House extension in Southgate

Connect the added space to the existing home.

Start with the house extension brief

Begin with how the new space will meet the old rooms, garden and circulation. A measured brief should record boundaries, levels, existing drains, neighbouring windows and the parts of the building you intend to keep.

Develop daylight, structure and services alongside the floor plan. Agree which openings and finishes are included, how the existing home will be protected during construction and which decisions need surveys or approval before a quotation.

The local building context

Enfield’s appraisal places the Southgate Green Conservation Area in the south-western corner of the borough, as the historic core of the suburb called Southgate. It covers 31.7 hectares and about 160 buildings, centred on The Green and the three roads radiating from it, the High Street, Cannon Hill and Waterfall Road, with Balaams Lane and Cannon Road also included. A restored group of Georgian houses at 23–32 and 38–41 The Green, generally flat-fronted and of yellow stock brick, mixes tripartite and twelve-pane sash windows with a variety of doorcase designs.

The appraisal shows the character changing from street to street. The High Street has tightly packed two- or three-storey terraces set close to the road, interspersed with groups of modern flats, while Cannon Hill has widely spaced, large detached properties in substantial gardens along a wide, tree-lined road. On the south side of The Green, individually designed houses of about 1930, with mock Tudor dominating, share casement picture windows and large, steeply pitched tiled roofs, with widespread use of brown brick. Flats also sit above the Edwardian and interwar shops at 22–56 Cannon Hill.

Neither the name Southgate nor an N14 postcode tells you which council decides, whether a home is in a conservation area, whether it is listed or locally listed, whether an Article 4 direction covers it or which consent route the work takes. Enfield’s Southgate ward is served by N13, N14 and N21, the Southgate Green Conservation Area takes in addresses in more than one ward, and some addresses using the Southgate N14 name are in Barnet, which made tree preservation orders at Osidge, 151 Chase Side, and at Ashmole School, Burleigh Gardens. Confirm the council with the official lookup, then check the conservation area boundary, the Article 4 schedules, any list entry, the title or lease and the planning history of the property itself.

Local design and consent context

Southgate Circus (CA20) and Abbotshall Avenue (CA23) were designated in 2008, and Meadway (CA22) in November 2008. All three appraisals, and the management proposals that go with them, were approved in June 2015. Enfield’s page for each conservation area offers both documents, so read them together and check whether the address falls inside the boundary.

On 12 November 2008 Article 4(2) directions were made covering most of the Meadway Conservation Area; the council confirmed the direction on 29 January 2009, and its notice lists addresses on Bourne Avenue, Greenway, Meadway, Parkway, The Bourne and The Ridgeway. On 23 September 2009 further directions covered the new Abbotshall Avenue Conservation Area and households in the Southgate Green extension, and they were confirmed on 30 November 2009. Enfield’s Southgate Green page links the 2006 and 2009 directions and their maps.

For house extensions, DMD 11 tests a single-storey rear extension against a depth of 3 metres beyond the original rear wall for terraced and semi-detached houses, or 4 metres for detached houses, among other criteria, so read the policy in full. DMD 14 asks that side extensions do not create a continuous facade of properties or a terracing effect out of character with the locality, and that they keep at least 1 metre from the boundary with the adjoining property. Enfield’s policies map shows the areas each planning policy covers.

Access and site planning

For an Enfield address, a skip company must register with the council before placing a skip on any road, and a skip licence lasts 14 days unless extended. Scaffolding, hoarding or projections on or over a road or pavement need a licence, which is processed within 5 working days and lasts 30 days, with extensions possible; if Enfield decides the road should be closed, a temporary traffic order needs at least 6 weeks’ notice. Enfield asks you to email its parking team if parking restrictions must be suspended to deliver or collect equipment, and its parking page asks for suspension applications at least 10 working days ahead; a temporary dispensation for building works does not assure you of a space. For a Barnet address, that council’s rules apply.

Continue planning

The Southgate area guide · House extension across London · Hampstead Architecture & Planning · Hampstead Chartered Surveyors

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