Two-storey extension drawings for Preston Park homes — bedroom above, living space below, drawn against the 3-metre projection and 7-metre boundary rules and to Brighton & Hove City Council's design guidance, delivered in days and revised free until your decision.
Brighton & Hove City Council granted 89% of the householder planning decisions it made in its latest published year — 2 points above the 87% England-wide householder average. The uniform Edwardian building line and matched bay fronts around the park are protected, so roof and front alterations are read against the terrace rhythm, 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. Preston Park carries at least one Article 4 direction, and conservation areas including Preston Park, Preston Village and Stanford remove those rights outright, so we confirm your exact address before a line is drawn. A validated householder application in Preston Park is determined against an 8-week statutory target.
Preston Park (Edwardian and Victorian terraces facing the city's largest park), Preston Village (the historic village core around St Peter's church and the manor), Stanford (the planned late-Victorian Stanford estate grid), Round Hill (steep curving Regency-style and Victorian terraces above London Road), Fiveways (Edwardian family terraces around the Fiveways shops) and Springfield Road (tall Victorian terraces on the valley's western slope) — these are the Preston Park pockets our drawings cover most. Heritage designations here include Preston Park, Preston Village, Stanford and Round Hill. Brighton & Hove City Council weighs each proposal against Brighton & Hove City Plan (Parts One 2016 and Two 2022) and the relevant SPDs, where the surviving rural grain of Preston Village is guarded in fine detail against suburban infill. Streets around Preston Park and Fiveways hold many houses subdivided into flats, which sit outside householder permitted-development rights.. On roofs the borough is pitched and gabled slate roofs on the terraces and villas and hipped roofs on the larger Edwardian houses, over Victorian and Edwardian bay-fronted terraces, Arts and Crafts and Edwardian villas and the surviving cottages of Preston Village.
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. Preston Park is largely Victorian and Edwardian bay-fronted terraces, Arts and Crafts and Edwardian villas and the surviving cottages of Preston Village, and pitched and gabled slate roofs on the terraces and villas and hipped roofs on the larger Edwardian 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.
The uniform Edwardian building line and matched bay fronts around the park are protected, so roof and front alterations are read against the terrace rhythm. Preston Park sits within the city-wide small-HMO Article 4 direction, and the Preston Park, Stanford and Round Hill conservation areas add further Article 4 controls over external works to their Victorian and Edwardian terraces.
Some two-storey rear extensions are permitted development. You will need a full application to Brighton & Hove 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 Brighton & Hove City Council checks first — then submit a validation-complete pack.
Below is Brighton & Hove City Council's real householder decision record, drawn from official planning statistics and refreshed as new data lands. Brighton & Hove consents most householder applications, and in Preston Park the deciding question is usually whether a scheme keeps the matched Edwardian frontage rather than whether it is acceptable in principle. 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 Preston Park, Preston Village and Stanford, 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 bay-fronted 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 surviving rural grain of Preston Village is guarded in fine detail against suburban infill. 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 Preston Park. A few of the areas where they come up most often:
Two storey extension drawings for Preston Park — Edwardian and Victorian terraces facing the city's largest park — dimensioned against the 3m and 7m limits and drawn to Brighton & Hove City Council's guidance.
Two storey extension drawings for Preston Village — the historic village core around St Peter's church and the manor — dimensioned against the 3m and 7m limits and drawn to Brighton & Hove City Council's guidance.
Two storey extension drawings for Stanford — the planned late-Victorian Stanford estate grid — dimensioned against the 3m and 7m limits and drawn to Brighton & Hove City Council's guidance.
Two storey extension drawings for Round Hill — steep curving Regency-style and Victorian terraces above London Road — dimensioned against the 3m and 7m limits and drawn to Brighton & Hove City Council's guidance.
Two storey extension drawings for Fiveways — Edwardian family terraces around the Fiveways shops — dimensioned against the 3m and 7m limits and drawn to Brighton & Hove City Council's guidance.
Two storey extension drawings for Springfield Road — tall Victorian terraces on the valley's western slope — dimensioned against the 3m and 7m limits and drawn to Brighton & Hove 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 Brighton & Hove 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 Brighton & Hove City Council validates and decides two-storey applications.
Send us your Preston Park postcode and garden depth. We measure the 7-metre boundary rule against your plot, confirm designation status, and score your odds against live Brighton & Hove 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 Brighton & Hove 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 Preston Park, the 7-metre rule is what most commonly forces a full application to Brighton & Hove 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 Preston Park gardens this is decisive, and we measure it on survey before any design work rather than discovering it at validation. Brighton & Hove City Council is the decision-maker.
Not under permitted development — two-storey side extensions always need a full application to Brighton & Hove 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 Preston Park 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 Preston Park address specifically. Brighton & Hove 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 Brighton & Hove City Council's planning decision, so we flag the notice period early and detail the junction on the drawings. This applies to your Preston Park 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 Preston Park address specifically. Brighton & Hove City Council is the decision-maker.
We quote each Preston Park 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 Brighton & Hove City Council approves. Call 020 7864 7245 to start.
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