Two Victorian terraced houses on a London street, one painted white and one in yellow stock brick, with bay windows
Floor plan drawings, pencil sketches of a house, a scale rule and a protractor spread across a desk
Photo: Tima Miroshnichenko / Pexels

House extension plans · London Borough of Hackney

House extension plans in Hackney, £895 fixed

Hackney's Residential Extensions and Alterations SPD says single-storey rear extensions should be no deeper than 3m on a terraced house, 3.5m on a semi-detached house and 4m on a detached house, measured from the rear elevation of the original house. Any extension will also need to retain at least 50% of the original rear garden.

Planning drawings£895
Building regs£795
Council fee£548
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Boroughs33/33
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Photo: Huy Phan / Pexels

The back of a house extension at shell stage, with a large glazed opening, blockwork walls and a scaffold tower
An extension at shell stage: the opening, the blockwork and the beam above it are what the building regulations drawings describe. Photo: Brett Jordan / Pexels.

What Hackney Council asks of a house extension

From the council's Residential Extensions and Alterations SPD (December 2025) (adopted 19 January 2026, per the council’s adoption statement).

  • Single-storey rear extensions should be no deeper than 3m on a terraced house, 3.5m on a semi-detached house and 4m on a detached house, measured from the rear elevation of the original house. (source, checked 14 October 2026)
  • Any extension will need to retain at least 50% of the original rear garden. (source, checked 14 October 2026)
  • The roof should sit visibly lower than the sill of the first floor windows (for example by at least two to three brick courses). (source, checked 14 October 2026)
  • Full-width extensions will normally be acceptable subject to context; extensions projecting past the side wall of the original house will not normally be acceptable. (source, checked 14 October 2026)
  • Outside conservation areas wrap-around extensions on houses with an original outrigger will generally be acceptable subject to depth, scale and form; inside conservation areas it will generally only be possible to infill beside the outrigger, not extend beyond or wrap around it, where that is not the established character of the terrace. (source, checked 14 October 2026)
  • Extensions of two storeys and above will only be approved where they form part of the dominant character of the area. (source, checked 14 October 2026)

What Hackney house extension drawings have to show

Hackney's SPD gives three depths, so the drawings start by recording the house type and measuring from the rear elevation of the original house, not from an earlier extension. They then show the roof sitting visibly lower than the sill of the first floor windows, and how much of the original rear garden is left once the extension is built, because the SPD says at least 50% must be retained.

Hackney's validation checklist wants every drawing scaled to print at A3 or smaller, stating the paper size and scale, with a scale bar showing one and ten metres, key dimensions and a north point, as PDFs of no more than 20MB each. A householder application needs a design and access statement only if the property is in a conservation area, and photographs are required for any development affecting a conservation area or a listed building. The checklist page shows no date.

Hackney guidance · rear depth

How deep Hackney expects a single-storey rear extension to be

Terraced3 mSemi-detached3.5 mDetached4 mDepth beyond the original rear wall · dashed line: permitted development
Source: Residential Extensions and Alterations SPD (December 2025). The marker shows the national permitted development depth (GPDO 2015, Schedule 2, Part 1, Class A, A.1(f): 4 m detached, 3 m otherwise), which applies only where no application is needed.
Permitted development · Class A

How far a single-storey rear extension can go before it needs more than a drawing

Terraced or semi-detached

Existing houseNo applicationPrior approvalPlanning application3 m6 mDepth beyond the original rear wall

Detached

Existing houseNo applicationPrior approvalPlanning application4 m8 mDepth beyond the original rear wall

Height, side view

HouseBoundary2 m4 m maxoverall height3 m eaveswithin 2 m of boundary
Source: GPDO 2015, Schedule 2, Part 1, Class A: A.1(f) (3 m, or 4 m if detached; 4 m high), A.1(g) (6 m, or 8 m if detached; not on article 2(3) land such as conservation areas, nor on a site of special scientific interest), A.1(i) (eaves over 3 m within 2 m of a boundary) and the prior approval procedure in A.4. Terraced and semi-detached houses are the “any other dwellinghouse” case. Other conditions still apply: check the permission section and run the checker.
PS2 · at a glance

Hackney: 415 householder decisions

Hackney
Approvals, prior approvals included84.6%

351 of 415 granted. London: 85.8%.

Decided within 8 weeks90.3%

223 of 247 applications, prior approvals excluded.

Source: MHCLG PS2, 1 July 2025 to 30 June 2026. Dark tick: London.
A bright kitchen with white cabinets, a stainless steel range cooker and extractor hood, and a window over the sink
A kitchen in a rear extension: the wide opening into it from the old house is carried by a beam. Photo: Curtis Adams / Pexels.

What it costs in Hackney

  • Planning drawings: £895, plus £548 to Hackney Council.
  • Building regulations drawings: £795.

House extension plans across London · Hackney planning rules · every price

Answers

Hackney house extension questions

How deep can a rear extension be in Hackney?
The SPD says single-storey rear extensions should be no deeper than 3m on a terraced house, 3.5m on a semi-detached house and 4m on a detached house, measured from the rear elevation of the original house. The roof should sit visibly lower than the sill of the first floor windows, for example by at least two to three brick courses.
Can I build a wrap-around extension in a Hackney conservation area?
Probably not. Outside conservation areas, the SPD says wrap-around extensions on houses with an original outrigger will generally be acceptable, subject to depth, scale and form. Inside them it will generally only be possible to infill beside the outrigger, not extend beyond or wrap around it, where that is not the established character of the terrace.
How much garden does Hackney want me to keep?
The SPD says any extension will need to retain at least 50% of the original rear garden. Full-width extensions will normally be acceptable subject to context, but extensions projecting past the side wall of the original house will not normally be acceptable.
Can I build a two-storey extension in Hackney?
Only in limited cases. The SPD says extensions of two storeys and above will only be approved where they form part of the dominant character of the area. Hackney has 35 conservation areas, so check whether your street is in one before drawing a second storey.

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