Two-storey extension drawings for Roker homes — bedroom above, living space below, drawn against the 3-metre projection and 7-metre boundary rules and to Sunderland City Council's design guidance, delivered in days and revised free until your decision.
Sunderland City Council granted 91% of the householder planning decisions it made in its latest published year — 4 points above the 87% England-wide householder average. The exposed coastal setting means officers weigh the seaward roofline and the rhythm of front gables closely on roof and dormer schemes, 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. Roker carries at least one Article 4 direction, and conservation areas including Roker Park and Whitburn Bents remove those rights outright, so we confirm your exact address before a line is drawn. A validated householder application in Roker is determined against an 8-week statutory target.
Roker (planned Victorian seaside streets around the protected Roker Park conservation area), Seaburn (interwar and Edwardian housing along the coast with sea-front amenity pressure), Roker Terrace (grand bay-fronted frontages facing the promenade and pier), Fulwell edge (later terraces and semis climbing inland from the coast) and St Peter's (streets near the ancient monastery site and the university's riverside campus) — these are the Roker pockets our drawings cover most. Heritage designations here include Roker Park and Whitburn Bents. Sunderland City Council weighs each proposal against the Sunderland Core Strategy and Development Plan, where salt-laden materials and render detailing on the seaside terraces are scrutinised for their contribution to the conservation area. Sea-facing terraces and villas at Roker and Seaburn are frequently split into flats and holiday lets, none of which carry householder permitted-development rights.. On roofs the borough is pitched slate roofs with front gables on the seaside terraces and hipped roofs on the interwar coastal semis, over Victorian and Edwardian seaside terraces and villas, substantial bay-fronted semis facing the sea and interwar coastal housing towards Seaburn.
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. Roker is largely Victorian and Edwardian seaside terraces and villas, substantial bay-fronted semis facing the sea and interwar coastal housing towards Seaburn, and pitched slate roofs with front gables on the seaside terraces and hipped roofs on the interwar coastal 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 exposed coastal setting means officers weigh the seaward roofline and the rhythm of front gables closely on roof and dormer schemes. The Roker Park conservation area protects the planned Victorian and Edwardian seaside streets behind the promenade, and Sunderland's Article 4 direction removes permitted-development rights for HMO conversions and some external alterations in designated areas along this coast.
Some two-storey rear extensions are permitted development. You will need a full application to Sunderland 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 Sunderland City Council checks first — then submit a validation-complete pack.
Below is Sunderland City Council's real householder decision record, drawn from official planning statistics and refreshed as new data lands. Sunderland grants most householder applications, and along the Roker coast the protected seaside townscape and its coastal exposure are the constraints that govern design most. 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 Roker, Seaburn and Roker Terrace, 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 seaside terraces and villas, 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.
Salt-laden materials and render detailing on the seaside terraces are scrutinised for their contribution to the conservation area. 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 Roker. A few of the areas where they come up most often:
Two storey extension drawings for Roker — planned Victorian seaside streets around the protected Roker Park conservation area — dimensioned against the 3m and 7m limits and drawn to Sunderland City Council's guidance.
Two storey extension drawings for Seaburn — interwar and Edwardian housing along the coast with sea-front amenity pressure — dimensioned against the 3m and 7m limits and drawn to Sunderland City Council's guidance.
Two storey extension drawings for Roker Terrace — grand bay-fronted frontages facing the promenade and pier — dimensioned against the 3m and 7m limits and drawn to Sunderland City Council's guidance.
Two storey extension drawings for Fulwell edge — later terraces and semis climbing inland from the coast — dimensioned against the 3m and 7m limits and drawn to Sunderland City Council's guidance.
Two storey extension drawings for St Peter's — streets near the ancient monastery site and the university's riverside campus — dimensioned against the 3m and 7m limits and drawn to Sunderland 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 Sunderland 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 Sunderland City Council validates and decides two-storey applications.
Send us your Roker postcode and garden depth. We measure the 7-metre boundary rule against your plot, confirm designation status, and score your odds against live Sunderland 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 Sunderland 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 Roker, the 7-metre rule is what most commonly forces a full application to Sunderland 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 Roker gardens this is decisive, and we measure it on survey before any design work rather than discovering it at validation. Sunderland City Council is the decision-maker.
Not under permitted development — two-storey side extensions always need a full application to Sunderland 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 Roker 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 Roker address specifically. Sunderland 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 Sunderland City Council's planning decision, so we flag the notice period early and detail the junction on the drawings. This applies to your Roker 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 Roker address specifically. Sunderland City Council is the decision-maker.
We quote each Roker 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 Sunderland City Council approves. Call 020 7864 7245 to start.
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