Kitchen Extensions Fulham

A kitchen extension in Fulham is built onto a terraced house or out from a ground floor flat, because that is what the stock is. The VOA list counts 22% of homes here as terraced houses and just 2% as semi-detached or detached, while 76% are flats. On an SW6 terrace that means a side return infill or a short rear addition on a narrow plot, with a steel carried into old brickwork, new drainage under the floor and the kitchen fitted in the same programme.

In Fulham, 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 Fulham: 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 kitchen extension a Fulham terrace or flat can have

The kitchen extension a Fulham home can have depends first on whether it is a house or a flat. Householder permitted development for extensions applies to houses only, not to flats and maisonettes, so a garden flat owner needs planning permission for any rear addition. With 76% of homes in Fulham being flats, that rule reaches a large part of the stock, and the freeholder's consent under the lease usually sits alongside it.

For a terraced house the national limit for a single-storey rear extension is three metres beyond the original rear wall, and four metres in height. The larger allowance of six metres for a house that is not detached needs prior approval and is not available on Article 2(3) designated land. Measure from the original rear wall, not the current one, because an earlier back addition may already have taken part of the allowance.

Housing in Fulham

About 24,310 homes are listed for Fulham, and the mix is 24% houses to 76% flats, with 39% built after 1945, 4% in 1919 to 1939 and 58% earlier. Most homes here are flats, and only a ground floor flat in Fulham with its own garden can extend its kitchen.

Conservation areas and Article 4 directions across the borough

Designation is often what decides whether your side return needs a planning application. Hammersmith and Fulham has 44 conservation areas covering about half of the borough, and every side extension on Article 2(3) land such as a conservation area needs householder planning permission. Outside designated land a single-storey side return can fall within the national limits, but one joined to a rear extension as a wraparound needs permission wherever it is. Check the council's conservation area map for your street before drawings start.

The council also lists property-specific Article 4 directions, and its list includes Central Fulham (1) and Central Fulham (2). A direction of this kind can take away rights a householder would otherwise have, so a house covered by one may need permission for works that look minor. Your designer checks the direction that applies to the address. We then build to the approved drawings, keeping the brick, roof form and glazing pattern the consent fixes.

Steel, drainage and inspections on an SW6 build

Opening the back of a Victorian or Edwardian terrace into a new kitchen means a steel beam and new drainage, and both are inspected. Hammersmith and Fulham's guidance says that even a Building Notice for an extension must include a set of structural calculations for all structural work, so the structural engineer we appoint sizes the beams and padstones before the old wall is opened. The steel then goes in on props, bearing on the padstones and foundations the engineer specifies.

The council's inspection stages include foundation excavations, covering of foundations, the damp proof course and membrane, and backfilling drain excavations. Most inspections need 1 day's notice, but drainage and completion inspections need 5 days' notice. We plan the dig, the drain run and the slab around those notice periods so the trench is not left open waiting for an inspector, which matters on a narrow terrace garden with no spare space.

Flood risk, party walls and the kitchen fit-out in one programme

Two thirds of the borough lies within a flood risk zone, and a planning application for a property in one needs a flood risk assessment with it. For a Fulham kitchen extension in one of those zones that needs permission, the assessment can shape the finished floor level, the threshold at the garden doors and where sockets and appliances sit. Settle those details with your designer early, because they carry through to the joinery drawings.

A side return or rear extension on a terrace is built on or close to the boundary with next door, and the council strongly recommends following the Party Wall Act 1996 before work starts. Serving notice is the building owner's job, so we give you the drawings and programme dates the party wall surveyor needs. Once the shell is watertight we move straight into first fix, plastering, floor and the kitchen fit-out, so one team carries the job from footings to worktops.

• Building control inspections from footings to completion
• Wet underfloor heating laid in the new screed
• Kitchen-diner layouts planned before the foundations

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

Once the kitchen extensions work in Fulham is scoped, people usually go on to read kitchen renovation in Fulham, kitchen extensions across Hammersmith and Fulham, fitting the kitchen itself, sign-off by building control on a kitchen extension, kitchen extensions across London and Side Return or Rear Extension.

Why Fulham Homeowners Choose GS Renovation

A kitchen extension joins structural work, drainage, glazing and a fitted kitchen, and each trade depends on the one before. We run all of it as one programme, from setting out and foundations through the steel and roof to the final kitchen fit. You deal with one contact who books the inspections, coordinates the structural engineer we appoint, and keeps the site tidy on a street where neighbours live either side. The founder has spent decades doing the hands-on building work himself.

• Boiler flue, soil pipe and gully moved off the rear wall in the right order
• Rooflights set out against the engineer's steel layout
• Clean, tidy and reliable tradespeople

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.