free until approval.
View Croydon →Side return extension plans in Hackney — infill the side alley of a period terrace, drawn to council rules and revised free until approval.
View Hackney →Side return extension plans in Newham — infill the side alley of a period terrace, drawn to council rules and revised free until approval.
View Newham →Side return extension plans in Redbridge — infill the side alley of a period terrace, drawn to council rules and revised free until approval.
View Redbridge →Side return extension plans in Barking and Dagenham — infill the side alley of a period terrace, drawn to council rules and revised free until approval.
View Barking and Dagenham →Side return extension plans in Havering — infill the side alley of a period terrace, drawn to council rules and revised free until approval.
View Havering →Side return extension plans in Greenwich — infill the side alley of a period terrace, drawn to council rules and revised free until approval.
View Greenwich →Side return extension plans in Lewisham — infill the side alley of a period terrace, drawn to council rules and revised free until approval.
View Lewisham →Side return extension plans in Bexley — infill the side alley of a period terrace, drawn to council rules and revised free until approval.
View Bexley →Side return extension plans in Southwark — infill the side alley of a period terrace, drawn to council rules and revised free until approval.
View Southwark →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.