Colindale contains two very different kitchen problems. On the interwar estate semis it is a narrow room across half the rear width with a garage beside it, and the answer is to widen before deepening. On the garden-village cottages it is a genuinely small house on a modest plot, where the honest question is whether to extend at all or to make the existing plan work properly.
It depends which house you have. On an interwar estate semi, width before depth: take the garage or side gap to bring the kitchen to the full width of the house, then add two or three metres of depth to make that width work. On a garden-village cottage, test reconfiguring before extending — on a small house with a short garden, moving the kitchen to the light and rebuilding the storage often beats adding area.
Planning at a glance
Colindale
Planning at a glance in Colindale
Local planning authority
Barnet
Likely approval route
Householder planning application or permitted development, depending on conservation status, listing and property type — confirmed for the exact address before drawings begin
Statutory determination time
8 weeks for most householder applications (13 weeks for major applications)
Where most projects start
Planning Route Review — £395 inc. VAT, credited in full against your package if you proceed. Find my package →
On the estate semis the original plan is the problem. A front reception room, a rear reception room, and a kitchen occupying about half the width at the back with a door between it and everything else. Extending straight back makes that kitchen longer without making it wider, which reproduces the original awkwardness at greater cost and consumes garden to do it. Taking the garage or the side passage brings the room to the full width of the house, placing it directly beside the rear reception room so the structural opening between them is short. Two or three metres of added depth on top of that is usually enough to make the width work.
On a garden-village cottage the arithmetic is different and worth testing honestly. These are small houses on modest plots laid out around shared open space, and a rear extension of two or three metres takes a meaningful share of a short garden while pushing the original rear window into the middle of the plan where it lights nothing. Frequently the better project is internal: relocating the kitchen to the brightest part of the ground floor, opening the rear room properly with a correctly sized structural opening, building storage into the walls as full-height joinery, and improving the rear glazing. That usually needs no planning permission and on a small cottage changes daily life more than an extension would.
Wherever the project lands, the technical questions are the same. Part F of the building regulations requires mechanical extract at a defined rate for a kitchen, which a recirculating hood does not provide, so a duct must reach an external face — and on a semi the flank wall usually gives a shorter, quieter run than going the full depth to the rear. Drainage on these estates is generally better recorded than on Victorian streets, but building over or within three metres of a public sewer still requires a build-over agreement with Thames Water.
Foundations are the largest cost variable. Clay soil requires deeper foundations, and the depth increases substantially near trees — existing ones and any removed within recent years, since ground dried by a mature tree for decades can heave for a long time afterwards. On estate plots with mature garden or verge trees, a site investigation at feasibility converts the largest open contingency into a figure.
Local analysis
What matters in Colindale
When reconfiguring beats extending on a small cottage
It is worth an architect saying plainly that on some Colindale cottages the extension is not the right project. On a small house with a short garden, adding two or three metres takes a real proportion of the outdoor space, pushes the original rear window into the middle of the plan where it lights nothing, and produces a room that only works because you have then spent money relighting it with rooflights. The alternative is to spend a similar budget making the existing plan work: moving the kitchen to the brightest part of the ground floor, opening the rear room with a properly sized structural opening rather than an optimistic lintel, rebuilding the storage as full-height joinery designed into the walls, replacing the rear glazing with something taller and better proportioned, and improving the floor build-up and heating so the space is genuinely pleasant. On a designated cottage that project also avoids the planning question entirely, because internal work is generally not a planning matter. It takes a fraction of the time on site, leaves the garden intact — which on a short plot is worth more than the floor area — and on a house of this scale frequently produces the better result. We price both at feasibility with real plans so the comparison is concrete rather than rhetorical.
Designing a rear extension where the context is changing
Colindale is a designated growth area, and that creates a set of considerations for a householder extension that do not arise in a settled suburb. Where a larger development has been built or consented nearby, the daylight reaching your garden and the back of your house may already be different from what it was, and it may change again — so a rear extension designed on the assumption of open sky behind it can end up in permanent shade. It is worth checking what is consented on adjoining and nearby land before fixing the depth and the glazing strategy, because the council’s planning register shows what has been approved even where nothing has yet been built. Overlooking works both ways too: a new block with windows facing your garden changes where a glazed rear elevation is comfortable to sit behind, and may make a rooflight-led scheme with a more private rear opening preferable to a full-width glass wall. There are practical construction consequences as well. Where a large site is active nearby, contractor parking and deliveries need planning in advance, particularly under controlled parking, and the availability and pricing of local trades can move in either direction. None of this constrains what you are permitted to build; it affects what is sensible to build, which is a different and more useful question at design stage.
Thinking about a project in Colindale?
Send the address and a short description. We will confirm the likely approval route and the drawings your project needs.
A single-storey rear extension on an undesignated semi-detached or detached house can fall within Class A permitted development, and the prior approval procedure allows a materially deeper one subject to neighbour notification. Class A also permits a single-storey side extension within width and height limits.
On designated land those allowances reduce and side extensions drop out. Roe Green and Buck Lane are Brent designations where Article 4 coverage of residential conservation areas applies as a matter of policy; The Watling Estate is a Barnet designation with its own position.
Where a garage conversion is combined with a rear extension, the two interact for permitted development purposes and the combined result is assessed as a whole. That is checked before either element is treated as permitted.
Rear extensions are the part of a kitchen project least affected by an estate designation on a conventional street, because rear elevations are seen mainly from private gardens. On a garden village arranged around shared open space that assumption is weaker, and rear work can be more visible than expected.
Where the project widens into a garage, the change to the front elevation is the element assessed, and matching brick, bond, mortar and window alignment determines whether it is supported.
On a uniform run the depth of neighbouring rear extensions establishes a pattern, and matching an established line is considerably easier to argue than exceeding it.
For the wider local-authority picture — policies, timescales and application routes — see planning in Barnet.
Do I need planning permission for a kitchen extension in Colindale?
Often not on an undesignated house, where Class A permitted development covers a single-storey rear extension and a side extension within the width limits, and prior approval allows a deeper rear extension subject to neighbour notification. Within Roe Green or Buck Lane, Brent’s Article 4 coverage applies; within The Watling Estate the Barnet position governs. The check runs against whichever council covers the address.
Should I extend to the side or the rear?
On an estate semi, side first. The plan puts a narrow kitchen across half the rear width with a garage or passage beside it, so extending back makes the kitchen longer without making it wider. Taking the side space brings the room to the full width, places it beside the rear reception room and uses land contributing little. Modest added depth then makes that width work.
Is it worth extending a small garden-village cottage?
Often not, and it is worth testing properly. On a small house with a short garden, adding two or three metres takes a real share of the outdoor space and pushes the original rear window into the middle of the plan. Reconfiguring instead — moving the kitchen to the light, opening the rear room properly, building storage into the walls — usually produces a better house, avoids the planning question and leaves the garden intact.
Can I convert the garage and extend at the same time?
Yes, and it usually gives the best plan, but design it as one project. The permitted development position is assessed on the combined result. The flank wall opening, the rear wall removal and the corner where they meet form one structural problem best solved with a frame. And the garage floor build-up has to finish flush with the extension slab and the existing house, which is decided at design stage.
Where should the extract duct go?
On a semi you usually have two options, and the flank wall often gives the better one. Part F requires mechanical extract at a defined rate for a kitchen, which a recirculating hood does not meet, so a duct must reach an external face. The flank route is typically shorter and quieter than running the full depth to the rear, which is worth exploiting rather than defaulting to the back of the house.
How deep will the foundations be?
Deeper than on gravel, because much of this area sits on clay which shrinks and swells with moisture content. The depth increases substantially near trees, and ground where a large tree was removed in recent years can still be heaving. A site investigation at feasibility informs the design and turns the largest budget variable into a known figure rather than an open contingency.
How deep have my neighbours extended?
Worth establishing, because on a uniform run the depth of neighbouring rear extensions sets a pattern. Matching an established line is considerably easier to argue than exceeding it, whether the route is a planning application or prior approval where a neighbour can object. We survey the neighbouring rear building line at feasibility rather than relying on what the maximum allowance would permit.
What does a kitchen extension architect in Colindale charge?
We publish fixed-fee packages rather than quoting a percentage before seeing the house, beginning with a route review establishing the authority, the designation and the remaining allowance. Later stages cover the certificate, prior approval or planning drawings, then building regulations and tender information. Structural engineering, site investigation, drainage surveys and council fees sit outside the architectural fee.
How much does a kitchen extension cost in Colindale?
Fees for kitchen extensions in Colindale follow scope, consent complexity and whether freeholder or specialist input is required. Published packages start from a fixed fee once scope is clear; council, engineer and freeholder surveyor fees are usually separate. See our packages page for current fixed-fee bands — we confirm a fee only after the address and proposed work are understood.
Discuss a kitchen extension in Colindale
Send your Colindale address, photographs of the rear elevation, the garage or side passage and the existing kitchen. We will model width-first against depth-first, or reconfiguring against extending on a smaller house, confirm the consent route and set out the fixed-fee stage that follows.
