GS Renovation builds extensions across New Barnet, mostly side return infills and rear extensions on Victorian terraces where the plot is narrow but deeper than it looks. We handle the groundworks, the drainage, the steel, the roof and the fit out as one job, with Barnet Council planning and building control managed alongside.
Side returns and rear extensions in New Barnet
The side return of an EN4 terrace is a strip of ground beside the back addition that usually holds a drain, a couple of bins and nothing else. Infilling it widens the rear of the house across its full depth, and it is the single best value extension on this housing stock because the walls are largely there already. The roof is the detail that matters: a flat roof with a lantern or rooflights over the deepest part, laid to a proper fall, because the darkest point of the plan ends up furthest from the garden.
Foundations are the part that costs what it costs. You are digging within a metre or two of a neighbour's wall on both sides, often against a boundary wall of unknown depth, and there may be a mature street tree on the road frontage that pushes the depth further. We dig trial holes rather than assume. Where the existing footings are shallow, and in a New Barnet terrace they frequently are, the engineer will specify stepping down or an underpinning sequence rather than trenching alongside and hoping.
Planning, drains and party walls in EN4
Many single storey rear extensions on a terrace fall within permitted development, but a terraced house gets tighter limits than a semi and any earlier extension counts against your allowance. Barnet Council decides, and we advise applying for a lawful development certificate where the scheme goes ahead without a full application, because a buyer's conveyancer will want that evidence. Anything double storey, or a wrap around, or a property that has already been extended, usually needs a planning application. We check the property's history before drawings are commissioned.
Two consents catch people out on New Barnet terraces. The first is drainage: the rear of these houses often has a shared foul drain running along the back or a manhole in the middle of where you want to build, so a build over agreement with Thames Water is needed before work starts. The second is the Party Wall etc. Act 1996, since excavating foundations within three metres of a neighbour's structure triggers a notice with one month to run, and you have neighbours on both sides.
- Architectural drawings and structural engineer coordination
- Side-return and rear extensions
- Trial holes to set foundation depth near drains and trees
- Bi-fold, sliding and French door openings to the garden
- Planning applications and permitted development assessments
Why Choose GS Renovation in New Barnet
New Barnet extensions are won or lost underground, on drains, foundations and boundaries, which is where a structural contractor earns its keep. GS Renovation digs trial holes, appoints the engineer, arranges the Thames Water build over agreement, prepares the information for your party wall notices to both neighbours and runs Barnet building control through to certificate. Founder led, with 30+ years of hands-on experience.
- Weathertight shell reached before the fit-out begins
- Neighbours given notice before the noisy stages
- Building control applications and inspections coordinated for you
- Honest updates if a date or a detail has to move
- Registered in England, Companies House no. 14611254
- Building control inspected at foundation, damp course and steel stages