Planning drawings, Lawful Development Certificates and Building Regulations packages for extensions, lofts and outbuildings across London, by one designer who stays with your application until it is decided. Fixed fee, in writing. If the council refuses, we revise and resubmit at no further design fee.
Indicative fee in two minutes. Written fixed-fee quote within 24 hours. Free and without obligation. Nothing to pay until you accept a written fee proposal.
Six services cover most London householder projects. Each has a fixed fee, a clear scope and the drawings its planning route needs.
A householder planning application is the full planning route for extending or altering a single house when permitted development does not apply. We prepare the drawings and statements, submit to your London borough and act as your agent until the 8-week decision. It is for homeowners whose extension, loft or alteration exceeds permitted development limits or sits in a conservation area or Article 4 area.
Read morePermitted development (PD) lets you extend or convert a house in England without planning permission, provided the work stays within set limits. A Lawful Development Certificate (LDC) is the council's written confirmation that your project qualifies. We check your PD rights, screen for Article 4 directions and conservation areas, and prepare the LDC drawings and application. It is for London homeowners who want certainty before they build.
Read moreBuilding Regulations drawings show how your extension or loft conversion will be built safely: structure, fire escape, insulation, ventilation, drainage and access. Planning decides whether you may build; this package satisfies building control and gives your builder something to price accurately. It is for London homeowners who have planning permission or an LDC and are ready to move towards construction.
Read moreA loft conversion adds a bedroom and bathroom to a London terrace or semi without losing garden. We design rear dormers, hip-to-gable, L-shaped dormer and mansard conversions, check them against the 40 m³ and 50 m³ permitted development limits, and prepare the LDC or planning application and Building Regulations drawings for a fixed fee. It is for homeowners across London who want the extra floor done lawfully and safely.
Read moreWe design and document single-storey and two-storey rear, side and wraparound extensions for London houses, from the permitted development check through LDC or planning application to Building Regulations drawings, for a fixed fee. It is for homeowners in any London borough who want a bigger kitchen, an extra bedroom or a reorganised ground floor with a clear route to permission.
Read moreWe supply London builders, contractors and design-and-build firms with planning and Building Regulations documentation that keeps projects on programme: white-label or co-branded drawings, fast fixed turnarounds, technical coordination with your engineer and building control, and repeat-client pricing. When unauthorised works turn up on site, we handle the retrospective regularisation too.
Read morePlanning documentation is the measured survey, existing and proposed drawings, statements and application forms your London borough needs to decide an extension, loft conversion or alteration. Magna Studio produces the full set for a fixed fee, submits it and acts as your agent until the decision. It is for homeowners across London who want a clear, low-risk route to permission rather than an open-ended design process.
Each step has a date attached, and a Building Regulations package follows if your project needs one.
Free initial chat
Tell us about your project online or on a 15-minute call. We tell you the likely planning route straight away.
Survey and feasibility
Measured survey and a check of permitted development rights, conservation-area and Article 4 status for your address.
Fixed-fee proposal
A written scope listing every drawing, what is excluded, and one fixed fee. Quote within 24 hours of the survey.
Drawings, submission, approval
Planning drawings in 2–3 weeks, submission within 2 working days of sign-off, and we handle officer queries until the decision.
Every set is drawn from a measured survey, checked against the council's validation checklist, and submitted through the Planning Portal by us as your agent.
Planning drawings are the architectural drawings the case officer assesses, scaled plans, elevations and sections; Building Regulations drawings are the technical set Building Control and your builder work from. Most projects need the first, many need both, and we quote each as a fixed fee. Applications go through the Planning Portal, the national service every English council accepts submissions from.
The standards we work to on every project, and what each one means for you.
One designer, from survey to decision
The designer who measures your house draws it, writes the planning case, submits it and answers the case officer. You have their direct line and hear from them at every stage, not from an account manager.
Drawn for your house, not adapted from the last one
Every set starts from our own measured survey and your council’s policies. Nothing is lifted from a template, because the officer reading it can tell, and so can the builder pricing it.
Our approval commitment
If a council refuses an application we designed and advised on, we revise the scheme in response to the reasons for refusal and resubmit it at no further design fee. We can make that commitment because every scheme is designed to the council’s own policies from the first line.
How the commitment worksTwo hundred applications of judgement
Our team has taken more than 200 householder applications through London and Home Counties councils. That is where the judgement about what an officer will accept comes from; it is not written in any guidance note.
Council-specific by design
We work across every London borough and the towns around the capital, and design to each council's policies, from Camden's basements to Woking's Green Belt. Our area pages show the homework.
Fixed fees, in writing, before you commit
One figure, listing every drawing and every exclusion. Nothing to pay until you accept it, and it does not change unless you change the brief.
One figure, in writing, before you commit. We do not publish a price list because the right fee depends on your property and your council; we do publish exactly what the fee covers.
Fees exclude VAT. Guides and area pages give rounded market ranges as background; your figure comes from the instant estimate and the written proposal.
Typical commissions, the constraints they meet and the planning route we would take. Each example links to the service and area involved.
Example projectL-shaped rear dormer loft conversion to a two-storey Victorian terrace, adding a double bedroom and en-suite within the 40 m³ permitted development allowance.
Typical route: Permitted development, proved with a Lawful Development Certificate
Example projectHip-to-gable roof extension with a rear dormer to an Edwardian semi-detached house in a Twickenham conservation area, creating a master bedroom and bathroom in the roof.
Typical route: Householder planning application in an Article 4 conservation area
Example projectFull-width single-storey rear extension, 3.5 m deep with three rooflights, to a Victorian terrace in a Highbury conservation area, creating an open kitchen and dining room.
Typical route: Householder planning application in a conservation area
Example projectTwo-storey rear extension with a single-storey side infill to a 1930s semi-detached house, adding a kitchen-dining room, a fourth bedroom and a family bathroom.
Typical route: Householder planning application for both storeys in one submission
Example projectSide-return infill and 3 m rear extension forming a wraparound kitchen-dining room on a Victorian terrace in a Kentish Town conservation area, with steelwork bearing on both party walls.
Typical route: Pre-application advice, then a householder planning application
Each area page covers local house types, conservation areas, Article 4 directions and what that council's officers look for.
Across the 46 councils we serve, the time to allow for a householder planning decision ranges from 8 to 16 weeks. The statutory period is 8 weeks everywhere; the difference is each council's recent record.
| Council | Allow for a decision | Pre-app advice | Article 4 | Conservation areas |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Camden | 12–16 weeks | Yes | Yes | around 40 |
| Hackney | 10–14 weeks | Yes | Yes | around 30 |
| Islington | 8 weeks statutory | Yes | Yes | around 40 |
| Wandsworth | 8 weeks statutory | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Richmond upon Thames | 8 weeks statutory | Yes | Yes | 85 |
| Watford | 8–12 weeks | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Statutory decision period is 8 weeks everywhere; the range is what each council's recent record suggests you allow. All 46 councils, dated and sourced, also as JSON.
Not always. A single-storey rear extension on a London house is usually permitted development if it projects no more than 3 m (terraced or semi-detached) or 4 m (detached) and stays under 4 m high; deeper extensions to 6 m or 8 m go through the larger home extension prior approval route. You will need a full householder application (8 weeks, £528) if the property is a flat or maisonette, if an Article 4 direction or conservation area removes the right, or if the design exceeds the limits. We check your address and the planning history before quoting.
In England a householder planning application and a Lawful Development Certificate both have a statutory decision period of 8 weeks from validation. Prior approval for a larger home extension takes 42 days and Class MA prior approval 56 days. Before submission, we book the measured survey within 1 week, issue planning drawings 2–3 weeks after the survey and submit within 2 working days of your sign-off, so from first call to a validated application is typically four to five weeks.
Yes. Magna Studio is based in London and prepares planning and Building Regulations documentation across every London borough and the towns around the capital, from Watford, St Albans and Brentwood to Sevenoaks, Woking, Guildford and Windsor. Each council has its own Local Plan, design guidance and Article 4 directions, so we check the local rules for your address as the first step of every quote.
Answer six questions and we email you an indicative estimate straight away, with a written fixed-fee quote within 24 hours.
Free and without obligation. Nothing to pay until you accept a written fee proposal.
