Orangery and conservatory drawings for Hammersmith and Fulham homes — checked against the Class A rear limits and the 30m² building-regulations exemption, drawn to Hammersmith & Fulham Council's guidance and revised free until your decision.
Hammersmith & Fulham Council granted 87% of the householder planning decisions it made in its latest published year — level with the 87% England-wide householder average. Basement schemes require a detailed basement impact assessment covering ground stability, flooding and construction management, which is where a policy-literate drawing pack earns its keep. Its dominant Victorian (1837–1901) and Edwardian (1901–1910) housing stock sets the design brief on most streets.
The permitted-development ceilings are fixed: 40m³ of new roof volume for a terraced loft and 50m³ for a semi or detached house under Class B, plus a 3m single-storey rear extension on a terrace or 4m on a detached house under Class A. Hammersmith and Fulham carries at least one Article 4 direction, and conservation areas including Brackenbury, Bradmore and Peterborough Estate remove those rights outright, so we confirm your exact address before a line is drawn. A validated householder application in Hammersmith and Fulham is determined against an 8-week statutory target.
Hammersmith (Victorian terraces around the Brackenbury village grid), Fulham (the Peterborough Estate 'Lion' houses and Hurlingham mansion flats), Shepherd's Bush (dense Victorian terraces, much of it split into flats), Brook Green (Edwardian terraces interspersed with mansion blocks), Parsons Green (Victorian terraces gathered around the green) and Sands End (former industrial land now mixing terraces with new housing) — these are the Hammersmith and Fulham pockets our drawings cover most. Heritage designations here include Brackenbury, Bradmore, Peterborough Estate, Ravenscourt and Wendell Park. Hammersmith & Fulham Council weighs each proposal against Hammersmith and Fulham Local Plan and the Planning Guidance SPD, where with terraces packed tightly, mansard and side-return proposals turn on protecting a consistent roofline and rear amenity. Converted flats dominate large parts of Shepherd's Bush and Fulham, and none carry householder permitted-development rights.. On roofs the borough is London butterfly roofs concealed behind the terrace parapets and back-addition closet-wing roofs that shape side-return schemes, over Victorian and Edwardian terraces, purpose-built mansion flats and converted period flats.
The difference is not marketing. A conservatory is predominantly glazed — at least three quarters of the roof and half of the walls — which is what earns it the building-regulations exemption. An orangery has a solid masonry perimeter with a glazed lantern set into a flat roof, so it usually reads as a conventional extension for building control and has to meet Part L thermal standards, Part A structure and Part B fire like any other room.
Both are judged the same way for planning: as rear extensions, against the Class A depth, height and eaves limits, and against Hammersmith and Fulham Local Plan and the Planning Guidance SPD. Hammersmith and Fulham is largely Victorian and Edwardian terraces, purpose-built mansion flats and converted period flats, and the design question is usually whether the glazing reads as a lightweight addition to that stock or as a bolted-on conservatory kit. On period houses, an orangery with a properly proportioned lantern almost always sits better than a full-height glazed box.
In conservation areas such as Brackenbury and Bradmore, rear glazing is assessed on visibility from the street and on the effect on the rear elevation's character. Conservation areas blanket much of the borough — Brackenbury, Bradmore and the Fulham Peterborough Estate among them — and Article 4 directions there remove permitted-development rights on frontages and roofs.
Many conservatories are permitted development. You will need an application to Hammersmith & Fulham Council where any of these apply:
We check the scheme against the Class A planning limits and against the building-regulations exemption at the same time, so you know before committing whether you are building an exempt conservatory or a fully regulated room.
Below is Hammersmith & Fulham Council's real householder decision record, drawn from official planning statistics and refreshed as new data lands. Hammersmith and Fulham grants a high share of householder applications, though tight terrace density and basement engineering are the constraints that shape most designs. Glazed rear additions are judged on depth, eaves height and how the glazing meets the existing elevation.
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 Hammersmith, Fulham and Shepherd's Bush, the schemes that succeed keep the eaves below the neighbour's ground-floor cill line, set the glazing back from the boundary, and use a solid parapet or brick perimeter to tie the addition into the house. On victorian and edwardian terraces, a lantern set in a flat roof usually reads better than a pitched glazed roof, and it avoids the summer overheating that makes full conservatories unusable for months a year.
Basement schemes require a detailed basement impact assessment covering ground stability, flooding and construction management. The decision worth making early is whether to keep the separating doors. Keeping them preserves the building-regulations exemption but leaves you with a room that is not part of the house; removing them creates one continuous space but brings the whole addition inside Part L, which changes the glazing specification and usually the heating design too. We set out both versions before you commit.
We draw glazed rear additions across Hammersmith and Fulham. A few of the areas where they come up most often:
Orangery and conservatory drawings for Hammersmith — Victorian terraces around the Brackenbury village grid — checked against the Class A limits and drawn to Hammersmith & Fulham Council's guidance.
Orangery and conservatory drawings for Fulham — the Peterborough Estate 'Lion' houses and Hurlingham mansion flats — checked against the Class A limits and drawn to Hammersmith & Fulham Council's guidance.
Orangery and conservatory drawings for Shepherd's Bush — dense Victorian terraces, much of it split into flats — checked against the Class A limits and drawn to Hammersmith & Fulham Council's guidance.
Orangery and conservatory drawings for Brook Green — Edwardian terraces interspersed with mansion blocks — checked against the Class A limits and drawn to Hammersmith & Fulham Council's guidance.
Orangery and conservatory drawings for Parsons Green — Victorian terraces gathered around the green — checked against the Class A limits and drawn to Hammersmith & Fulham Council's guidance.
Orangery and conservatory drawings for Sands End — former industrial land now mixing terraces with new housing — checked against the Class A limits and drawn to Hammersmith & Fulham Council's guidance.
The planning test is the same for both. The building-regulations test is not.
| Structure | Planning route | Building regulations | Practical effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conservatory under 30m², doors retained | Class A rear extension limits | Largely exempt | Cheaper build, unheated in winter |
| Conservatory, doors removed | Class A rear extension limits | Part L applies in full | Continuous space, higher spec glazing |
| Orangery with solid perimeter and lantern | Class A rear extension limits | Fully regulated | Usable year round, better on period houses |
| Any of the above beyond the depth limits | Full householder application | As above | 8-week determination |
| Any of the above on designated land | Full householder application | As above | Design and visibility assessed |
Planning limits from the GPDO 2015, Schedule 2, Part 1, Class A; exemption criteria from the Building Regulations 2010, Schedule 2, Class 7.
A fixed process covering both consents, because they pull in different directions.
Send us your Hammersmith and Fulham postcode and house type. We confirm the Class A limits that apply, check designation status, and score your odds against live Hammersmith & Fulham Council decisions.
We measure the rear elevation, eaves and ground levels, and the neighbouring boundary — the numbers that decide both the projection limit and the 2-metre eaves rule.
Chartered designers develop the orangery or conservatory to your brief, and we set out clearly whether it stays inside the building-regulations exemption or becomes a fully regulated room.
We submit the certificate or application, manage validation and officer queries, and revise free until Hammersmith & Fulham Council decides.
Often not. A conservatory is treated as a rear extension, so it can be permitted development within the Class A limits — 3 metres of projection on a terrace or semi, 4 metres on a detached house, with eaves under 3 metres where it sits within 2 metres of a boundary. In Hammersmith and Fulham you will need an application to Hammersmith & Fulham Council beyond those limits, and on designated land such as Brackenbury and Bradmore.
A conservatory is largely exempt if it is under 30 square metres, at ground level, separated from the house by external-quality doors, and has at least 75% of its roof and 50% of its walls glazed. Glazing, electrics and any drainage work still have to comply. Remove the separating doors and the exemption falls away — the space becomes part of the house and Part L thermal standards apply. This applies to your Hammersmith and Fulham address specifically. Hammersmith & Fulham Council is the decision-maker.
For planning, none — both are rear extensions assessed against the same Class A limits by Hammersmith & Fulham Council. The difference is in building control: an orangery's solid perimeter and flat roof with a lantern usually means it fails the glazing test for exemption, so it is fully regulated. That is why an orangery costs more to build but is comfortable in January. This applies to your Hammersmith and Fulham address specifically.
Usually yes at the rear, though permitted-development rights are narrower on designated land and an Article 4 direction can remove them entirely. The assessment turns on whether the addition is visible from the street and how it meets the original rear elevation. A restrained orangery in matching brick with a lantern is consistently easier to get through than a proprietary glazed conservatory. This applies to your Hammersmith and Fulham address specifically. Hammersmith & Fulham Council is the decision-maker.
A fully glazed roof will, unless it is specified for it. That is the practical reason most of our clients end up building an orangery instead: a solid insulated roof perimeter with a lantern gives daylight without the greenhouse effect, and keeps the space usable across the year. We raise it at design stage because it is much cheaper to solve on paper than after the build. This applies to your Hammersmith and Fulham address specifically. Hammersmith & Fulham Council is the decision-maker.
If you excavate foundations within 3 metres of a neighbouring structure and deeper than its foundations, or build on the boundary itself, the Party Wall etc. Act 1996 applies and notice must be served. That is separate from Hammersmith & Fulham Council's planning decision. We flag it at design stage so the notice period does not delay the start on site. This applies to your Hammersmith and Fulham address specifically.
We quote each Hammersmith and Fulham orangery or conservatory individually, because the structure and the roof form change the work considerably, and send a fixed, no-obligation quote within one working day. It covers the full drawing pack with free revisions until Hammersmith & Fulham Council approves. Call 020 7864 7245 to start.
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