01 · YOUR HOME ARCHITECTS
Residential architects in Westminster.
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
Westminster City Council
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
Westminster
Fixed-fee architectural services for London homeowners, in Westminster and every other borough, from a RIBA Chartered practice. Westminster is the most protected place to own a home in the country: around 78 per cent of it is a conservation area and it holds some 11,000 listed buildings. Most homes here are flats rather than houses, so the work is usually reordering what you already have rather than extending outwards. We establish what your building allows first, then price each stage before it starts.
Most of our work here is inside the building: reworking flats and mansion block apartments, and the applications needed where the building is listed. That includes the survey of what is actually there and the heritage report the council will judge it on.
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?
Around 57 conservation areas cover roughly 78 per cent of the city, including Mayfair, Marylebone, Belgravia, Pimlico, St John's Wood and Maida Vale. In these areas the council controls anything that changes how a building looks from the street.
WHAT EXTRA RULES APPLY HERE?
Since 2016 nobody in the borough can dig a basement without permission. Other rules restrict converting commercial buildings to homes in the centre, which does not affect ordinary householders.
WHAT KIND OF HOUSE IS IT?
Overwhelmingly flats, maisonettes and mansion blocks, with around 11,000 listed buildings and structures. If you own a house here rather than a flat, you are in a small minority.
WHAT PEOPLE USUALLY BUILD HERE
Rear and roof extensions on the houses that remain, basements, and internal reordering of flats and listed buildings, which is the bulk of the work here.
ANYTHING ELSE THAT AFFECTS YOUR SITE
Basements are limited to one storey under no more than half the garden, and are generally not permitted at all on listed buildings. Parts of the river frontage at Pimlico and Millbank sit in a flood zone. Reference: City Plan Policy 45 and the basement SPD.
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 permission to alter my home in Westminster?
Almost certainly. About 78 per cent of Westminster is a conservation area, and it has around 11,000 listed buildings, more than anywhere else in England. Most homes here are flats, which have none of the automatic rights to extend that houses do.
I live in a mansion block. What can I actually do?
Usually internal work. Flats have none of the automatic rights that houses do, so anything external needs permission, and if the block is listed the interior needs consent too. Your freeholder's agreement is a separate matter from the council's.
Can I build a basement here?
Only with permission. Since 2016 nobody in Westminster can dig a basement without applying. You can go down one storey, under no more than half the garden, and listed buildings are generally excluded altogether.
07 · CONSULTATION
Book a consultation.
Thirty minutes with a registered architect. Free, and nothing is committed.