Two-storey extension drawings for Castle homes — bedroom above, living space below, drawn against the 3-metre projection and 7-metre boundary rules and to Cambridge City Council's design guidance, delivered in days and revised free until your decision.
Cambridge City Council granted 90% of the householder planning decisions it made in its latest published year — 3 points above the 87% England-wide householder average. The Cambridge skyline guidance protects long views from Castle Hill across the historic city, which is where a policy-literate drawing pack earns its keep. Its dominant Georgian (1714–1837), Victorian (1837–1901) and Edwardian (1901–1910) 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. Castle carries at least one Article 4 direction, and conservation areas including Castle and Victoria Road, Central and Storey's Way remove those rights outright, so we confirm your exact address before a line is drawn. A validated householder application in Castle is determined against an 8-week statutory target.
Castle Hill (Georgian and Victorian houses beside the Norman castle mound and Kettle's Yard), Victoria Road (Victorian terraces running north from the historic core), Storey's Way (spacious Arts-and-Crafts villas laid out by St John's College), Mount Pleasant (elevated Victorian and Edwardian houses above the city) and Huntingdon Road (large detached and academic houses on the northern approach) — these are the Castle pockets our drawings cover most. Heritage designations here include Castle and Victoria Road, Central and Storey's Way. Cambridge City Council weighs each proposal against the Cambridge Local Plan 2018 and the emerging Greater Cambridge Local Plan, where the planned Arts-and-Crafts layout of Storey's Way constrains infill and the scale of extensions. Several of the larger Castle Hill and Huntingdon Road houses have been converted to flats, which carry no householder permitted-development rights.. On roofs the borough is pitched slate roofs on the Georgian and Victorian houses and gabled and hipped tile roofs on the Arts-and-Crafts villas, over Georgian and early-Victorian houses on Castle Hill, Victorian terraces along Victoria Road and Arts-and-Crafts villas on Storey's Way.
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. Castle is largely Georgian and early-Victorian houses on Castle Hill, Victorian terraces along Victoria Road and Arts-and-Crafts villas on Storey's Way, and pitched slate roofs on the Georgian and Victorian houses and gabled and hipped tile roofs on the Arts-and-Crafts villas 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.
The Cambridge skyline guidance protects long views from Castle Hill across the historic city. The Castle and Victoria Road conservation area — appraised in 2012 with a 2013 addendum — covers Castle Hill and its surrounds, adjoining the Central and Storey's Way areas, and Article 4 directions remove permitted-development rights across these streets.
Some two-storey rear extensions are permitted development. You will need a full application to Cambridge 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 Cambridge City Council checks first — then submit a validation-complete pack.
Below is Cambridge City Council's real householder decision record, drawn from official planning statistics and refreshed as new data lands. Cambridge approves around 90% of applications, but the Castle and Victoria Road conservation area and the protected Castle Hill views are the decisive factors here. 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.
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 Castle Hill, Victoria Road and Storey's Way, 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 georgian and early-victorian houses on castle hill, 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 planned Arts-and-Crafts layout of Storey's Way constrains infill and the scale of extensions. 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 Castle. A few of the areas where they come up most often:
Two storey extension drawings for Castle Hill — Georgian and Victorian houses beside the Norman castle mound and Kettle's Yard — dimensioned against the 3m and 7m limits and drawn to Cambridge City Council's guidance.
Two storey extension drawings for Victoria Road — Victorian terraces running north from the historic core — dimensioned against the 3m and 7m limits and drawn to Cambridge City Council's guidance.
Two storey extension drawings for Storey's Way — spacious Arts-and-Crafts villas laid out by St John's College — dimensioned against the 3m and 7m limits and drawn to Cambridge City Council's guidance.
Two storey extension drawings for Mount Pleasant — elevated Victorian and Edwardian houses above the city — dimensioned against the 3m and 7m limits and drawn to Cambridge City Council's guidance.
Two storey extension drawings for Huntingdon Road — large detached and academic houses on the northern approach — dimensioned against the 3m and 7m limits and drawn to Cambridge 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 Cambridge 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 Cambridge City Council validates and decides two-storey applications.
Send us your Castle postcode and garden depth. We measure the 7-metre boundary rule against your plot, confirm designation status, and score your odds against live Cambridge 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 Cambridge 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 Castle, the 7-metre rule is what most commonly forces a full application to Cambridge 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 Castle gardens this is decisive, and we measure it on survey before any design work rather than discovering it at validation. Cambridge City Council is the decision-maker.
Not under permitted development — two-storey side extensions always need a full application to Cambridge 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 Castle 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 Castle address specifically. Cambridge 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 Cambridge City Council's planning decision, so we flag the notice period early and detail the junction on the drawings. This applies to your Castle 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 Castle address specifically. Cambridge City Council is the decision-maker.
We quote each Castle 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 Cambridge City Council approves. Call 020 7864 7245 to start.
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