Extension Architecture

Picking an architect sounds simple until you realise how many options are out there and how similar they all look on the surface. Everyone has a portfolio, everyone promises a smooth process, and everyone seems confident they can get your project approved. But in a borough like Lewisham, where planning has its own specific expectations and property types vary street by street, the difference between a good architect and the wrong one becomes very clear very quickly. We at Extension Architecture have been working across Lewisham for years and we know what homeowners here actually need. If you're thinking about extending your home or converting your loft, the first paragraph of your project story starts with who you bring on board. A good Lewisham architects firm sets the tone for everything that follows, from the quality of the design to how smoothly the planning application goes. Why Lewisham Has Its Own Planning Character Lewisham Council isnt difficult to work with, but they...

If you've been thinking about extending your home or doing a loft conversion, finding the right architect can feel overwhelming. There are so many options, and it's hard to know who actually delivers and who just talks a good game. Having worked with homeowners across the borough, we at Extension Architecture know what people in Harrow really need from an architect. Harrow is a mixed area. You've got Victorian terraces, semi detached homes, newer builds, and everything in between. That variety means the planning rules can differ street by street, and that's exactly why local knowledge matters so much. A good architects in Harrow firm will already know what the local authority expects, what gets approved, and what tends to get rejected. Why Local Experience Actually Makes a Difference It's not just about having a portfolio. It's about knowing the area. Harrow Council has its own planning policies, and they're not always straightforward. An architect who h...

  The architect fifteen minutes from our house in Walton Upon Thames had a beautiful portfolio. Extensions. New builds. Commercial projects. A bit of everything. He had done two loft conversions in the past three years. The architect forty minutes away had done thirty seven. Only loft conversions. Nothing else. No extensions. No new builds. No commercial work. Just roofs turned into rooms. We nearly hired the local one. Convenience. Familiarity. The comfort of someone nearby. Then we asked both the same question. What is the most common problem you encounter on 1930s semi loft conversions. The local architect paused. Thought about it. Said "probably headroom." The specialist didnt pause. "The staircase landing on the first floor is almost always too small. You need to borrow about 400mm from somewhere and the best place depends on which direction the existing joists run. If they run front to back you can cantilever the new floor over the stairwell. If they run side to...

The builder called us on day three. He had opened up the old kitchen ceiling and found Artex. The textured coating that was popular in the 1970s and 80s. The textured coating that often contains asbestos. Most homeowners panic at this point. Asbestos. Health risk. Stop work. Expensive removal. Project derailed. But our barnet architects practice had already planned for it. They had flagged the Artex during the first visit. Budgeted for testing and removal. Built the timeline around it. What could have been a crisis was just a scheduled task. Why Artex Means Asbestos Artex and similar textured coatings applied before the year 2000 often contain white asbestos. It was added to the mix to strengthen the coating and help it set. Completely legal at the time. Completely common in houses built or renovated in the 1970s and 80s. Our house in Finchley had Artex ceilings throughout the ground floor. Applied by a previous owner in what looked like the 1980s based on the style. We never thou...

The walls were up. The roof was on. The plastering was finished. The kitchen was about to be installed. And then the electrician arrived and made six decisions that changed how our kitchen works more than any structural element the builder had constructed over the previous ten weeks. Our ealing architects practice had specified every socket, switch, and light position on the drawings. Not as an afterthought. As a core part of the kitchen design. Because where you put the electrics determines where you put everything else. Most homeowners never think about electrics until the electrician asks where they want the sockets. By then it is too late to get it right. Why Electrics Get Ignored During Design Because they are invisible. Nobody walks into a kitchen and admires the socket positions. Nobody photographs the light switch layout for Instagram. Nobody tells friends about the double socket behind the bin cupboard. But try using a kitchen where the sockets are in the wrong place. Th...

Nobody thinks about the boiler when planning an extension. You think about the kitchen layout. The worktop material. The bifold doors. The rooflight. The connection to the garden. The boiler is in a cupboard in the hallway doing its job quietly and you assume it will keep doing its job after the extension is built. Our architects putney practice checked the boiler during the first visit. Not because we asked them to. Because they check it on every project. What they found explained why so many Putney extensions feel cold in winter even with underfloor heating installed. Our boiler was too small for the extended house. And nobody would have noticed until the first cold snap in November. What Too Small Means Our boiler was a 24kW combi. Adequate for our three bedroom Victorian terrace in its original configuration. Three radiators downstairs. Four upstairs. One bathroom. The boiler coped fine. Hot water on demand. Radiators warm within twenty minutes. No complaints. Add a thirty sq...