A rear extension that finally gave a Ferndown kitchen some elbows

A 1970s semi with a galley kitchen, a dining room nobody used, and a family of five. We took out the back wall and started again.

The Bakers wanted one room to cook, eat and live in, which is the classic ask. What made it interesting was the level change: the existing floor sat 400mm above the garden, and they wanted to step straight out to the patio without a drop.

A shared drainage run crossed the footprint diagonally, and the neighbour’s conservatory came within 900mm of the boundary. We needed a build-over agreement from Wessex Water and a party wall notice before a spade went in. We handled both while the drawings were being finalised.

The extension runs the full width of the original rear elevation with a flat roof and three rooflights, keeping it comfortably inside permitted development. We lowered the new floor slab to garden level and stepped down internally, which turned the level problem into a deliberate feature. The seating area now sits two steps below the kitchen.