Can I do further work on a rear extension?

wamadam

We're in a terraced house that has been extended to the rear into two separate rooms.

To the left-hand side is a kitchen that extends back a couple of metres.
On the right-hand side is a study room that extends back further - to about 3 metres.

Can we knock through to make it into one big room? And move the back wall so that the whole room goes back 3 metres?

Will we need PP and what is a ballpark costing?

Mankysteve

Shouldn't need PP would you would need Buildings Regs approval.

wamadam

Thanks mate - that's good to know.

Does anyone know whether this work is doable? How much it would cost?

dander

Is this definitely a modern extension? A very common layout for victorian terraces is to have the kitchen in a half-width section protruding from the back. If the study has just been added on by filling in the side return - then the wall between the two is the original outside wall of the house and therefore structural - so needs to be properly supported if knocked out.

wamadam

Hi,

This is definitely a modern rear extension - not a side return fill in.

As I said kitchen extension goes back about 2m while the other half - a study room - goes back further, about 3m.

My question is, is it possible to now make into one big room, making sure that the whole room goes back the full 3m? Is this is a big job? Roughly how much would it cost - could it be done without planning permission (but obviously with building regs).

planning_officer

A terraced house can extend to the rear of the original rear wall by up to 3m at single storey level as permitted development (subject to other criteria too!), so if you want to bring the existing staggered extension to be level with the section with the maximum depth, that would be ok to do as permitted development, provided it does not project to the rear of the original rear wall by more than 3m. Of course, that is assuming that permitted development rights have not been withdrawn from your property.