Side-return, rear and wrap-around extensions on Brixton houses and garden flats, planned around Lambeth’s rules.
We design and build extensions for homeowners across Brixton, in SW2 and SW9. Most are on late Victorian terraces off Brixton Hill, Acre Lane and around Brockwell Park, where filling the side return and building out at the back gives you a proper kitchen-diner. We also extend ground-floor and garden flats, which are common here because so many Brixton houses were split up. Drawings, planning, building control, party walls and the build all sit with one team.
A typical Brixton terrace has a narrow kitchen in the rear outrigger, a strip of side return beside it and a separate back room. An extension pulls those into one space. Side-return and rear extensions are the usual answer, and a wrap-around joins the two when the garden allows.
Before anything is drawn we check three things for your address: whether it sits in one of Lambeth’s conservation areas, whether it is a house or a flat, and whether any of the land is Rush Common land. Those decide the route, from permitted development to a full planning application, and we handle whichever one applies.
Typical build: 10 to 16 weeks on site
Planning route: Permitted development, prior approval or full application
Council: Lambeth planning and building control
Covered: Brixton SW2 and SW9
What suits depends on whether you own a house or a flat, and how much garden you are happy to give up.
Brixton has several conservation areas, including Brixton Town Centre, Brixton Water Lane, Brixton Road and Angell Town, and Rush Common and Brixton Hill. Inside them a side-return extension is not permitted development, so it needs a full planning application to Lambeth. Flats have no permitted development rights at all, so a garden flat extension always needs planning permission and usually a licence from the freeholder.
Along Brixton Hill there is another layer. Much of the land in front of the houses was once Rush Common, and an Act of 1806 still restricts building on it. Extensions or outbuildings on Rush Common land need Rush Common consent from Lambeth as well as planning. Most rear extensions are not affected, but we check the map for your address before any design work.
We visit, measure, check the planning position for your address and send a written quote.
Drawings, structural calculations, the planning route, and freeholder or Rush Common consent where needed.
Groundworks, steels, walls and roof by our own trades, with party wall notices served before work starts.
Building control signs the work off and we hand over the finished room.
Yes, but not under permitted development. In a conservation area a side extension needs full planning permission from Lambeth. We prepare the drawings and the application and design the extension to suit the street.
Often, yes. Flats have no permitted development rights, so you need planning permission, and most leases require the freeholder’s written consent. We handle the application and supply the drawings your freeholder will ask for.
Some land along Brixton Hill, mostly front gardens, is former common land protected by the Rush Common Act 1806. Building on it needs consent from Lambeth on top of planning. We check whether your property is affected before design starts.
Most single-storey extensions take 10 to 16 weeks on site, plus time beforehand if a planning application is needed. You get a programme with your quote.
On a Brixton terrace, almost always. We serve the notices and, if a neighbour wants one, arrange the party wall surveyor.
Rear Extensions is one of ten building services we offer across Brixton, SW2 and SW9. If your project needs more than one, we run them as a single job.
Tell us about your property and preferred timeline and we will get you a quote.
