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.
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.
More useful space, better daylight and a clearer relationship with the garden.
Explore the serviceRoof-space feasibility, stair layouts and technical design for a more capable home.
Explore the serviceSite-led design and early feasibility for replacement homes and small developments.
Explore the serviceA proportionate planning route supported by clear drawings and local context.
Explore the serviceCoordinated technical drawings that carry the approved design into detail.
Explore the serviceEarly appraisal of access, constraints, capacity and likely consultant input.
Explore the servicePlanning-led layouts for HMOs, flat conversions and other residential changes of use.
Explore the serviceA 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.
Share the postcode, project type and what you would like to achieve. The form records this location page so we can review the right local context.
You can also contact the North East studio or use the fee calculator.