01 · YOUR HOME ARCHITECTS
Residential architects in Kensington and Chelsea.
Fixed fees, clear process.
Design, planning, building regulations and the contract on site, from a RIBA Chartered practice. Every service priced before you commit.
PLANNING AUTHORITY
Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea
02 · THE PRACTICE
Design to completion, from a RIBA Chartered practice.
Your Home Architects is a service offered by Vision and Design, RIBA Chartered architects based in London. We set it up so London homeowners can see the whole job in advance, with the price for each service agreed before that service begins.
Architects Registration Board
Architect is a title protected by law in the United Kingdom. Only someone on the ARB register may use it. Registration requires seven years of education and examination, is renewed annually, and can be removed for professional misconduct.
ARB REGISTERED ARCHITECTS
RIBA Chartered practice
Registration is held by the practice, not just an individual. It requires a registered architect in charge, professional indemnity cover, a written complaints procedure and continuing professional development.
VISION + DESIGN LTD
Why the title matters to you
An architectural technologist or designer may be excellent, but is not accountable to a regulator. V+D are Chartered Architects, giving you a complaints route, a disciplinary body and mandatory professional indemnity cover.
COVER DETAILS ON REQUEST
03 · THE SERVICE
How we help homeowners in
Kensington and Chelsea.
Fixed-fee architectural services for London homeowners, in Kensington and Chelsea and every other borough, from a RIBA Chartered practice. Fixed fees matter here because the work needed before anything is drawn is greater than almost anywhere in London. Around three quarters of the borough is a conservation area, most streets carry additional local rules, and every basement needs permission. We establish exactly what your address allows first, then price each stage before it starts.
We work on constrained and protected houses, where the answer depends on the street rather than the rulebook. Address check, design, planning and listed building applications, building regulations and the builder's contract, each stage priced before it begins.
04 · PUBLISHED FEES
Fixed fee, stage by stage.
Start with a free report. Instruct the next service only when you want to. Priced on how constrained the site is, not on how ambitious you are.
Straightforward work, straightforward pricing
01 · PLANS
Simple plans from only £1,450
• Permitted development only
• Plans and certificate application
• One design revision included
View full fees
02 · PLANS + REGS
Plans + building regulations from £2,950
• Everything in Simple plans
• Building regulations application
• Builder-ready technical drawings
View full fees
Not sure whether your project needs planning permission? The free report answers that first, at no cost.
Everything else, priced by band
BAND A
Unrestricted property · from £2,500
• Householder Application
• No listing or conservation designation
• From £2,500 for design and planning
View band fees
BAND B · MOST COMMON
Constrained property · from £4,000
• Conservation area
• More detailed planning coordination
• From £4,000 for design and planning
View band fees
BAND C
Complex property · from £5,500
• Listed, complex, or highly constrained
• Specialist consent and coordination
• From £5,500 for design and planning
View band fees
A short conversation about your house fixes the figure for each stage before anything starts.
*Every service is separately instructed and separately priced. Most projects begin with the free report.
**Structural engineers, party wall surveyors, Building Control and builders are appointed directly by you and are not included.
05 · START WITH YOUR ADDRESS
A free property report for London homeowners.
Enter your address and we will tell you whether your home is listed, sits in a conservation area or falls under an Article 4 direction, what you are allowed to build without planning permission, and what your neighbours have already been allowed to build.
Free · Within 48 hours · No obligation
What your report covers
• Listed status, conservation area and Article 4 direction
• What you can build without planning permission, specific to your house
• Your likely planning route
• Existing footprint, plot outline and planning history
• Flood zone, tree preservation orders and decided applications nearby
Download a sample report.
See the address check before you ask us to prepare one for your home.
06 · YOUR ADDRESS, NOT THE AVERAGE
What we check before anything is drawn.
IS YOUR STREET PROTECTED?
38 conservation areas cover close to three quarters of the borough, including The Boltons, Cheyne, Hans Town, the Ladbroke Estate, Norland and Kensington Square. In these areas the council controls changes that affect how a street looks, and materials and proportions carry real weight.
WHAT EXTRA RULES APPLY HERE?
Most streets carry additional local rules that remove the right to change windows, doors, front elevations and roofs without permission. Separately, the council removed the right to dig any basement without permission in 2016, borough-wide.
WHAT KIND OF HOUSE IS IT?
Georgian and Victorian stucco and red brick terraces, and mansion blocks. A very high proportion of homes here are flats, particularly around South Kensington, and flats have none of the automatic rights to extend that houses do.
WHAT PEOPLE USUALLY BUILD HERE
Single-storey rear extensions with glazed links to the garden, basements, and roof and mansard alterations. Roof work is the most commonly refused, because the roofline of a terrace is usually the thing the protection exists to preserve.
ANYTHING ELSE THAT AFFECTS YOUR SITE
Basements are limited to one storey under no more than half the garden, and every application needs an engineer's statement setting out how the work will be carried out safely. Reference: Local Plan Policy CL7 and the Basements SPD, April 2016.
07 · CHECK IT YOURSELF
Estimate your London extension cost.
Estimate your full project cost — build, interior fit-out, regulatory and professional fees, contingency and VAT — calibrated for Inner and Outer London.
London extension cost calculator
Open calculator
08 · COMMON QUESTIONS
Do I need planning permission to extend in Kensington and Chelsea?
Usually, yes. About three quarters of the borough is a conservation area, and many streets carry additional local rules on top of that. The allowances that let people elsewhere extend without asking often do not apply here, so check your address before assuming anything.
Can I build a basement here?
Only with planning permission. The council removed the automatic right to dig one in 2016, so every basement needs an application. You can go down one storey, under no more than half the garden, with an engineer's method statement setting out how it will be built safely.
What gets refused most often here?
Changes to the roof. Mansards and roof extensions are refused more often than anything else here, because the even roofline of a terrace is usually the thing the protection exists to preserve. Designing to the terrace rather than to the maximum allowance is what gets these approved.
07 · CONSULTATION
Book a consultation.
Thirty minutes with a registered architect. Free, and nothing is committed.