Kitchen Extensions Morden

A kitchen extension in Morden usually starts from an interwar house: 81% of homes here were built between 1919 and 1939, and 64% are terraced houses. That points to a single-storey rear extension across the back of the house, with a steel over the widened opening into the old kitchen. Semis and detached houses, 10% of the stock, leave space to wrap the extension round the side. We build the shell and fit the kitchen in one programme, working to your drawings and the consents you hold.

In Morden, 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 Morden: 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.

What a Morden terrace or semi can take at the back

A Morden terrace can take a single-storey rear kitchen extension, and the permitted development limit for any house that is not detached is three metres beyond the original rear wall. A detached house gets four metres. With prior approval, and outside designated land, those depths rise to six metres for terraces and semis and eight for detached houses. Measure from the original wall, not from an earlier lean-to or conservatory, because a previous owner's addition eats into the allowance.

Height is the other limit: a single-storey rear extension under permitted development cannot be taller than four metres. On a Morden terrace the neighbour may already have built out on the boundary, so the eaves and the gutter line of the new roof need thought before the steel and the joists are ordered. We check the drawn levels against the existing floor, the garden and the drains at survey, so the kitchen floor runs level through the new opening without a step.

Housing in Morden

Morden counts roughly 9,990 homes for Council Tax; 2% are older than 1919, 81% interwar and 17% post-war, with 25% flats and 75% houses. 64% of homes here are terraced; a terrace kitchen extension in Morden starts in a narrow side return.

Thames Water sewers behind Morden houses and the application route

Whether a sewer runs near the back of the house decides the paperwork for a Morden kitchen extension. Merton requires a full plans submission before work starts if the extension falls within 3 metres of a Thames Water sewer, and its building notice route is only open to domestic work clear of that distance. A drain shared by a row of terraced houses can be a public sewer even with no manhole in your own garden, so the sewer map and a drainage survey come before the drawings are finished.

On a full plans application Merton issues a decision within five weeks, or at most two months if agreed, and work may begin once 48 hours notice of commencement has been given. We plan the Morden programme around that: the skip, the groundworkers and the steel delivery are booked for after the notice period, not before. Starting early is at the owner's risk, and a drain that has to be diverted is far easier to deal with on paper than in an open trench.

Inspections, drainage and the kitchen fit-out in Morden

The Morden inspections follow the build, so we sequence the work to be ready for each one. Merton's example stages for an extension include excavation for foundations, the oversite, and new walls with below ground drainpipes. The drainage for the new sink, dishwasher and rainwater has to be laid and left visible for the visit that covers new walls and drains, so the kitchen layout is fixed before the slab goes in, not after the units arrive.

Once the shell is watertight the kitchen goes in as part of the same Morden programme: first fix plumbing and electrics, plaster, floor, then units, worktop template and appliances. A registered electrician certifies the new circuits. Roof lights over the deepest part of the plan bring daylight to the back of the old room, and their position is set against the ceiling joists at framing stage. Keep the completion certificate, because Merton advises you will need it when you sell.

Upper Morden, flats and side extensions in Morden

Houses in the Upper Morden Conservation Area, which Merton designated in 1986, sit on designated land. On designated land such as a conservation area, every side extension needs householder planning permission, so a side infill or a wraparound there needs a householder planning application rather than relying on permitted development. The drawings for that application need more care over brick, roof pitch and windows, and we price the Morden job to the approved materials, not to a substitute.

Flats are 25% of homes in Morden, and householder permitted development rights for extensions apply to houses only, not to flats or maisonettes. A ground floor flat owner who wants a kitchen extension therefore needs planning permission, and a leaseholder also normally needs the freeholder's consent under the lease. Reworking the existing kitchen inside its walls needs no planning permission, although the lease may still ask for consent, and we can quote that as a separate refit.

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 Merton Council, and doing it without consent is a criminal offence.

• Cooker hood extraction ducted through the roof or flank wall
• Sliding, bifold and steel-framed glazed doors to the garden
• The kitchen itself fitted under the same contract as the build

VOA Council Tax stock of properties, March 2025, for Morden Central, Lower Morden and St Helier North. Counts rounded by the VOA.

For the wider picture around kitchen extensions in Morden, see kitchen renovation in Morden, kitchen extensions across Merton, a side return kitchen infill, how building control inspects an extension, kitchen extensions across London and Extend or Move?.

Why Choose GS Renovation in Morden

We build the kitchen extension and the kitchen as one job, so one team is responsible from the footings to the last worktop joint in your Morden house. The structural engineer we appoint sizes the steel over the new opening, and we give you a written programme that shows each inspection stage before the work starts. You get a written quotation after a site visit, with the kitchen units and the build priced together. Your designer or architect prepares the drawings and applications, and we build to them.

• One contract for the groundworks, the steel and the kitchen fit
• Building control and Part P certificates handed over together at the end
• Building control applications and inspections coordinated for you

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.