Two-storey extension drawings for Caversham homes — bedroom above, living space below, drawn against the 3-metre projection and 7-metre boundary rules and to Reading Borough Council's design guidance, delivered in days and revised free until your decision.
Reading Borough Council granted 87% of the householder planning decisions it made in its latest published year — level with the 87% England-wide householder average. Sloping plots on the Caversham Heights ridge are assessed for the effect of roof and rear additions on long views across the Thames valley, which is where a policy-literate drawing pack earns its keep. Its dominant Victorian (1837–1901), Edwardian (1901–1910), interwar (1918–1939) and postwar (1945–1970) 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 Reading Borough Council needs a full application. In conservation areas such as St Peter's (Caversham), Surley Row (Emmer Green) and Horncastle those rights are removed, so we confirm your exact address before a line is drawn. A validated householder application in Caversham is determined against an 8-week statutory target.
Caversham Heights (interwar and detached houses climbing the hill above the Thames), Lower Caversham (Victorian and Edwardian terraces on the flat riverside streets), Emmer Green (an older village core wrapped in postwar suburban housing), St Peter's (Victorian streets around the parish church in the St Peter's conservation area), Surley Row (a historic lane of older cottages north of the river) and Caversham Centre (Edwardian shopping parades and terraces off Church Road) — these are the Caversham pockets our drawings cover most. Heritage designations here include St Peter's (Caversham), Surley Row (Emmer Green) and Horncastle. Reading Borough Council weighs each proposal against the Reading Borough Local Plan (2019), where riverside plots near the Thames are read against flood-zone policy on top of the usual householder tests. On roofs the borough is pitched and gabled roofs on the terraces and Edwardian villas and hipped roofs on the interwar and detached houses, over Victorian and Edwardian red-brick terraces near the river, interwar and detached houses on the Caversham Heights slopes and postwar and older village housing around Emmer Green.
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. Caversham is largely Victorian and Edwardian red-brick terraces near the river, interwar and detached houses on the Caversham Heights slopes and postwar and older village housing around Emmer Green, and pitched and gabled roofs on the terraces and Edwardian villas and hipped roofs on the interwar and detached houses 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.
Sloping plots on the Caversham Heights ridge are assessed for the effect of roof and rear additions on long views across the Thames valley. Caversham sits outside Reading's HMO Article 4 direction, which covers parts of Park, Redlands and Katesgrove wards south of the Thames, so householder permitted-development rights here run as normal outside the conservation areas around St Peter's and Emmer Green.
Some two-storey rear extensions are permitted development. You will need a full application to Reading Borough 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 Reading Borough Council checks first — then submit a validation-complete pack.
Below is Reading Borough Council's real householder decision record, drawn from official planning statistics and refreshed as new data lands. Caversham consents most householder schemes, but its hillside outlook over the Thames and the older cores at St Peter's, Emmer Green and Surley Row are where design and setting decide the harder cases. 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 Caversham Heights, Lower Caversham and Emmer Green, 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 victorian and edwardian red-brick terraces near the river, 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.
Riverside plots near the Thames are read against flood-zone policy on top of the usual householder tests. 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 Caversham. A few of the areas where they come up most often:
Two storey extension drawings for Caversham Heights — interwar and detached houses climbing the hill above the Thames — dimensioned against the 3m and 7m limits and drawn to Reading Borough Council's guidance.
Two storey extension drawings for Lower Caversham — Victorian and Edwardian terraces on the flat riverside streets — dimensioned against the 3m and 7m limits and drawn to Reading Borough Council's guidance.
Two storey extension drawings for Emmer Green — an older village core wrapped in postwar suburban housing — dimensioned against the 3m and 7m limits and drawn to Reading Borough Council's guidance.
Two storey extension drawings for St Peter's — Victorian streets around the parish church in the St Peter's conservation area — dimensioned against the 3m and 7m limits and drawn to Reading Borough Council's guidance.
Two storey extension drawings for Surley Row — a historic lane of older cottages north of the river — dimensioned against the 3m and 7m limits and drawn to Reading Borough Council's guidance.
Two storey extension drawings for Caversham Centre — Edwardian shopping parades and terraces off Church Road — dimensioned against the 3m and 7m limits and drawn to Reading Borough 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 Reading Borough 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 Reading Borough Council validates and decides two-storey applications.
Send us your Caversham postcode and garden depth. We measure the 7-metre boundary rule against your plot, confirm designation status, and score your odds against live Reading Borough 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 Reading Borough 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 Caversham, the 7-metre rule is what most commonly forces a full application to Reading Borough 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 Caversham gardens this is decisive, and we measure it on survey before any design work rather than discovering it at validation. Reading Borough Council is the decision-maker.
Not under permitted development — two-storey side extensions always need a full application to Reading Borough 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 Caversham 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 Caversham address specifically. Reading Borough 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 Reading Borough Council's planning decision, so we flag the notice period early and detail the junction on the drawings. This applies to your Caversham 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 Caversham address specifically. Reading Borough Council is the decision-maker.
We quote each Caversham 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 Reading Borough Council approves. Call 020 7864 7245 to start.
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