The questions we get on every call.

Not always. Many single-storey rear extensions, loft conversions and outbuildings fall under permitted development, provided the house still has those rights and the work stays within the size limits. We check this first, because a lawful development certificate is faster and cheaper than a planning application.

A formal confirmation from the council that your proposed works do not need planning permission. It is not compulsory, but it gives you a document to show a buyer's solicitor years later, and it settles the question before you build.

Councils have eight weeks to decide a householder application once it is validated, though many take longer. Lawful development certificates have the same eight-week target.

Read the reasons for refusal: they decide the route. Design, scale and overlooking objections are usually answered by a revised resubmission. Where the council has misapplied policy, an appeal may be better.

Householder appeals must be lodged within twelve weeks of the decision. If you are close to that window, get in touch before anything else.

Permission has been granted, but certain details (materials, drainage, landscaping) must be submitted and approved before work starts or before occupation. Discharging those conditions is a separate application and it takes time, so start it early.

Usually three years from the decision date to begin the works. If you are close to the deadline, a material start on site can keep the permission alive, but talk to us before relying on that.

Yes. Listed building consent is a separate application to planning, and conservation areas or Article 4 directions can remove permitted development rights. These projects are won on the heritage argument as much as the design, so the statement of significance matters as much as the drawings.

Almost always, yes: they are separate systems. Planning asks whether you may build it; building regulations ask whether it is built safely and efficiently. Most extensions need both, and permitted development work still needs building regulations.

Planning drawings show the council what the building will look like and how big it is. Construction drawings tell a builder how to build it: structure, insulation, junctions, drainage, specification. You cannot price or build safely from planning drawings alone.

If you are building on or near a shared boundary, cutting into a party wall, or excavating within three metres of a neighbour's foundations, the Party Wall etc. Act 1996 usually applies. Notices must be served before work starts; a party wall surveyor prepares the award where neighbours dissent.

If your extension will be built over or within three metres of a public sewer, the water company, Thames Water in most of our area, must approve it. Building Control will ask for the agreement, so we start it at the technical design stage rather than discovering it on site.

Under the CDM Regulations 2015, most projects with more than one contractor need a Principal Designer to manage health and safety during design. We can be formally appointed to that role, and for domestic clients the duty usually passes to us automatically.

Yes. Lease plans and title plans to HM Land Registry requirements are regular work for us, for solicitors, conveyancers and freeholders, usually at a fixed fee with an agreed turnaround.

Often, but not always. A well-judged extension can add real value, but if you are already at your street's ceiling price, or plan to move within a few years, the sums can stop working. The plotwise report helps you see how the numbers stack up before you commit.

Moving in London costs a typical household tens of thousands of pounds before a single wall changes, most of it stamp duty. For many people extending makes more sense, but it depends on your street's values, and we'll help you see how the numbers stack up.

We charge by stage and quote each stage before it starts, so you commit to one phase at a time, and each stage is quoted for your project rather than read off a list. The stages themselves are set out on our How we work page. The plotwise report is £149 including VAT, deducted from our fee if you go on to hire us for the project.

Earlier than you might expect. At concept stage we recommend an early cost estimate from a quantity surveyor (QS), so you can see how the design sits with your budget while you can still change it. Firm prices come from builders' quotes at tender, on the construction drawings.

A report on any address in England: a desktop appraisal of planning constraints, designations, planning history and neighbours' precedents on one side; sale history, comparables, an estimate of value, and yield on the other. In the council areas on our map, it also sets out what you could build there; anywhere else, the chartered architect talks you through that on your call. It is generated from the data and checked by a chartered architect before it reaches you, and it comes with a free 30-minute call with a chartered architect to go through your report and talk about design ideas for your property. It replaces the free consultation, so the conversation starts with facts.

No. It is an indicative desktop assessment from public and commercial data, for general guidance. It is not a survey, or a formal planning, legal, valuation or ecological opinion, and should not be relied on as one.

Yes. DZP Studio is a RIBA Chartered Practice (no. 20072398), and our director is a RIBA Chartered Architect, registered with the Architects Registration Board, and a BREEAM Advisory Professional. The title "architect" is protected by law in the UK; you can check any architect on the ARB register.

Make sure you're comparing like with like. "Architect" is a title protected by law in the UK: only people who have completed years of training and are registered with the Architects Registration Board (ARB) can use it. A registered architect must carry professional indemnity insurance and follow a code of conduct, so if something goes wrong, you're protected.

Ask everyone who quotes: Are you registered with ARB? (You can check at arb.org.uk.) Do you carry professional indemnity insurance? Does the fee cover just drawings, or planning, Building Regulations, finding a builder and checking the work on site? Who deals with the council and Building Control? And who will you actually be working with?

A lower fee often covers less, and the gaps tend to show up later as extra costs on site.

BREEAM is the UK's established method for measuring how sustainable a building is: energy, water, materials, ecology and health. An Advisory Professional is trained and examined by BRE, renews the qualification every year, and steers a design towards a target rating from the first sketch. Few architects hold it: on BRE's public register, our director is the only architect listed as one with an Essex address (checked 12 September 2026), for both site and design stages. It matters more every year. From March 2027, every new home in England must meet the Future Homes Standard: around 75% less carbon than a 2013 home, low-carbon heating and, on most homes, solar panels. We design for that from the start, not as an afterthought. See low-energy design and BREEAM.

Most of our projects are within London and Essex, but we can take on work anywhere in England. The plotwise report covers any address in England.

Yes. We regularly pick up projects at planning decision stage: discharging conditions, producing construction drawings, or rescuing a refused scheme. Bring us what you have and we will tell you what is outstanding.

Either. We can run a tender with builders we trust, or price your own builder against the same drawings. What we always advise is a written building contract rather than a quote on headed paper.

A JCT contract is the most widely used standard building contract in the UK. It sets out the price, the dates, how payments work, how changes are priced and how defects are put right, and it's fair to both you and your builder. As a matter of good practice, we advise one on every project, and we can act as Contract Administrator under it.

Your address, what you are hoping to do, and an honest budget. From there the plotwise report and the call that follows it tell us both whether the project stacks up.

Instead of a free consultation, we offer the plotwise report: a conversation built on real data about your property is worth more than a general chat, and it comes with a free 30-minute call with a chartered architect. If you go on to hire us for the project, the report fee is deducted from our fee.