Back-of-house extension drawings for Camden homes — the glazed kitchen-diner across the rear, drawn to Camden Council's depth and daylight limits, delivered in days and revised free until your decision, with a free approval-odds check first.
Camden Council granted 88% of the householder planning decisions it made in its latest published year — 1 point above the 87% England-wide householder average. The council runs one of London's strictest basement regimes, capping depth and demanding a Basement Impact Assessment, 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.
Class A and Class B set the thresholds — a rear dormer to 40m³ on a terrace or 50m³ on a semi or detached, and a single-storey rear extension to 3m on a terrace or 4m on a detached house — beyond which Camden Council needs a full application. Camden carries at least one Article 4 direction, and conservation areas including Hampstead, Fitzroy Square and Bloomsbury remove those rights outright, so we confirm your exact address before a line is drawn. A validated householder application in Camden is determined against an 8-week statutory target.
Hampstead (Georgian and Victorian houses inside a tightly protected conservation area), Belsize Park (grand Victorian villas and red-brick mansion blocks), Camden Town (dense Victorian terraces around the market), Primrose Hill (pastel-painted Victorian terraces beside Regent's Park), Kentish Town (Victorian terraces and converted flats) and Bloomsbury (Georgian squares and formal terraces) — these are the Camden pockets our drawings cover most. Heritage designations here include Hampstead, Fitzroy Square, Bloomsbury, Camden Town and Primrose Hill. Camden Council weighs each proposal against Camden Local Plan and the Camden Planning Guidance (CPG) on home improvements, where mansard and roof additions in conservation areas are measured against the terrace's original roofline and rhythm. Purpose-built mansion flats and converted terraces are widespread, and flats and maisonettes carry no householder permitted-development rights.. On roofs the borough is London butterfly / valley roofs behind parapets and mansard roofs on the taller terraces, over Georgian and Victorian terraces, purpose-built mansion flats and converted period flats.
The rear extension is the workhorse of Camden home improvement — it is how a dark back kitchen becomes an open family room facing the garden. Because the borough is built largely from Georgian and Victorian terraces, purpose-built mansion flats and converted period flats, most back walls sit close to a neighbour on at least one side, and that proximity, not the design, is what Camden Council scrutinises. The council reads the proposal against Camden Local Plan and the Camden Planning Guidance (CPG) on home improvements, and the first line an officer draws is the 45-degree splay from the neighbour's nearest window.
So the drawings live or die on geometry. We set the depth against the exact permitted-development figure, hold the eaves and the flat-roof or lantern build-up under the 4-metre height ceiling, and show the projection tested against both the 45-degree plan angle and the 25-degree section angle to the neighbouring windows. The council runs one of London's strictest basement regimes, capping depth and demanding a Basement Impact Assessment, so the rear elevation is composed around it rather than corrected after an objection.
Where the property sits in a conservation area — Hampstead, Fitzroy Square, Bloomsbury, Camden Town and Primrose Hill among Camden's — the larger-home extension route is switched off and even a modest rear addition needs consent. Much of Camden — the Hampstead and Fitzroy Square conservation areas among them — sits under Article 4 directions that strip out permitted-development rights, and the borough's basement rules pile on a further layer of control. We confirm the designation before the survey.
Many single-storey rear extensions in Camden are permitted development and need no application. You will normally need to apply to Camden Council, or use the larger-home prior-approval route, if any of these apply:
We draw the depth, the roof build-up and the daylight splays to each neighbour on the page — the tests Camden Council's officers apply first — and submit a validation-complete pack, whether that is a lawful development certificate, a larger-home prior-approval notice or a full householder application.
Below is Camden Council's real householder decision record, taken from official planning statistics and refreshed as new data lands. Camden approves the large majority of householder applications, though its basement policy and dense conservation coverage are the decisive constraints on many schemes. Rear extensions turn most often on neighbour daylight and depth, so a drawing pack that proves those tests upfront is decided faster and refused less often than a DIY submission.
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 Hampstead, Belsize Park and Camden Town, the approved rear extension is typically a single-storey glazed box within the depth limit, roofed either flat with a lantern or in a shallow mono-pitch, and finished in brick or render to match the host wall. On the borough's georgian and victorian terraces, keeping the projection to the permitted-development figure often avoids an application entirely; where owners want the full 6 metres, the larger-home route succeeds when the neighbour-consultation period passes without a sustained objection.
Mansard and roof additions in conservation areas are measured against the terrace's original roofline and rhythm. We keep the extension inside the daylight splays, set any glazed roof below the first-floor cill, and retain the garden depth Camden Council expects — so the back elevation answers the amenity case before a neighbour can lodge one. Two-storey rear extensions we draw with the 7-metre boundary gap and privacy screening resolved on the plan.
We draw rear extensions on every street in the borough. A few of the neighbourhoods where Camden back-of-house projects come up most often:
Rear extension drawings for Hampstead's Georgian and Victorian houses inside a tightly protected conservation area — depth-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Camden Council's guidance.
Rear extension drawings for Belsize Park's grand Victorian villas and red-brick mansion blocks — depth-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Camden Council's guidance.
Rear extension drawings for Camden Town's dense Victorian terraces around the market — depth-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Camden Council's guidance.
Rear extension drawings for Primrose Hill's pastel-painted Victorian terraces beside Regent's Park — depth-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Camden Council's guidance.
Rear extension drawings for Kentish Town's Victorian terraces and converted flats — depth-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Camden Council's guidance.
Rear extension drawings for Bloomsbury's Georgian squares and formal terraces — depth-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Camden Council's guidance.
How far you can extend at the back in Camden depends on your house type and the route you take. This is how the options compare.
| Route | Depth allowed | Consent needed | What Camden Council checks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard permitted development | 3m terrace/semi · 4m detached | Lawful development certificate (optional) | Depth, 4m height, materials |
| Larger-home prior approval | 6m terrace/semi · 8m detached | Prior-approval notice + neighbour consultation | Neighbour objections on amenity |
| Full householder application | Beyond the above, or two-storey | Full planning permission | Daylight (45°/25°), bulk, garden retained |
| Conservation area | Case by case | Full planning permission | Character, roof form, boundary treatment |
The larger-home route is switched off on designated land — conservation areas such as Hampstead and Fitzroy Square and Article 4 streets need a full application.
A fixed process built around how Camden Council validates and decides rear-extension applications — most drawings are submission-ready within seven days of survey.
Send us your Camden postcode and house type. We confirm your conservation and Article 4 status, how much rear-extension depth you have under permitted development, and score your odds against live Camden Council decisions.
We measure the original rear wall, floor and eaves levels, side and rear boundary distances and the neighbours' window positions — the numbers the depth limit and daylight splays depend on.
Chartered designers develop the single or two-storey rear extension to your brief, drawn inside the permitted-development limits or to Camden Council's extension design guidance, with the daylight angles shown.
We submit the certificate, prior-approval notice or application, handle validation and case-officer queries, and revise the drawings free until Camden Council issues its decision.
Often not. A single-storey rear extension up to 3 metres deep on a terrace or semi, or 4 metres on a detached house, and no higher than 4 metres, is usually permitted development in Camden. You will need to involve Camden Council for anything deeper via the larger-home route, for two-storey rear extensions, and for any rear extension in a conservation area such as Hampstead and Fitzroy Square, where those permitted-development rights fall away.
The larger-home extension scheme lets a single-storey rear extension reach 6 metres on a terrace or semi, or 8 metres on a detached house — double the standard allowance. It is not automatic: you submit a prior-approval notification to Camden Council, neighbours are consulted, and if one objects on amenity grounds the council rules on it. It also does not apply on designated land such as Camden's conservation areas.
It is the daylight test Camden Council applies to protect neighbours. Drawn on plan, a line at 45 degrees from the midpoint of the neighbour's nearest ground-floor window should not be crossed by your extension; a companion 25-degree line is checked in section. If the projection breaches it, the extension is likely to be shortened or refused, so we test and prove it on the drawings before submission.
A two-storey rear extension almost always needs a full householder application to Camden Council, as it sits outside permitted development on most homes. The council checks that it stays at least 7 metres from the rear boundary, does not overbear the neighbours and avoids new overlooking. We resolve the boundary gap, privacy and daylight on the plans so the application is decided on its merits.
Frequently, yes. If the rear extension involves work to a shared wall, building up to the boundary, or excavating foundations near a neighbour's structure, the Party Wall etc. Act applies and you must serve notice — this is separate from Camden Council's planning decision. We flag it early and can prepare the drawings a party-wall surveyor needs alongside the planning set.
We price each Camden rear extension on its own footprint and send a fixed, no-obligation quote within one working day. It covers the full drawing pack with free revisions until Camden Council approves, and we confirm at the outset whether your extension is permitted development, needs prior approval, or a full application. Call 020 7864 7245 to begin.
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