Extensions in Stratford-upon-Avon, priced in writing before anything starts.
An extension in Stratford starts with two checks, and both of them can change the whole project rather than a detail of it.
The first is listing. With over 3,300 listed buildings and structures in the district, this is a real question rather than a formality, and it extends beyond the house itself: a boundary wall, an outbuilding or a structure in the garden can be listed as part of the curtilage. Where a building is listed, an extension needs listed building consent as well as planning permission, consent covers the interior too, and the design has to start from that constraint rather than have approval bolted onto it later.
The second is water. Policy CS.4 in the council’s Core Strategy deals with the water environment and flood risk, and on some sites a flood risk assessment forms part of the application. Where that applies it can affect floor levels, construction and even whether a particular footprint is acceptable. Checking the Environment Agency map at the outset costs nothing and occasionally saves a design fee.
On unlisted, undesignated property this is conventional work. A single storey rear extension of up to four metres on a detached house or three on a semi can fall within permitted development, and the larger home extension route allows up to eight metres or six by prior approval with neighbours notified.
Our extensions work is set out in more detail there, including the stages of a build and how the Building Control inspections fit around them.
Four things we commit to on every job, rather than four things we say about ourselves.
Permitted development is not an exemption from Building Regulations. We arrange the Stratford-on-Avon District Council inspections, meet the inspector on site at each stage and see the work through to sign off. We do not make the application itself, and we will tell you what is needed and when.
Free, and you get it before you commit to us. Party walls and skip licences are raised at quotation stage, not three weeks into the dig.
The same people do the groundworks, the brickwork and the fit out. Nobody hands your job to a subcontractor you have never met.
You get a straight answer rather than a padded price. It costs us a job occasionally and saves you a great deal more.
Process, specification and what moves the price are set out on our extensions page.
The answers that genuinely differ from one Stratford-upon-Avon street to the next.
Where a skip stands on the road it is licensed by Warwickshire County Council, applied for by the skip owner at least five working days ahead, with a £97 fee. In the town centre the position needs agreeing early because of the pedestrian traffic.
Where a building is listed, we photograph and record before anything is touched, and we agree with you in advance what is being altered and what is not. That record is what keeps a straightforward conversation with the conservation officer straightforward.
Two storey work needs permission far more often than people expect, and against a historic building the visual impact carries more weight here than almost anywhere. If we think an application will struggle, we say so at the quotation stage.
Part of our wider building work in Stratford-upon-Avon.
Send photographs and a rough brief, or call and talk it through. We will tell you if a job is not right for us.
Southfield Construction (Rugby) Ltd, registered in England and Wales, company 14209138.
