Caversham, Reading RG4
A single storey rear extension to a detached house on Conisboro Avenue, opening the back of the house to the garden with wide glazed doors and a rooflight, in brickwork to match the existing walls.
18 Conisboro Avenue is a detached house in Caversham with a hipped roof and a long rear garden. The owners wanted a bigger kitchen and family room that opened onto the garden, without changing the appearance of the house from the street.
The single storey rear extension spans most of the back of the house. Wide glazed doors face the garden and a rooflight brings light into the middle of the room, where the old rear wall used to be. The walls are built in brickwork to match the existing house and the roof is kept low at the boundaries, so the extension sits well below the first floor windows and the hipped main roof.
The extension was tested against the 45 degree rule from the neighbours' nearest rear windows and kept to a depth that avoids overshadowing. Side windows are avoided, so there is no new overlooking. These are the points Reading Borough Council checks under policies CC7 and CC8 of the Reading Borough Local Plan and in its guidance on house extensions.
The drawing set includes existing and proposed elevations, the proposed ground floor and roof plan, and existing and proposed block plans. The proposed elevations were revised once to refine the rear glazing and the roof edge before submission.
Matching the brick and the mortar colour is what makes a rear extension look as if it belongs to the house. The notes on the elevations specify brickwork to match the existing walls, and the glazing frames were chosen to sit with the existing windows. The roof of the extension is kept low, leaving the hipped roof of the house clear above it. Inside, the rooflight sits over the point where the old rear wall stood, so daylight reaches the middle of the new room.
Many rear extensions on detached houses can be built under permitted development, up to 4 metres deep, or up to 8 metres with prior approval. We check the depth, height and eaves against the rules for each house, and advise whether a householder application or prior approval is the safer route, which is the first step on every extension we take on.
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