Planning a house extension in Leeds? Hepburn Architects designs rear, side and kitchen extensions around the way you use your home. David Hepburn provides design, planning support and Building Regulations drawings from the North East studio at Acklam Hall, Middlesbrough. Site visits and project stages are agreed in your written appointment.
From the first idea to planning and technical drawings, choose the support your project needs. Each stage has a clear scope and fee.
More useful space, better daylight and a clearer relationship with the garden.
Explore this service 02Roof-space feasibility, stair layouts and technical design for a more capable home.
Explore this service 03Site-led design and early feasibility for replacement homes and small developments.
Explore this service 04A proportionate planning route supported by clear drawings and local context.
Explore this service 05Coordinated technical drawings that carry the approved design into detail.
Explore this service 06Early appraisal of access, constraints, capacity and likely consultant input.
Explore this service 07Planning-led layouts for HMOs, flat conversions and other residential changes of use.
Explore this serviceSelected projects and design studies from the practice. Explore the brief, design and thinking behind each proposal.
An interior study for a children’s home, exploring calm shared rooms, clear circulation and a warm domestic setting with views towards the garden.
A children’s-home with modest rear extension to create a brighter shared living space and a stronger connection with an enclosed garden.
Traditional semi-detached house to become a small children’s home, with comfortable shared rooms, private bedrooms and a discreet domestic appearance.
A kitchen extension needs more than a larger footprint. We consider the kitchen arrangement, dining space, storage, utility functions and routes to the garden alongside the rooms you already have.
Survey and design establish the proposal. The agreed planning stage addresses the application drawings, followed by a separately defined technical package where appointed. Structural design and specialist requirements are coordinated with the scheme rather than left as assumptions.
Read clients’ own accounts of working with Hepburn Architects.
An extension should solve a particular problem in the existing house: a kitchen cut off from the garden, cramped dining space, an awkward entrance or rooms that no longer suit family life. For a Leeds project, we start with your address, photographs and existing plans, then identify the survey and design work needed. The original layout, boundaries and neighbouring buildings shape the options more than a preferred image or a target floor area.
A rear kitchen extension needs a workable relationship between cooking, dining, garden access and the rooms retained in the house. A side addition may offer useful utility or storage space, while a larger combined alteration can change the circulation of the whole ground floor. We test those options against your priorities, including whether work can be phased and how much garden you want to retain. Structure and services are considered as the layout develops.
Where a brief includes another storey, a loft or a separate dwelling, it needs more than an enlarged ground-floor plan. Stairs, privacy, access and the relationship between the existing and proposed accommodation must be considered together. We can agree an initial feasibility stage to compare the options and identify the surveys or specialist advice needed before detailed drawings are commissioned.
We establish the brief, site conditions and likely approval route before fixing the design. Once the spatial approach is agreed, the work can progress into coordinated information for planning, structural input and Building Regulations without treating those stages as separate design exercises.
Leeds City Council directs householder applicants to its Householder Design Guide and application requirements. We check the property history and relevant constraints, then develop the proposal against the applicable guidance. The planning route is assessed for the actual extension; it should not be assumed from the size alone. Council fees and any specialist evidence are identified separately from the architectural appointment.
Planning and Building Regulations are separate approval systems. We can prepare the architectural information for both, but every decision remains with the relevant authority or approved inspector.
Each commission is scoped around the decisions the client needs to make. Later stages are not assumed before the earlier evidence is understood.
We discuss the property, priorities, budget and programme, then identify the surveys and early checks needed.
Options are tested in plan and three dimensions before the agreed proposal is prepared for the appropriate approval route.
The approved design is developed with construction details and coordinated consultant information for Building Control and pricing.
Yes. We can develop the layout, external form and drawings for a kitchen extension, considering the existing rooms and garden alongside the new space. Share your address, photographs and brief so we can define the survey and design stages.
Our North East studio is at Acklam Hall, Middlesbrough. We support Leeds projects from that base, with travel, site visits and meetings agreed as part of the appointment.
Yes. The appointment can be divided into defined stages with separate fees. Planning design and technical design serve different purposes; the written proposal explains what each stage includes and what consultant information is needed.
The agreed scope may include a measured survey, design options, planning drawings and submission support, followed by Building Regulations drawings. The fee proposal identifies the stages included. Construction, structural engineering, authority fees and specialist reports are separate, and we do not provide site project management.
Tell David about your property in Leeds, what you want to change and what matters most. We will help you identify a useful first step.
North East studio · Acklam Hall, Middlesbrough
Site visits and meetings by arrangement.