Orangery and conservatory drawings for Kensington and Chelsea homes — checked against the Class A rear limits and the 30m² building-regulations exemption, drawn to the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea's guidance and revised free until your decision.
the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea granted 85% of the householder planning decisions it made in its latest published year — 2 points below the 87% England-wide householder average. The borough runs the strictest basement policy in London — broadly one storey deep, under no more than half the garden, with a construction traffic management plan, which is where a policy-literate drawing pack earns its keep. Its dominant Georgian (1714–1837) and Victorian (1837–1901) 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. Kensington and Chelsea carries at least one Article 4 direction, and conservation areas including Chelsea, Kensington and Holland Park remove those rights outright, so we confirm your exact address before a line is drawn. A validated householder application in Kensington and Chelsea is determined against an 8-week statutory target.
Chelsea (stucco terraces and mews streets off the King's Road), Kensington (grand stucco terraces and mansion blocks), Notting Hill (the Ladbroke Estate's stucco terraces around communal garden squares), Holland Park (large detached villas and substantial mansion flats), Knightsbridge (red-brick mansion blocks and stucco terraces) and Earls Court (tall Victorian terraces widely subdivided into flats) — these are the Kensington and Chelsea pockets our drawings cover most. Heritage designations here include Chelsea, Kensington, Holland Park, Ladbroke and Brompton. the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea weighs each proposal against the RBKC Consolidated Local Plan and the Basements SPD, where with the roofscape closely protected, mansard and roof additions are judged against the prevailing profile of each terrace group. Subdivided period houses are common around Earls Court and Notting Hill, and converted flats hold no householder permitted-development rights.. On roofs the borough is concealed butterfly roofs behind the terrace parapets and mansard roofs added to the stucco terraces, over stucco-fronted Georgian and Victorian terraces, purpose-built mansion blocks and mews houses behind the main streets.
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 the RBKC Consolidated Local Plan and the Basements SPD. Kensington and Chelsea is largely stucco-fronted Georgian and Victorian terraces, purpose-built mansion blocks and mews houses behind the main streets, 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 Chelsea and Kensington, rear glazing is assessed on visibility from the street and on the effect on the rear elevation's character. Almost the entire borough falls within a conservation area, and Article 4 directions strip out permitted-development rights so even minor external changes on the Ladbroke or Chelsea streets need consent.
Many conservatories are permitted development. You will need an application to the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea 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 the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea's real householder decision record, drawn from official planning statistics and refreshed as new data lands. The Royal Borough grants a fair share of householder applications but under exacting design control, with borough-wide conservation status and its restrictive basement policy the defining constraints. 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 Chelsea, Kensington and Notting Hill, 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 stucco-fronted georgian and victorian 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.
The borough runs the strictest basement policy in London — broadly one storey deep, under no more than half the garden, with a construction traffic management plan. 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 Kensington and Chelsea. A few of the areas where they come up most often:
Orangery and conservatory drawings for Chelsea — stucco terraces and mews streets off the King's Road — checked against the Class A limits and drawn to the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea's guidance.
Orangery and conservatory drawings for Kensington — grand stucco terraces and mansion blocks — checked against the Class A limits and drawn to the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea's guidance.
Orangery and conservatory drawings for Notting Hill — the Ladbroke Estate's stucco terraces around communal garden squares — checked against the Class A limits and drawn to the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea's guidance.
Orangery and conservatory drawings for Holland Park — large detached villas and substantial mansion flats — checked against the Class A limits and drawn to the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea's guidance.
Orangery and conservatory drawings for Knightsbridge — red-brick mansion blocks and stucco terraces — checked against the Class A limits and drawn to the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea's guidance.
Orangery and conservatory drawings for Earls Court — tall Victorian terraces widely subdivided into flats — checked against the Class A limits and drawn to the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea'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 Kensington and Chelsea postcode and house type. We confirm the Class A limits that apply, check designation status, and score your odds against live the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea 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 the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea 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 Kensington and Chelsea you will need an application to the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea beyond those limits, and on designated land such as Chelsea and Kensington.
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 Kensington and Chelsea address specifically. the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea is the decision-maker.
For planning, none — both are rear extensions assessed against the same Class A limits by the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. 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.
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 Kensington and Chelsea address specifically. the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea 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 Kensington and Chelsea address specifically. the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea 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 the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea's planning decision. We flag it at design stage so the notice period does not delay the start on site.
We quote each Kensington and Chelsea 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 the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea approves. Call 020 7864 7245 to start.
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