Two-storey extension drawings for Harborne homes — bedroom above, living space below, drawn against the 3-metre projection and 7-metre boundary rules and to Birmingham City Council's design guidance, delivered in days and revised free until your decision.
Birmingham City Council granted 84% of the householder planning decisions it made in its latest published year — 3 points below the 87% England-wide householder average. The Moor Pool conservation-area appraisal protects the estate's cottage detailing, hedges and communal greens against incremental change, which is where a policy-literate drawing pack earns its keep. Its dominant Victorian (1837–1901), Edwardian (1901–1910) and interwar (1918–1939) 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. Harborne carries at least one Article 4 direction, and conservation areas including Harborne Old Village and Moor Pool remove those rights outright, so we confirm your exact address before a line is drawn. A validated householder application in Harborne is determined against an 8-week statutory target.
Harborne Old Village (the historic High Street core with its conservation area), Moor Pool (John Sutton Nettlefold's 1908 garden suburb of cottages around a village hall and greens), High Street (Victorian terraces and shopfronts along the main spine), Court Oak (interwar semis on the western fringe towards Quinton), Bearwood edge (dense Edwardian terraces bordering Smethwick) and Metchley (1930s semis near the university and hospital campus) — these are the Harborne pockets our drawings cover most. Heritage designations here include Harborne Old Village and Moor Pool. Birmingham City Council weighs each proposal against Birmingham Development Plan (2017) and the Birmingham Design Guide / relevant SPDs, where Harborne's proximity to the university keeps HMO pressure high, so C3-to-C4 conversions are tested against the 10%-within-100m concentration policy. Converted flats are common in the larger Edwardian houses near the High Street, and none carry householder permitted-development rights.. On roofs the borough is gabled roofs on the terraces and Moor Pool cottages and hipped roofs on the interwar semis, over Victorian and Edwardian terraces around the High Street, Arts-and-Crafts cottages on the Moor Pool estate and interwar semi-detached houses on the outer streets.
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. Harborne is largely Victorian and Edwardian terraces around the High Street, Arts-and-Crafts cottages on the Moor Pool estate and interwar semi-detached houses on the outer streets, and gabled roofs on the terraces and Moor Pool cottages 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.
The Moor Pool conservation-area appraisal protects the estate's cottage detailing, hedges and communal greens against incremental change. The Moor Pool estate — an early Arts-and-Crafts garden suburb — carries tight conservation controls, and Birmingham's city-wide Article 4 direction removes the permitted right to convert family homes to small HMOs across this popular student-and-professional district.
Some two-storey rear extensions are permitted development. You will need a full application to Birmingham 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 Birmingham City Council checks first — then submit a validation-complete pack.
Below is Birmingham City Council's real householder decision record, drawn from official planning statistics and refreshed as new data lands. Birmingham grants a high share of householder applications overall, with Harborne's Moor Pool controls and heavy HMO demand the recurring constraints on change. 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 Harborne Old Village, Moor Pool and High Street, 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 terraces around the high street, 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.
Harborne's proximity to the university keeps HMO pressure high, so C3-to-C4 conversions are tested against the 10%-within-100m concentration policy. 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 Harborne. A few of the areas where they come up most often:
Two storey extension drawings for Harborne Old Village — the historic High Street core with its conservation area — dimensioned against the 3m and 7m limits and drawn to Birmingham City Council's guidance.
Two storey extension drawings for Moor Pool — John Sutton Nettlefold's 1908 garden suburb of cottages around a village hall and greens — dimensioned against the 3m and 7m limits and drawn to Birmingham City Council's guidance.
Two storey extension drawings for High Street — Victorian terraces and shopfronts along the main spine — dimensioned against the 3m and 7m limits and drawn to Birmingham City Council's guidance.
Two storey extension drawings for Court Oak — interwar semis on the western fringe towards Quinton — dimensioned against the 3m and 7m limits and drawn to Birmingham City Council's guidance.
Two storey extension drawings for Bearwood edge — dense Edwardian terraces bordering Smethwick — dimensioned against the 3m and 7m limits and drawn to Birmingham City Council's guidance.
Two storey extension drawings for Metchley — 1930s semis near the university and hospital campus — dimensioned against the 3m and 7m limits and drawn to Birmingham 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 Birmingham 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 Birmingham City Council validates and decides two-storey applications.
Send us your Harborne postcode and garden depth. We measure the 7-metre boundary rule against your plot, confirm designation status, and score your odds against live Birmingham 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 Birmingham 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 Harborne, the 7-metre rule is what most commonly forces a full application to Birmingham 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 Harborne gardens this is decisive, and we measure it on survey before any design work rather than discovering it at validation. Birmingham City Council is the decision-maker.
Not under permitted development — two-storey side extensions always need a full application to Birmingham 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 Harborne 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 Harborne address specifically. Birmingham 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 Birmingham City Council's planning decision, so we flag the notice period early and detail the junction on the drawings. This applies to your Harborne 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 Harborne address specifically. Birmingham City Council is the decision-maker.
We quote each Harborne 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 Birmingham City Council approves. Call 020 7864 7245 to start.
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