Kitchen Extensions Battersea

A kitchen extension in Battersea is a smaller market than the size of the place suggests. 91% of homes here are flats and 9% are houses, and a flat has no householder permitted development rights, so any extension to it needs planning permission. The houses are mainly terraced, 7% of homes against 2% semi-detached or detached, and some sit on the Latchmere Estate, where an Article 4 direction brings extensions under planning control. We build the steel, drainage, glazing and the new kitchen as one programme.

In Battersea, a rear kitchen extension of about 30 square metres typically costs £45,000 to £97,500 excluding VAT, or £60,000 to £100,000 for a side return (indicative London ranges, Resi, MyBuilder and Checkatrade, 2026). GS Renovation Ltd, a building contractor based in Potters Bar, does the work in Battersea: the structural engineer we appoint designs the foundations and steel, we build the room and fit the kitchen, and a registered electrician certifies the electrics.

Which Battersea houses can take a kitchen extension

Terraced houses make up 7% of homes in Battersea and semi-detached or detached houses 2%, so the houses that can take one are mainly terraces. On a terrace the usual shapes are an infill of the side return beside the back addition, a rear extension across the full width, or both joined into a wraparound. Each one changes where the kitchen sits and how much light reaches the middle room. We look at the existing back addition, the neighbour's wall and the garden level before a layout is fixed.

The layout decision drives everything that follows on a Battersea terrace. A side return infill usually puts the new roof against the boundary wall, which brings the neighbour's side of the party wall into the conversation early. A full rear extension moves the kitchen sink and the gully further from the existing drain run. Settling which shape you want before the designer draws it saves a redesign once the structural engineer we appoint has seen the rear wall.

Housing in Battersea

The Council Tax list puts Battersea at about 33,740 homes, 91% flats against 9% houses; 19% went up before 1919, 4% between the wars and 76% after 1945. Only a ground floor flat in Battersea with its own garden can extend its kitchen, which matters here because most homes are flats.

The Latchmere Estate: where Article 4 removes the easy route

One Battersea estate changes the paperwork for a kitchen extension. Wandsworth lists the Latchmere Estate among its eight conservation areas with Article 4 Directions, and under the Latchmere Estate direction extensions to the house and porches at the front need planning permission. The council's appraisal describes the estate as one of the last remnants of traditional Battersea terraced housing between Battersea Park Road and the main railway line. Shaftesbury Park Estate is also on the council's Article 4 list, so check what its direction covers before you plan.

For you that means a rear kitchen extension on the Latchmere Estate goes through a householder application, not a lawful development route. Your designer prepares and submits it, and we price and programme from the approved drawings. Build the decision time into your plan: the steel order, the kitchen lead time and the start date all wait on the consent. Hold the kitchen order until the decision is in, so a condition on the design does not leave you with the wrong units.

How far a Battersea terrace can go without planning

Unless an Article 4 direction such as the Latchmere one removes the right, a Battersea terraced house has national permitted development rights for a single-storey rear extension, and a conservation area does not by itself take that away. The limit is three metres beyond the original rear wall for a house that is not detached. It rises to six metres under the prior approval process, but only outside Article 2(3) designated land, so not in a conservation area. Height is capped at four metres.

A listed building is the exception: work that affects its character, inside or out, including an extension or taking out a wall or chimney breast, needs listed building consent from Wandsworth Council, and doing it without consent is a criminal offence.

Side extensions work differently in Battersea conservation areas. On Article 2(3) designated land every side extension needs householder planning permission, so a side return infill in a conservation area street is an application, not a permitted development job. Elsewhere it is permitted development only within the national limits for a single-storey side extension. Wandsworth's Housing SPD, adopted in November 2016, gives detailed guidance on rear extensions, and your designer should draw to it. We check which route applies before we programme, because it sets when the site can open.

Steel, openings and building control for a Battersea kitchen

Opening the back of a Battersea terrace into a new kitchen means a steel beam, and its width can affect the building control charge. Wandsworth's extension charge includes forming an opening into the extension up to 1.5m wide, and an additional charge may apply for structural openings over 1.5m wide. A kitchen that opens across the full width of a terrace will need more than that, so allow for it when you compare prices and ask the designer to show the opening width on the drawings.

On site we sequence the work so the house stays usable for as long as possible. The foundations and drainage go in first, then the new walls and roof, with the steel installed once the extension is weathertight enough to open up. Roof lights and glazed doors go in before the rear wall comes out. Where Wandsworth is the building control body, it issues a completion certificate after a satisfactory final inspection. We notify completion once the kitchen and the electrical certificate are done, so the inspection covers finished work.

• Kitchen-diner layouts planned before the foundations
• Airbrick ducts to keep existing timber floors ventilated
• Island units with power and waste run through the slab

VOA Council Tax stock of properties, March 2025, for all 6 statistical areas in Battersea. Counts rounded by the VOA.

When comparing kitchen extensions in Battersea with other work, it helps to read kitchen renovation in Battersea, kitchen extensions across Wandsworth, a wraparound kitchen-diner, how building control inspects an extension, our London kitchen extensions page and Renovating a 1930s Semi.

Trusted Kitchen Extensions in Battersea

You get one team for the structure and the kitchen, so the drainage positions, the steel and the extraction route are fixed once and built to the same drawing. We work from the drawings your designer or architect has prepared and, where planning is needed, from the approved set. The structural engineer we appoint sizes the steel. We give you a written programme before the start, keep the site tidy for the neighbours, and hand over the building control paperwork with the finished kitchen.

• Screed left to dry before the kitchen floor finish goes down
• Materials priced at options, so you choose the finish
• Drains surveyed by camera before the footprint is fixed

Checked by Abdelaaziz Saaid, founder and director of GS Renovation Ltd (Companies House no. 14611254). Structural design is by the consulting engineer appointed to your project.