Two-storey extension drawings for Seven Dials 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 exceptionally complete stucco character of Montpelier and Clifton Hill is protected in fine grain, so render, glazing and roofline changes are tightly assessed, which is where a policy-literate drawing pack earns its keep. Its dominant Georgian (1714–1837) and Victorian (1837–1901) 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. Seven Dials carries at least one Article 4 direction, and conservation areas including Montpelier and Clifton Hill, West Hill and Prestonville remove those rights outright, so we confirm your exact address before a line is drawn. A validated householder application in Seven Dials is determined against an 8-week statutory target.
Montpelier (cohesive 1820s–1860s stucco terraces and villas west of the centre), Clifton Hill (the salubrious hillside estate of Regency and Victorian houses), West Hill (Victorian terraces that grew with the railway station below), Prestonville (tight Victorian terraces west of the main line), Seven Dials (the busy junction ringed by tall Victorian terraces) and Dyke Road fringe (larger detached and semi-detached Victorian villas) — these are the Seven Dials pockets our drawings cover most. Heritage designations here include Montpelier and Clifton Hill, West Hill, Prestonville and Stanford. Brighton & Hove City Council weighs each proposal against Brighton & Hove City Plan (Parts One 2016 and Two 2022) and the relevant SPDs, where basement and lightwell proposals on the hillside meet detailed structural and drainage policy on top of the householder tests. Much of Montpelier, West Hill and Prestonville is converted into flats and maisonettes, which carry no householder permitted-development rights.. On roofs the borough is parapet-hidden butterfly and valley roofs on the stucco terraces and pitched slate roofs on the Victorian streets, over Regency and early-Victorian stucco terraces and villas, later Victorian bay-fronted terraces and converted flats and maisonettes.
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. Seven Dials is largely Regency and early-Victorian stucco terraces and villas, later Victorian bay-fronted terraces and converted flats and maisonettes, and parapet-hidden butterfly and valley roofs on the stucco terraces and pitched slate roofs on the Victorian streets 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 exceptionally complete stucco character of Montpelier and Clifton Hill is protected in fine grain, so render, glazing and roofline changes are tightly assessed. Seven Dials sits under the city-wide small-HMO Article 4 direction, while the Montpelier & Clifton Hill and West Hill conservation-area Article 4s remove permitted-development rights for external works to their stucco Regency and Victorian 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 grants most householder schemes, yet across Seven Dials the dense stucco conservation coverage means heritage detailing, not principle, usually decides the outcome. 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 Montpelier, Clifton Hill and West Hill, 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 regency and early-victorian stucco 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.
Basement and lightwell proposals on the hillside meet detailed structural and drainage policy on top of the 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 Seven Dials. A few of the areas where they come up most often:
Two storey extension drawings for Montpelier — cohesive 1820s–1860s stucco terraces and villas west of the centre — dimensioned against the 3m and 7m limits and drawn to Brighton & Hove City Council's guidance.
Two storey extension drawings for Clifton Hill — the salubrious hillside estate of Regency and Victorian houses — dimensioned against the 3m and 7m limits and drawn to Brighton & Hove City Council's guidance.
Two storey extension drawings for West Hill — Victorian terraces that grew with the railway station below — dimensioned against the 3m and 7m limits and drawn to Brighton & Hove City Council's guidance.
Two storey extension drawings for Prestonville — tight Victorian terraces west of the main line — dimensioned against the 3m and 7m limits and drawn to Brighton & Hove City Council's guidance.
Two storey extension drawings for Seven Dials — the busy junction ringed by tall Victorian terraces — dimensioned against the 3m and 7m limits and drawn to Brighton & Hove City Council's guidance.
Two storey extension drawings for Dyke Road fringe — larger detached and semi-detached Victorian villas — 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 Seven Dials 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 Seven Dials, 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 Seven Dials 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 Seven Dials 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 Seven Dials 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 Seven Dials 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 Seven Dials address specifically. Brighton & Hove City Council is the decision-maker.
We quote each Seven Dials 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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