Orangery and conservatory drawings for Stonehouse homes — checked against the Class A rear limits and the 30m² building-regulations exemption, drawn to Plymouth City Council's guidance and revised free until your decision.
Plymouth City Council granted 93% of the householder planning decisions it made in its latest published year — 6 points above the 87% England-wide householder average. Stonehouse's naval and victualling heritage — Durnford Street, Emma Place and the Grade I Royal William Yard — puts fine-grain military architecture at the centre of most heritage assessments, which is where a policy-literate drawing pack earns its keep. Its dominant Georgian (1714–1837), Victorian (1837–1901) and postwar (1945–1970) 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. Stonehouse carries at least one Article 4 direction, and conservation areas including Stonehouse Peninsula, North Stonehouse and Millfields remove those rights outright, so we confirm your exact address before a line is drawn. A validated householder application in Stonehouse is determined against an 8-week statutory target.
Durnford Street (long Georgian naval terrace running down the peninsula to the Royal William Yard), Emma Place (Regency set-piece terrace merged into the Stonehouse Peninsula conservation area in 2006), Wyndham Square (the North Stonehouse conservation area's church-centred Georgian square), Millfields (the former Royal Naval Hospital grounds, now gated period housing), Adelaide Street (close-grained early-Victorian terraces off Union Street) and Royal William Yard (Sir John Rennie's listed Grade I Victualling Yard buildings, converted to flats) — these are the Stonehouse pockets our drawings cover most. Heritage designations here include Stonehouse Peninsula, North Stonehouse, Millfields, Adelaide Street & Clarence Place and Union Street. Plymouth City Council weighs each proposal against the Plymouth and South West Devon Joint Local Plan (2019), where much of the Georgian stock was war-damaged and patched with post-war infill, so officers weigh a scheme against whatever original terrace rhythm survives on the street. Large parts of Stonehouse are already converted flats, maisonettes and HMOs, which hold no householder permitted-development rights of their own.. On roofs the borough is parapet-hidden valley and butterfly roofs behind the Georgian terraces and pitched and hipped slate roofs on the Victorian streets, over Georgian and Regency terraces around Durnford Street and Emma Place, converted flats, maisonettes and HMOs and Victorian terraces and post-war infill on the wartime-cleared plots.
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 Plymouth and South West Devon Joint Local Plan (2019). Stonehouse is largely Georgian and Regency terraces around Durnford Street and Emma Place, converted flats, maisonettes and HMOs and Victorian terraces and post-war infill on the wartime-cleared plots, 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 Stonehouse Peninsula and North Stonehouse, rear glazing is assessed on visibility from the street and on the effect on the rear elevation's character. The northern edge of Stonehouse falls within Plymouth's city-wide HMO Article 4 direction, in force since 14 September 2012, which removed the permitted-development right to turn a family house into a small (C4) house in multiple occupation, so shared-house conversions here need a planning application.
Many conservatories are permitted development. You will need an application to Plymouth 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 Plymouth City Council's real householder decision record, drawn from official planning statistics and refreshed as new data lands. Plymouth grants the large majority of householder applications, but in Stonehouse the density of Georgian terraces, the Royal William Yard's Grade I listing and the HMO Article 4 controls make heritage and shared-housing policy the usual deciding issues. 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 Durnford Street, Emma Place and Wyndham Square, 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 georgian and regency terraces around durnford street and emma place, 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.
Stonehouse's naval and victualling heritage — Durnford Street, Emma Place and the Grade I Royal William Yard — puts fine-grain military architecture at the centre of most heritage assessments. 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 Stonehouse. A few of the areas where they come up most often:
Orangery and conservatory drawings for Durnford Street — long Georgian naval terrace running down the peninsula to the Royal William Yard — checked against the Class A limits and drawn to Plymouth City Council's guidance.
Orangery and conservatory drawings for Emma Place — Regency set-piece terrace merged into the Stonehouse Peninsula conservation area in 2006 — checked against the Class A limits and drawn to Plymouth City Council's guidance.
Orangery and conservatory drawings for Wyndham Square — the North Stonehouse conservation area's church-centred Georgian square — checked against the Class A limits and drawn to Plymouth City Council's guidance.
Orangery and conservatory drawings for Millfields — the former Royal Naval Hospital grounds, now gated period housing — checked against the Class A limits and drawn to Plymouth City Council's guidance.
Orangery and conservatory drawings for Adelaide Street — close-grained early-Victorian terraces off Union Street — checked against the Class A limits and drawn to Plymouth City Council's guidance.
Orangery and conservatory drawings for Royal William Yard — Sir John Rennie's listed Grade I Victualling Yard buildings, converted to flats — checked against the Class A limits and drawn to Plymouth 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 Stonehouse postcode and house type. We confirm the Class A limits that apply, check designation status, and score your odds against live Plymouth 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 Plymouth 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 Stonehouse you will need an application to Plymouth City Council beyond those limits, and on designated land such as Stonehouse Peninsula and North Stonehouse.
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 Stonehouse address specifically. Plymouth City Council is the decision-maker.
For planning, none — both are rear extensions assessed against the same Class A limits by Plymouth 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 Stonehouse 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 Stonehouse address specifically. Plymouth 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 Stonehouse address specifically. Plymouth 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 Plymouth 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 Stonehouse address specifically.
We quote each Stonehouse 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 Plymouth City Council approves. Call 020 7864 7245 to start.
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