Long rear gardens are why people extend in Oakwood, and the trees around them are why the foundations need thinking about first. GS Renovation builds rear, side and wrap around extensions throughout N14, handling groundworks, steel, roof and fit out as one job, with Enfield Council building control inspecting each stage as the work proceeds.
Depth, height and the wide N14 plot
On these plots the constraint is rarely space. Under permitted development a single storey rear extension is limited to three metres on a semi and four on a detached house, with up to eight metres possible on a detached house through the larger home extension route, which needs prior approval from Enfield Council and a neighbour consultation before you build. Side extensions are treated less generously, particularly where filling the gap between two houses would close up the rhythm of a street laid out with space between every pair.
Double storey work brings the daylight rules on neighbouring windows into play and almost always needs a full application. We look hard at what the house has already had done to it, because a 1970s rear addition eats into the allowance and previous owners rarely leave the paperwork behind. Where a plot backs onto the open land north of Oakwood Park, designations can apply that change the policy position entirely, so we check the address against Enfield's mapping rather than assuming a street is all the same.
Foundations, clay and the trees behind Oakwood Park
This is where extension budgets move. Oakwood is on shrinkable London Clay, and where a mature tree stands within influencing distance the foundation goes deeper, sometimes considerably deeper than an optimistic quotation assumed. Depth is worked out from the species, its mature height and its distance from the trench, so on a garden with an old oak or a line of poplars near the boundary a two and a half or three metre trench fill footing is not unusual, with compressible board to the sides where heave is a risk.
That is a cost worth knowing at quotation stage rather than discovering when the digger stops. We put in trial holes before pricing groundworks wherever a tree is anywhere near the footprint. Drainage matters just as much: plenty of these houses connect into a shared run, and where an extension crosses what is now a public sewer you need a build over agreement from Thames Water, which takes time to obtain. We apply for that early, so it is never the thing holding up the slab.
- Scaffolding, site set-up and safe access on tight London plots
- Foundations, groundworks and steel frames
- Flat and pitched roofs with rooflights or lanterns
- Party Wall Act notices for excavation near a neighbour's wall
- Side-return and rear extensions
The GS Renovation Difference in Oakwood
One team from the trial hole to the last coat of paint. We advise honestly on whether you are within permitted development or need a planning application to Enfield Council, price the groundworks from what the ground actually shows rather than a guess, and keep building control inspections and any Thames Water build over agreement moving in parallel with the build instead of behind it.
- Honest updates if a date or a detail has to move
- Weathertight shell reached before the fit-out begins
- Rated 4.9 from 31 reviews on MyBuilder
- One point of contact on the phone, not a call centre
- Garden levels and access made good where the build meets outside
- Brick and mortar matched to the existing elevation