House Extensions in Towcester
A Roman road town in a stone county, and the first place north of us where the planning authority changes.
Five star
Google reviews
£5m
Public liability
10+
Years’ trade experience
Family run
Milton Keynes based
Towcester is West Northamptonshire Council territory, and it looks it. The town centre along Watling Street is Georgian brick with a conservation area over it. The villages around it, Greens Norton, Silverstone, Abthorpe, Blakesley, are Northamptonshire ironstone and limestone, warm coloured stone that needs lime mortar and a mason who has laid it before. Then the south of the town is new: Towcester Vale, Wood Burcote and the housing along the bypass, all of it cavity built in the last few years.
So an extension here is either a stone job in a village, a brick job in the town, or a straightforward rear extension on a new estate where the main question is whether permitted development rights were removed when the estate was approved. They often were. We check.
Typical works can include
Every project in Towcester 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.
Stone cottages and new estates in the same week
A rear extension on an ironstone cottage in one of the Towcester villages is a matching exercise as much as a building one. The stone comes from the right quarry, the coursing follows the existing wall, the pointing is lime, and the roof is usually a plain tile or a stone slate to match what is there. Several of the villages are conservation areas and a good number of the cottages are listed, which means listed building consent alongside planning permission and usually a conservation architect on the drawings. We are happy to build to those.
The new estates are the reverse: nothing to match but the developer’s brick, and a set of planning conditions that may remove the usual permitted development rights. The foundations on the newer housing are generally deep and well recorded, which makes the design of the extension foundations easier. West Northamptonshire Council is the authority for planning and building control throughout. General local guidance, confirmed on the visit.
Attentive and professional. The final work was exactly as imagined and the attention to detail and finishing touches has made all the difference. Couldn’t recommend Charlie highly enough.
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.
Questions from Towcester
Can you extend a stone cottage in Silverstone or Greens Norton?
Yes. We match the stone, lay it in lime and follow the coursing of the existing wall so the join does not shout. If the cottage is listed, listed building consent is needed as well as planning permission, and a conservation architect is worth having on the drawings. Our stone cottage doorway project shows the kind of care that stone repair takes.
Is Towcester too far from Milton Keynes for you?
No. It is twenty minutes up the A5 and we are there regularly. For a job that lasts several weeks the travel makes very little difference to the cost, and it is well within the area we have always covered.
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 Towcester
House extensions nearby
Also covering Wood Burcote Greens Norton Silverstone Deanshanger Cosgrove Roade
Planning house extensions in Towcester?
Send a few photographs and tell us what you have in mind. We will come and look, and the written quotation costs nothing.