At Pennard Developments we recognise the growing need for space in urban areas, where land purchasing is ever more difficult. To add to that, the cost of moving up the ladder in London can seem very daunting and often impossible once you have thrown increased Stamp Duty into the mix. With impending elections and the on-going Brexit debate it is becoming clear that whichever party is going to lead us for the next four to eight years is unlikely to make property purchasing more affordable (unless you are a first time buyer) and therefore recognising the extension potential of your home is going to be integral to maximising both the spaces you live in and indeed the value of your home.

If you take a drive through any residential neighbourhoods such as Fulham or Kensington and Chelsea you will see scores of hoarding demarking the pavement from somebody’s extension project or renovation. What we don’t see is those homes that have been untouched, those which haven’t had a professional eye casted over them. A larger percentage of us live in homes with extendable potential than you would think.  Please let us talk you through a few options you may not have thought of.

Side-returns….

Not to be mistaken for a term used to classify the return you get to the side of your cash you have deposited on the stock exchange. A ‘side-return’ is an under-developed piece of land across London and other urban areas. It is that strip of land running alongside the back of your ground floor apartment, which in turn leads on to the useable part of your rear garden. On a typical Fulham Victorian Conversion apartment there is anywhere between 80-100 sq.ft of land that could be internalised here and without detracting from your useable garden. The equivalent of a standard double bedroom or a generous dining room…

Loft conversion

I’ll give you a clue, you visit this space once a year to retrieve your fake Christmas Tree and decorations. Perhaps one other time a year to source a leak or a draft after a good old British storm. Yes, indeed, it’s your junk filled loft. Perhaps the simplest of all spaces to re-create within a home. Not all lofts have the head room required to make them legal, use-able spaces but quite often where they don’t you have an option of creating a mansard roof line or indeed installing dormer windows. If you’re lucky, it’s a space ready to decorate and use simply by creating a staircase. Fancy being away from your teenage children or having your guests tucked up cosily away from the sofa bed? Do bear in mind that whilst re-aligning a roof is costly it might well be that your roof would require work at some stage in any event so you can balance off this cost with what you gain and it will, nine times out of ten be a tremendous, ‘think-not-twice about it’ investment.

Rear extension

An area of your land being classed under ‘Permitted Development’ meaning you may not even have to seek planning permission from your local authority. This is the space you extend into your garden to make your kitchen into a kitchen/family room or such like. Perhaps to create space for a separate utility by re-organising and wave goodbye to those hours spent watching films to the continual ping-pong of a coin spinning in the drum.