Orangery and conservatory drawings for Patcham homes — checked against the Class A rear limits and the 30m² building-regulations exemption, drawn to Brighton & Hove City Council's guidance and revised free until your decision.
Brighton & Hove City Council granted 89% of the householder planning decisions it made in its latest published year — 2 points above the 87% England-wide householder average. The northern edges of Patcham and Withdean adjoin the South Downs National Park, where development on the open downland fringe is tightly restrained, which is where a policy-literate drawing pack earns its keep. Its dominant interwar (1918–1939) and postwar (1945–1970) 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. Patcham carries at least one Article 4 direction, and conservation areas including Patcham and Tongdean remove those rights outright, so we confirm your exact address before a line is drawn. A validated householder application in Patcham is determined against an 8-week statutory target.
Old Patcham (the flint village core around All Saints church and the Black Lion), Ladies Mile (sweeping interwar semi-detached avenues on the downland slope), Tongdean (large detached 20th-century houses in a wooded conservation setting), Withdean (1930s semis and detached villas around the stadium and woods), Patcham Place (housing set against the Grade II* manor and its park) and Carden fringe (postwar suburban estates on the northern edge) — these are the Patcham pockets our drawings cover most. Heritage designations here include Patcham and Tongdean. Brighton & Hove City Council weighs each proposal against Brighton & Hove City Plan (Parts One 2016 and Two 2022) and the relevant SPDs, where the flint village core of Old Patcham and the wooded Tongdean estate are protected against alterations that would erode their established character. Pockets of larger houses around Withdean and Patcham have been converted into flats, which sit outside householder permitted-development rights.. On roofs the borough is hipped roofs on the interwar semis and bungalows and pitched clay-tiled roofs on the village cottages and larger villas, over interwar semi-detached houses and bungalows, the historic flint core of Old Patcham, large 20th-century detached houses at Tongdean and mock-Tudor and 1930s suburban villas.
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 Brighton & Hove City Plan (Parts One 2016 and Two 2022) and the relevant SPDs. Patcham is largely interwar semi-detached houses and bungalows, the historic flint core of Old Patcham, large 20th-century detached houses at Tongdean and mock-Tudor and 1930s suburban villas, 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 Patcham and Tongdean, rear glazing is assessed on visibility from the street and on the effect on the rear elevation's character. Patcham is covered by the city-wide small-HMO Article 4 direction, while the Patcham conservation area — the historic downland village designated in 1970 — and the neighbouring Tongdean conservation area (designated 1989) protect their older cores from unrestricted alteration.
Many conservatories are permitted development. You will need an application to Brighton & Hove City 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 Brighton & Hove City Council's real householder decision record, drawn from official planning statistics and refreshed as new data lands. The council grants a high share of householder applications, and across Patcham and Withdean the main pressures are the South Downs National Park fringe to the north and keeping roof alterations in step with the interwar streets. Glazed rear additions are judged on depth, eaves height and how the glazing meets the existing elevation.
Source: MHCLG planning application statistics (householder decisions, England, 1 April 2025 - 31 March 2026). Compare every borough on our London approval-rate league table.
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Across Old Patcham, Ladies Mile and Tongdean, 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 interwar semi-detached houses and bungalows, 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 northern edges of Patcham and Withdean adjoin the South Downs National Park, where development on the open downland fringe is tightly restrained. 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 Patcham. A few of the areas where they come up most often:
Orangery and conservatory drawings for Old Patcham — the flint village core around All Saints church and the Black Lion — checked against the Class A limits and drawn to Brighton & Hove City Council's guidance.
Orangery and conservatory drawings for Ladies Mile — sweeping interwar semi-detached avenues on the downland slope — checked against the Class A limits and drawn to Brighton & Hove City Council's guidance.
Orangery and conservatory drawings for Tongdean — large detached 20th-century houses in a wooded conservation setting — checked against the Class A limits and drawn to Brighton & Hove City Council's guidance.
Orangery and conservatory drawings for Withdean — 1930s semis and detached villas around the stadium and woods — checked against the Class A limits and drawn to Brighton & Hove City Council's guidance.
Orangery and conservatory drawings for Patcham Place — housing set against the Grade II* manor and its park — checked against the Class A limits and drawn to Brighton & Hove City Council's guidance.
Orangery and conservatory drawings for Carden fringe — postwar suburban estates on the northern edge — checked against the Class A limits and drawn to Brighton & Hove City 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 Patcham postcode and house type. We confirm the Class A limits that apply, check designation status, and score your odds against live Brighton & Hove City 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 Brighton & Hove City 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 Patcham you will need an application to Brighton & Hove City Council beyond those limits, and on designated land such as Patcham and Tongdean.
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 Patcham address specifically. Brighton & Hove City Council is the decision-maker.
For planning, none — both are rear extensions assessed against the same Class A limits by Brighton & Hove City 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 Patcham 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 Patcham address specifically. Brighton & Hove City 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 Patcham address specifically. Brighton & Hove City 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 Brighton & Hove City 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 Patcham address specifically.
We quote each Patcham 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 Brighton & Hove City Council approves. Call 020 7864 7245 to start.
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