Two-storey extension drawings for Totley homes — bedroom above, living space below, drawn against the 3-metre projection and 7-metre boundary rules and to Sheffield City Council's design guidance, delivered in days and revised free until your decision.
Sheffield City Council granted 87% of the householder planning decisions it made in its latest published year — level with the 87% England-wide householder average. Totley meets the Peak District National Park boundary directly, so landscape and moorland setting weigh on larger proposals, which is where a policy-literate drawing pack earns its keep. Its dominant Edwardian (1901–1910), interwar (1918–1939) and postwar (1945–1970) 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. In conservation areas such as Totley, Dore and Whirlow those rights are removed, so we confirm your exact address before a line is drawn. A validated householder application in Totley is determined against an 8-week statutory target.
Totley (a historic stone village at the very south-west edge of the city, against the Peak District), Totley Rise (interwar and postwar family housing around the local shopping parade), Totley Brook (Edwardian and interwar homes on the leafy valley streets), Bradway (postwar semis and detached houses on the neighbouring hillside), Dore (the adjoining affluent stone village sharing the same moorland edge) and Bents Green (1930s semis on the rising ground towards the moors) — these are the Totley pockets our drawings cover most. Heritage designations here include Totley, Dore and Whirlow. Sheffield City Council weighs each proposal against the Sheffield Local Plan (the emerging Sheffield Plan, alongside the saved Sheffield Unitary Development Plan and Core Strategy), where outer plots sit within the Green Belt, where extensions face the openness test rather than ordinary householder policy. On roofs the borough is stone-tiled and slate roofs on the village core and hipped tiled roofs on the twentieth-century semis, over stone-built cottages along the historic village spine, interwar and postwar family semis across Totley Rise and detached houses on the moorland fringe.
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. Totley is largely stone-built cottages along the historic village spine, interwar and postwar family semis across Totley Rise and detached houses on the moorland fringe, and stone-tiled and slate roofs on the village core and hipped tiled roofs on the twentieth-century 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.
Totley meets the Peak District National Park boundary directly, so landscape and moorland setting weigh on larger proposals. Totley lies outside Sheffield's university HMO Article 4 direction, so small shared houses are not caught here; the Totley conservation area, covering the historic village spine along Baslow Road, instead removes permitted-development rights on its older stone properties.
Some two-storey rear extensions are permitted development. You will need a full application to Sheffield 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 Sheffield City Council checks first — then submit a validation-complete pack.
Below is Sheffield City Council's real householder decision record, drawn from official planning statistics and refreshed as new data lands. Sheffield grants a high share of householder applications, and in Totley the Peak District boundary, surrounding Green Belt and the stone village conservation area shape most schemes. 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, rolling year). 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 Totley, Totley Rise and Totley Brook, 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 stone-built cottages along the historic village spine, 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.
Outer plots sit within the Green Belt, where extensions face the openness test rather than ordinary householder 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 Totley. A few of the areas where they come up most often:
Two storey extension drawings for Totley — a historic stone village at the very south-west edge of the city, against the Peak District — dimensioned against the 3m and 7m limits and drawn to Sheffield City Council's guidance.
Two storey extension drawings for Totley Rise — interwar and postwar family housing around the local shopping parade — dimensioned against the 3m and 7m limits and drawn to Sheffield City Council's guidance.
Two storey extension drawings for Totley Brook — Edwardian and interwar homes on the leafy valley streets — dimensioned against the 3m and 7m limits and drawn to Sheffield City Council's guidance.
Two storey extension drawings for Bradway — postwar semis and detached houses on the neighbouring hillside — dimensioned against the 3m and 7m limits and drawn to Sheffield City Council's guidance.
Two storey extension drawings for Dore — the adjoining affluent stone village sharing the same moorland edge — dimensioned against the 3m and 7m limits and drawn to Sheffield City Council's guidance.
Two storey extension drawings for Bents Green — 1930s semis on the rising ground towards the moors — dimensioned against the 3m and 7m limits and drawn to Sheffield 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 Sheffield 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 Sheffield City Council validates and decides two-storey applications.
Send us your Totley postcode and garden depth. We measure the 7-metre boundary rule against your plot, confirm designation status, and score your odds against live Sheffield 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 Sheffield 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 Totley, the 7-metre rule is what most commonly forces a full application to Sheffield 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 Totley gardens this is decisive, and we measure it on survey before any design work rather than discovering it at validation. Sheffield City Council is the decision-maker.
Not under permitted development — two-storey side extensions always need a full application to Sheffield 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 Totley 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 Totley address specifically. Sheffield 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 Sheffield City Council's planning decision, so we flag the notice period early and detail the junction on the drawings. This applies to your Totley 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 Totley address specifically. Sheffield City Council is the decision-maker.
We quote each Totley 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 Sheffield City Council approves. Call 020 7864 7245 to start.
Answer five quick questions and get a free planning score for your exact address — instantly. Then, if you want the full picture, unlock the detailed analysis: your council's live approval rates, local precedents, constraints on your street and a step-by-step route to permission.
Same fixed quotes, same fast drawings — wherever your project is.