Kitchen Extensions Wembley

A kitchen extension in Wembley starts with the type of home, and houses are the smaller share here: VOA figures put 12% of homes as terraced houses and 16% as semi-detached or detached. An interwar semi here takes a rear or wraparound kitchen; a terrace in HA0 or HA9 takes a side infill where it has a side return, or a straight rear box. We build the shell, set the steel into the old back wall, run the drainage, and fit the kitchen in the same programme so one team hands you a finished room.

In Wembley, 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 Wembley: 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.

How deep a Wembley kitchen extension can go

Depth is set by two rulebooks, and in Wembley they give different answers. Under national permitted development a single-storey rear extension can go four metres beyond the original rear wall of a detached house and three metres on any other house, and no higher than four metres. With prior approval, and away from designated land, that rises to eight metres detached or six metres for a semi or terrace. Anything past those limits needs a householder planning application.

Brent's Residential Extensions and Alterations SPD is the test that application meets. It says a single storey rear extension to an attached home could be up to 6 metres from the original rear wall, subject to the planning officer's view of the effect on the neighbours. A two storey rear extension must be no deeper than 3 metres. On a Wembley semi that lets the kitchen go deeper on the ground floor than any bedroom above it. We price and programme to the depth your drawings settle on, and build to the consent line exactly, because a few hundred millimetres over is a breach.

Housing in Wembley

By the valuation list's count, Wembley holds about 17,140 homes, 29% houses and 71% flats; by age, 12% were built before 1919, 25% between the wars and 63% since 1945. Only a ground floor flat in Wembley with its own garden can extend its kitchen, which matters here because most homes are flats.

Wembley flats and the conservation area change the route

A flat in Wembley starts with no householder permitted development rights at all, because those rules cover houses only and not flats or maisonettes. VOA figures show 71% of homes here are flats, so this is a common starting point: a ground floor flat owner who wants a rear kitchen needs planning permission from the start. The garden and outside walls are often outside your demise, so the freeholder's consent, by licence to alter or a lease variation, is normally needed too. We plan the programme around the date both actually arrive.

Brent has 22 conservation areas and says all its residential ones are covered by article 4 directions. In Wembley itself the Wembley High Street Conservation Area, designated on 19 March 1990, has its own direction. On designated land every side extension needs householder planning, so a side infill that would be permitted development elsewhere needs an application first. Where a conservation area direction applies, a new garden shed, replacement roof tiles or taking down a chimney can also need permission, so a replacement garden store belongs in the same application.

Sewers, steel and building control on a Wembley rear wall

The first thing to find on a Wembley rear garden is the public sewer. Brent requires a full plans application for any extension built over, or within, three metres of a public sewer, so the quick building notice route is closed if the run passes near the back wall. We open the inspection chambers early and trace the run, so you know before the drawings are fixed whether the water company's build over agreement or a diversion is likely to be part of the job.

The steel is where the kitchen opens into the house. On an interwar Wembley semi the rear wall carries the brickwork above it and, in many houses, the ends of the first floor joists. A beam and padstones, specified by the structural engineer we appoint, take that load when the wall opens up. A padstone cut into the party wall is notifiable work under the Party Wall etc. Act, and the building owner serves the notices. Where Brent is the building control body it must have notice two days before work starts, and on approval it usually sends an Inspection Service Plan listing the stages it wants to see. We book each visit so foundations, steel and drainage are inspected before they are covered.

Glazing, roof lights and fitting the Wembley kitchen in one run

Daylight in a Wembley kitchen extension is decided at the shell stage, long before the units arrive. A rear box on a semi gets its light through the back wall and the roof, so roof lights sit between the joists the engineer's drawings have already set, and bifold or sliding doors need a beam sized for their span. Part L also limits how much glass an extension can have unless the designer shows the loss is made up elsewhere, so the glazing is settled before the roof goes on and the insulation line stays unbroken.

We run the kitchen fit-out in the same Wembley programme rather than handing over a bare shell. The waste positions, the extract route and the floor build-up for underfloor heating are fixed while the slab is open, so the units, worktops and appliances go in against walls that were planned for them. A registered electrician certifies the new circuits. Brent issues its completion certificate only after inspecting the site, so the final visit is booked once the extract and drainage are finished, and the snagging list covers the extension and the kitchen together.

• Foundations, drainage and slab with the kitchen services cast in
• Hob gas supply altered by a Gas Safe registered engineer
• Utility rooms and larders at the back of the extension

VOA Council Tax stock of properties, March 2025, for Wembley North, Wembley West, Wembley East and Wembley Park. Counts rounded by the VOA.

If you are weighing up kitchen extensions in Wembley, it may help to read kitchen renovation in Wembley, kitchen extensions across Brent, fitting the kitchen itself, sign-off by building control on a kitchen extension, how we handle kitchen extensions across London and Renovating a Victorian Terrace.

The GS Renovation Difference in Wembley

We build the whole extension and the kitchen inside it, so there is one programme, one site lead and one snagging list. Before the drawings are fixed we check the sewer run, the depth your house type allows and whether the house sits on designated land, so the build matches the consent. The structural engineer we appoint specifies the steel, we book each inspection with building control, and you receive a written quotation after a site visit.

• Photographs kept at each stage for your records
• Old kitchen kept in use until the new shell is weathertight
• Building control and Part P certificates handed over together at the end

Reviewed jobs near Wembley

1 MyBuilder review from Wembley, with each customer's own job title:

• Install new worktop, Wembley, 10 Jul 2024 (5 out of 5)

Read all 31 on our reviews page.

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.