Croydon, SE19
Ground floor rear extension
A window above an internal door, to get light into the middle of the house.
Project type
Planning route
Borough
Rear extension
Permitted development
Croydon
The decision that mattered
The house had a conservatory at the back — the usual story, too cold to use for half the year and too hot for the other half, while occupying the best aspect in the property. We removed it and built a proper 3 metre rear extension in its place, insulated and usable every day of the year.
The daylight problem nobody mentions
Extending to the rear makes the house deeper. That is the point — and it is also the risk, because the middle of the plan gets darker with every metre you add. A beautifully lit new room at the back and a gloomy tunnel to reach it is a very common outcome.
Three moves fixed it here. A floor-to-ceiling window looking onto the garden. A large rooflight above the dining area, bringing light down where no wall could deliver it. And the one worth copying: an internal window set above the door into the hallway, borrowing light from the new extension and pushing it into the centre of the house where a semi is always darkest.
Crittall-style doors across the rear opening keep the frames slim so the glazed area does most of the work.
Worth knowing if you are planning the same thing
Replacing a conservatory is rarely a matter of building on what is there. Conservatory bases are frequently not built to take a full insulated structure with a solid roof, so budget on the assumption that the foundations are being redone and treat it as a bonus if a survey says otherwise.
And think about the middle of your house before you think about the back of it. It is the part that a rear extension makes worse and the part nobody photographs.
Start with a survey, not a guess
If your house is a similar shape, most of the same decisions will apply. We will come and look, and tell you what the building allows before anyone spends anything.
Photographs from this job
