Back-of-house extension drawings for Wandsworth homes — the glazed kitchen-diner across the rear, drawn to Wandsworth Council's depth and daylight limits, delivered in days and revised free until your decision, with a free approval-odds check first.
Wandsworth Council granted 88% of the householder planning decisions it made in its latest published year — 1 point above the 87% England-wide householder average. Side returns, mansards and dormers are judged in centimetres against the party wall and shared roofline, 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.
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. Wandsworth carries at least one Article 4 direction, and conservation areas including Wandsworth Common, Nightingale Triangle and Tonsleys remove those rights outright, so we confirm your exact address before a line is drawn. A validated householder application in Wandsworth is determined against an 8-week statutory target.
Battersea (Victorian terraces and mansion flats near the park), Balham (Edwardian terraces around the Nightingale Triangle), Tooting (long Victorian terraces off the high road), Putney (Edwardian villas and riverside streets), Earlsfield (compact Victorian terraces between the commons) and Southfields (the Magdalen Park grid of Edwardian houses) — these are the Wandsworth pockets our drawings cover most. Heritage designations here include Wandsworth Common, Nightingale Triangle, Tonsleys, Magdalen Park and Battersea Park. Wandsworth Council weighs each proposal against Wandsworth Local Plan and the borough's Housing and Basements SPDs, where the borough applies detailed basement-development policies on top of the usual tests. Much of Battersea and Balham is converted flats and maisonettes, which carry no householder permitted-development rights.. On roofs the borough is butterfly / valley roofs on the terraces and pitched roofs on the villas, over Victorian terraces, Edwardian mansion flats and Putney and Wandsworth villas.
The rear extension is the workhorse of Wandsworth home improvement — it is how a dark back kitchen becomes an open family room facing the garden. Because the borough is built largely from Victorian terraces, Edwardian mansion flats and Putney and Wandsworth villas, most back walls sit close to a neighbour on at least one side, and that proximity, not the design, is what Wandsworth Council scrutinises. The council reads the proposal against Wandsworth Local Plan and the borough's Housing and Basements SPDs, 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. Side returns, mansards and dormers are judged in centimetres against the party wall and shared roofline, so the rear elevation is composed around it rather than corrected after an objection.
Where the property sits in a conservation area — Wandsworth Common, Nightingale Triangle, Tonsleys, Magdalen Park and Battersea Park among Wandsworth's — the larger-home extension route is switched off and even a modest rear addition needs consent. Several Wandsworth conservation areas carry Article 4 directions, and the borough's dense conservation coverage means many terraced streets need a full application for works that would be PD elsewhere. We confirm the designation before the survey.
Many single-storey rear extensions in Wandsworth are permitted development and need no application. You will normally need to apply to Wandsworth 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 Wandsworth 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 Wandsworth Council's real householder decision record, taken from official planning statistics and refreshed as new data lands. Wandsworth grants a healthy share of householder applications, but its uniform Victorian terraces mean side returns and roof alterations are assessed in centimetres against the neighbours. 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 Battersea, Balham and Tooting, 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 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.
The borough applies detailed basement-development policies on top of the usual tests. We keep the extension inside the daylight splays, set any glazed roof below the first-floor cill, and retain the garden depth Wandsworth 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 Wandsworth back-of-house projects come up most often:
Rear extension drawings for Battersea's Victorian terraces and mansion flats near the park — depth-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Wandsworth Council's guidance.
Rear extension drawings for Balham's Edwardian terraces around the Nightingale Triangle — depth-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Wandsworth Council's guidance.
Rear extension drawings for Tooting's long Victorian terraces off the high road — depth-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Wandsworth Council's guidance.
Rear extension drawings for Putney's Edwardian villas and riverside streets — depth-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Wandsworth Council's guidance.
Rear extension drawings for Earlsfield's compact Victorian terraces between the commons — depth-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Wandsworth Council's guidance.
Rear extension drawings for Southfields's the Magdalen Park grid of Edwardian houses — depth-checked, daylight-tested and drawn to Wandsworth Council's guidance.
How far you can extend at the back in Wandsworth depends on your house type and the route you take. This is how the options compare.
| Route | Depth allowed | Consent needed | What Wandsworth 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 Wandsworth Common and Nightingale Triangle and Article 4 streets need a full application.
A fixed process built around how Wandsworth Council validates and decides rear-extension applications — most drawings are submission-ready within seven days of survey.
Send us your Wandsworth 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 Wandsworth 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 Wandsworth 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 Wandsworth 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 Wandsworth. You will need to involve Wandsworth 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 Wandsworth Common and Nightingale Triangle, 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 Wandsworth 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 Wandsworth's conservation areas.
It is the daylight test Wandsworth 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 Wandsworth 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 Wandsworth 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 Wandsworth 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 Wandsworth 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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Same fixed quotes, same fast drawings — wherever your project is.