Two-storey extension drawings for Earlsdon 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. As one of the main student corridors between the two universities, house-to-HMO conversions are managed tightly through the Article 4 direction and the council's HMO policy, 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 Coventry City Council needs a full application. Earlsdon carries at least one Article 4 direction, and conservation areas including Earlsdon, Chapelfields and Spon End remove those rights outright, so we confirm your exact address before a line is drawn. A validated householder application in Earlsdon is determined against an 8-week statutory target.
Earlsdon Village (Edwardian terraces and villas around the shops on Earlsdon Street), Hearsall (bay-fronted Victorian terraces toward Hearsall Common), Chapelfields (the grid of narrow 1870s weavers' terraces, a designated conservation area), Spon End (medieval-rooted suburb of Victorian terraces west of the ring road), Albany Road (long Edwardian terraces linking Earlsdon to Spon End) and Mount Nod fringe (interwar and post-war semis on the western edge) — these are the Earlsdon pockets our drawings cover most. Heritage designations here include Earlsdon, Chapelfields and Spon End. Coventry City Council weighs each proposal against the Coventry Local Plan (2017), where the tight 1870s weavers' terraces in Chapelfields limit how far roofs and rear additions can extend before harming the conservation area's grain. Parts of Earlsdon and Spon End hold converted flats and shared houses, which carry no householder permitted-development rights of their own.. On roofs the borough is pitched and gabled roofs on the terraces and villas and hipped roofs on the interwar semis, over late-Victorian and Edwardian terraces, 1900s bay-fronted villas and pockets of interwar semi-detached houses.
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. Earlsdon is largely late-Victorian and Edwardian terraces, 1900s bay-fronted villas and pockets of interwar semi-detached houses, and pitched and gabled roofs on the terraces and villas and hipped roofs on the interwar semis 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.
As one of the main student corridors between the two universities, house-to-HMO conversions are managed tightly through the Article 4 direction and the council's HMO policy. Earlsdon ward falls within Coventry's citywide Article 4 direction (in force since 30 September 2023) that removes the permitted-development right to turn a family house into a small HMO, so any C3-to-C4 conversion here needs a change-of-use application even below seven tenants.
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. Coventry approves the large majority of householder schemes citywide, but in Earlsdon the student-HMO pressure and the Chapelfields conservation area are what shape most conditions and refusals. 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 Earlsdon Village, Hearsall and Chapelfields, 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 late-victorian and edwardian terraces, 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 tight 1870s weavers' terraces in Chapelfields limit how far roofs and rear additions can extend before harming the conservation area's grain. 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 Earlsdon. A few of the areas where they come up most often:
Two storey extension drawings for Earlsdon Village — Edwardian terraces and villas around the shops on Earlsdon Street — dimensioned against the 3m and 7m limits and drawn to Coventry City Council's guidance.
Two storey extension drawings for Hearsall — bay-fronted Victorian terraces toward Hearsall Common — dimensioned against the 3m and 7m limits and drawn to Coventry City Council's guidance.
Two storey extension drawings for Chapelfields — the grid of narrow 1870s weavers' terraces, a designated conservation area — dimensioned against the 3m and 7m limits and drawn to Coventry City Council's guidance.
Two storey extension drawings for Spon End — medieval-rooted suburb of Victorian terraces west of the ring road — dimensioned against the 3m and 7m limits and drawn to Coventry City Council's guidance.
Two storey extension drawings for Albany Road — long Edwardian terraces linking Earlsdon to Spon End — dimensioned against the 3m and 7m limits and drawn to Coventry City Council's guidance.
Two storey extension drawings for Mount Nod fringe — interwar and post-war semis on the western edge — 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 Earlsdon 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 Earlsdon, 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 Earlsdon 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 Earlsdon 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 Earlsdon 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 Earlsdon 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 Earlsdon address specifically. Coventry City Council is the decision-maker.
We quote each Earlsdon 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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