Two-storey extension drawings for Canley homes — bedroom above, living space below, drawn against the 3-metre projection and 7-metre boundary rules and to Coventry City Council's design guidance, delivered in days and revised free until your decision.
Coventry City Council granted 86% of the householder planning decisions it made in its latest published year — 1 point below the 87% England-wide householder average. Sitting between the two universities, Canley faces the city's strongest student-HMO demand, tightly managed through the Article 4 direction and HMO policy, 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. Canley carries at least one Article 4 direction, and conservation areas including Ivy Farm Lane (Canley Hamlet) and Chapelfields remove those rights outright, so we confirm your exact address before a line is drawn. A validated householder application in Canley is determined against an 8-week statutory target.
Canley Hamlet (the historic Ivy Farm Lane conservation area of surviving rural cottages), Canley Estate (1930s and post-war municipal semis and terraces), Cannon Park (later housing beside the University of Warwick campus), Charter Avenue (student-heavy interwar and post-war streets), Westwood Heath (suburban semis on the south-western edge) and Tile Hill fringe (post-war estates running west toward the woods) — these are the Canley pockets our drawings cover most. Heritage designations here include Ivy Farm Lane (Canley Hamlet) and Chapelfields. Coventry City Council weighs each proposal against the Coventry Local Plan (2017), where the Ivy Farm Lane hamlet conservation area protects a small pocket of rural cottages amid the surrounding estates. The estate stock includes maisonettes and shared houses near the campuses, which carry no householder permitted-development rights.. On roofs the borough is hipped roofs on the interwar and council semis and shallow pitched roofs on the post-war terraces, over 1930s and post-war council-built estates, interwar semi-detached houses and surviving hamlet cottages at Ivy Farm Lane.
Adding at first floor changes the question the case officer asks. A single-storey extension is judged mostly on daylight and garden loss; a two-storey extension is judged on overlooking, bulk against the neighbouring roofline, and whether it reads as part of the house or bolted onto it. Canley is largely 1930s and post-war council-built estates, interwar semi-detached houses and surviving hamlet cottages at Ivy Farm Lane, and hipped roofs on the interwar and council semis and shallow pitched roofs on the post-war terraces set what a matching roof actually means here.
The permitted-development route exists but is narrow: 3 metres of rear projection, a 7-metre stand-off from the rear boundary, eaves and ridge no higher than the original, and side-facing upper windows obscure-glazed and non-opening below 1.7 metres above floor level. Most two-storey schemes fail one of those, usually the 7-metre boundary rule on a shorter garden, and go in as a full application instead. We establish which route applies before designing, because it changes the drawing set.
Sitting between the two universities, Canley faces the city's strongest student-HMO demand, tightly managed through the Article 4 direction and HMO policy. The Tile Hill & Canley and Westwood wards are named in Coventry's citywide Article 4 direction (in force 30 September 2023), so — with the University of Warwick on the doorstep — a house-to-small-HMO conversion here needs a change-of-use application.
Some two-storey rear extensions are permitted development. You will need a full application to Coventry City Council if any of these apply:
We set the projection and boundary distance on the site plan, prove the roof-pitch match on the elevations, and specify obscure glazing on the side windows — the three things Coventry City Council checks first — then submit a validation-complete pack.
Below is Coventry City Council's real householder decision record, drawn from official planning statistics and refreshed as new data lands. Canley approves most householder applications, with student-HMO management and the small Ivy Farm Lane conservation area the main factors behind added conditions. Two-storey schemes attract more neighbour comment than any other householder work, so the overlooking and daylight case has to be made on the drawings.
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 Canley Hamlet, Canley Estate and Cannon Park, the schemes that succeed set the first floor back from the ground floor, keep the ridge below the original, and treat the flank wall as blank or obscure-glazed. On 1930s and post-war council-built estates, matching the eaves line matters more than matching the brick: an extension that carries the existing eaves through reads as original even in a different material.
The Ivy Farm Lane hamlet conservation area protects a small pocket of rural cottages amid the surrounding estates. We draw the 45-degree daylight test from the neighbour's nearest habitable window, show the window positions in section, and set out the steel and foundation implications early — a two-storey extension changes the load path, so the structural design and the planning design have to be developed together rather than in sequence.
We draw two-storey extensions across Canley. A few of the areas where they come up most often:
Two storey extension drawings for Canley Hamlet — the historic Ivy Farm Lane conservation area of surviving rural cottages — dimensioned against the 3m and 7m limits and drawn to Coventry City Council's guidance.
Two storey extension drawings for Canley Estate — 1930s and post-war municipal semis and terraces — dimensioned against the 3m and 7m limits and drawn to Coventry City Council's guidance.
Two storey extension drawings for Cannon Park — later housing beside the University of Warwick campus — dimensioned against the 3m and 7m limits and drawn to Coventry City Council's guidance.
Two storey extension drawings for Charter Avenue — student-heavy interwar and post-war streets — dimensioned against the 3m and 7m limits and drawn to Coventry City Council's guidance.
Two storey extension drawings for Westwood Heath — suburban semis on the south-western edge — dimensioned against the 3m and 7m limits and drawn to Coventry City Council's guidance.
Two storey extension drawings for Tile Hill fringe — post-war estates running west toward the woods — dimensioned against the 3m and 7m limits and drawn to Coventry City Council's guidance.
The first-floor limits are tighter than the ground-floor ones. This is how the common cases compare.
| Scheme | Permitted development? | Deciding limit | What Coventry City Council checks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Two-storey rear, 3m projection, 7m+ to boundary | Often yes | 3m projection / 7m boundary | Roof match, side-window glazing |
| Two-storey rear, under 7m to boundary | No — full application | Rear-boundary distance | Overlooking, daylight, garden loss |
| Two-storey side extension | No — full application | Side elevation | Gap to boundary, street rhythm |
| Two-storey wraparound | No — full application | Combined footprint | Bulk, massing, neighbour amenity |
| Any two-storey on designated land | No — full application | Designation | Character and appearance |
Limits from the GPDO 2015, Schedule 2, Part 1, Class A — two-storey rear extension conditions.
A fixed process built around how Coventry City Council validates and decides two-storey applications.
Send us your Canley postcode and garden depth. We measure the 7-metre boundary rule against your plot, confirm designation status, and score your odds against live Coventry City Council decisions.
We measure the original rear wall, eaves and ridge heights, garden depth and every neighbouring window that faces the site — the inputs the daylight and overlooking case is built from.
Chartered designers develop the two-storey addition to your brief with the roof and eaves resolved, and we coordinate the load path so the structural scheme and the planning scheme are the same building.
We submit the application, manage validation and case-officer queries, and revise the drawings free until Coventry City Council issues its decision.
Often, but not always. A two-storey rear extension can be permitted development if it projects no more than 3 metres, sits at least 7 metres from the rear boundary, does not exceed the existing eaves and ridge, and has obscure-glazed non-opening side windows below 1.7 metres. In Canley, the 7-metre rule is what most commonly forces a full application to Coventry City Council.
No part of a permitted-development two-storey rear extension may come within 7 metres of the boundary opposite the rear wall of the house. It exists to protect the neighbour behind you from being overlooked at first floor. On shorter Canley gardens this is decisive, and we measure it on survey before any design work rather than discovering it at validation. Coventry City Council is the decision-maker.
Not under permitted development — two-storey side extensions always need a full application to Coventry City Council. They are assessed on the gap to the boundary, whether the street's rhythm of spaces between houses survives, and whether the extension is subordinate to the original. Setting the first floor back from the front building line and down from the ridge is what usually makes the difference. This applies to your Canley address specifically.
Overlooking is the most common objection, and it is answerable on the drawings. We position habitable-room windows away from neighbouring gardens, obscure-glaze and fix shut anything on the flank below 1.7 metres, and show the sight lines in section. Where the geometry is tight, a rooflight or a high-level window gives the same daylight without the mutual overlooking that draws objections. This applies to your Canley address specifically. Coventry City Council is the decision-maker.
Almost certainly. Excavating within 3 metres of a neighbouring structure and building on or up to the boundary both trigger the Party Wall etc. Act 1996, and a two-storey extension usually does both. It is entirely separate from Coventry City Council's planning decision, so we flag the notice period early and detail the junction on the drawings. This applies to your Canley address specifically.
Yes. Adding a floor changes the load path from roof to foundation, so beams, padstones and foundation depths all need designing and calculating for building control. Planning and building regulations are separate consents, and the structural set is what building control assesses — we prepare both so the approved scheme is the buildable one. This applies to your Canley address specifically. Coventry City Council is the decision-maker.
We quote each Canley two-storey extension individually, because plot depth, roof form and structural complexity vary house to house, and send a fixed, no-obligation quote within one working day. It covers the drawing pack with free revisions until Coventry City Council approves. Call 020 7864 7245 to start.
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