House Extensions in Northampton
A town expanded by a development corporation at the same time as Milton Keynes, which means we already know half its houses.
Northampton is twenty five minutes up the M1 and a surprising amount of it was built the way Milton Keynes was, at the same time, by a development corporation with the same ideas. The Eastern District estates, Thorplands, Lings, Blackthorn, Rectory Farm, have the cavity walls, trussed roofs and Radburn layouts we work on every week at home. Around them is the older town: Victorian terraces in Abington, Kingsley and Far Cotton, Edwardian villas around Abington Park, and interwar semis at Kingsthorpe and Weston Favell.
So a rear extension in Northampton is either a job we could do in our sleep, on the seventies estates, or a period job on a terrace or a villa that needs the care period houses need. Both are regular work for us. West Northamptonshire Council is the planning and building control authority throughout.
The Eastern District, the terraces and the stone villages
On the Development Corporation estates the questions are access and the roof. Gardens often back onto footpaths rather than roads, so a digger may not reach the rear of the house and the groundworks get done by smaller means. Trussed roofs cannot be cut into without a design, so a two storey extension is married in with a proper valley or hip. The construction is otherwise straightforward and the foundations are usually consistent, which makes the engineer’s life easier.
The terraces around Abington and Kingsley are solid wall with a rear addition and a side return, and they extend the way any Victorian terrace does: the party wall considered early, the timber lintels checked, and a matched brick rather than a modern one. Out in the villages, Hardingstone, Wootton, Milton Malsor, Blisworth, the older cottages are ironstone and several of the villages are conservation areas, so matching and consents come into it. General local guidance, confirmed for your property with the council or a planning professional.
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House extensions we have built
Our own photographs, some mid build, because that is where you can see how a job was put together. More on the projects page.
Typical works can include
Every project in Northampton is different. Depending on the agreed scope, works may include:
- Site setting out, excavation and muck away
- Foundations, oversite, drainage runs and inspection chambers
- Cavity blockwork and matched facing brickwork
- Steel beams and padstones to the engineer’s calculations
- Flat or pitched roof, insulation, membranes and rainwater goods
- Bifold, sliding or French doors, windows and roof lanterns
The full list, and how we run the job, is on the main house extensions page.
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Questions from Northampton
Is Northampton within your area?
Yes. Northampton, Wootton, Grange Park, Hardingstone and the villages south of the town towards Roade and Towcester are all within our regular area. It is a short run up the M1 and we have always taken on extensions there.
My Northampton house has a trussed roof. Can I still have a two storey extension?
Yes. The trusses cannot be cut to let a new roof in, but the new roof can be designed to sit against or over them with its own structure, and the engineer details the junction. It is routine on the seventies estates in Northampton and Milton Keynes alike; it just has to be designed rather than improvised on site.
Will I need planning permission for my extension?
Often not. A single storey rear extension can usually go to 3 metres on a semi or terrace and 4 metres on a detached house under permitted development, with a 4 metre height limit and a tighter one within 2 metres of the boundary. You also cannot cover more than half the land around the original house.
The Larger Home Extension route can take those depths further, but it requires prior approval from Milton Keynes City Council before work starts and that process takes time. Conservation areas, listed buildings and properties that have had permitted development rights removed are all different again.
This is general guidance rather than planning advice, and the position depends entirely on your property and what has been built before. We can flag the likely requirements at the first visit and advise when confirmation should be obtained from the council or an appropriate professional.
How long will the work take?
It depends on the job, and anyone who gives you a number without seeing the house is guessing. As a rough guide: a bathroom is two to three weeks, a kitchen refit two to four, a single storey rear extension is usually ten to fourteen weeks from breaking ground, and a full house renovation runs three to six months depending on scale.
Weather, Building Control inspections and lead times on windows, doors and kitchens all move those numbers. We build realistic float into the programme rather than promising a date we cannot hold.
Other work we do in Northampton
House extensions nearby
Also covering Wootton Hardingstone Collingtree Milton Malsor Blisworth Roade Grange Park Kingsthorpe Weston Favell Duston Moulton
Planning house extensions in Northampton?
Send a few photographs and tell us what you have in mind. We will come and look, and the written quotation costs nothing.