Loft conversions, house extensions, renovations, basements and new builds across London and Hertfordshire.
Services
Loft conversions, house extensions, renovations, basements and new builds across London and Hertfordshire.
Services
Loft conversions, house extensions, renovations, basements and new builds across London and Hertfordshire.
Services
Loft conversions, house extensions, renovations, basements and new builds across London and Hertfordshire.
Services
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Architectural design · London & Hertfordshire
Architectural design and planning drawings: from £750, by the people who build
By Anderson & the LCCL Construction Team
Finchley N3 · Design & build, LABC award winners 2024 and 2026
Every LCCL project starts with drawings — a measured survey, a concept, planning drawings and then the construction drawings the site team builds from. We provide architectural design as part of every design and build contract, and as a standalone service for clients who want planning drawings before they commit to a builder. This page explains what is in the service, what it costs in 2026, how long it takes and how it fits the planning routes for each project type.
Quick answer
Architectural design and planning drawings from £750 as a standalone service; included at no separate fee in every LCCL design and build contract.
We prepare and submit the application — Lawful Development Certificate, prior approval or full planning — as part of the service.
2–6 weeks from survey to submitted planning drawings; construction drawings follow approval.
A free 30-minute phone call with our team, no obligation.
Guide price
From £750
Typical time
2–6 weeks to planning drawings
Included in
Every design & build contract
Awards
LABC 2024 & 2026 winners
LABC Building Excellence Award 2024
Best Residential Extension in London — Bohun Grove, East Barnet EN4: rear extension, hip-to-gable loft conversion and whole-house renovation
LABC Building Excellence Awards 2026
London Regional Winner, Best Conversion or Alteration — Weech Road, Hampstead NW6: penthouse loft conversion and full renovation
One contract
Architecture, structural engineering, planning, construction and project management — all under one contract
Guaranteed & insured
12-month workmanship guarantee; 10-year LABC structural warranty
What architectural design from LCCL includes
Available on its own, or included in every LCCL design and build contract.
Free 30-minute consultation call about the house and what you want from it
Measured survey of the existing house, roof and garden, drawn up as existing plans, elevations and sections
Concept design — one or two layout options with the trade-offs explained, revised until you're happy
Planning drawings: proposed plans, elevations, sections, site and location plans to the council's validation standard
Planning strategy: permitted development check, conservation area and Article 4 check, pre-application advice where worthwhile
Submission of the Lawful Development Certificate, prior approval or full planning application on your behalf, and handling the officer's queries
Design and access statement or heritage statement where the application needs one
Construction drawings after approval: construction details, specification and the drawings building control and the site team work from
Coordination with our structural engineer so the drawings and the calculations are one package
Drawings issued as PDF and DWG; revisions tracked so every party works from the same set
How much does architectural design cost in London in 2026?
Standalone fees are per stage. Within a design and build contract, design is inside the project price.
Stage
What you receive
Guide fee
Survey + planning drawings — extension or loft
Existing and proposed plans, elevations, sections; application submitted
From £750
Survey + planning drawings — whole house, basement or two storey
As above with a design statement and daylight check
Priced per project
Construction drawings after approval
Construction details, specification, building-regulations package with structural calculations
Priced per project
Related service
Guide
Notes
Structural calculations
£450 – £8,000
Structural engineer calculations — designed alongside the drawings
Measured building survey only
Priced per property
Measured building survey — the base for every drawing
Design and build — drawings included
Project price
Design and build — one contract from sketch to handover
What the fee includes: the survey, the drawings, the planning strategy and the submission. Not included: council application fees (a householder application, LDC or prior approval each carry a statutory fee), and specialist reports a borough may require — tree survey, daylight study, basement impact assessment — which we quote before commissioning. The figure on your itemised estimate is the figure you pay — nothing is added afterwards. If you go on to build with LCCL, the design fee is absorbed into the project price.
Why we price it this way: an architect's fee on a domestic extension is often a percentage of the build cost, which makes the drawings more expensive as the project grows. Ours is a stage fee, and it disappears if we build the project — because the drawings are the first stage of the build, not a separate product. Every drawing we issue is one our own site team could build from.
Architectural design by project type
House extensions
Rear, side return, wraparound, kitchen and two storey. Permitted development check first — most single-storey extensions need an LDC rather than a planning application — then drawings sized to the limits, or a full application designed for the officer.
Loft conversions
Dormer, L-shaped, hip-to-gable and mansard. The volume allowance is measured on the survey and the drawings are kept within it where permitted development is the route; mansards are drawn to the borough's guidance for a full application.
Renovations, basements and new builds
Whole-house re-planning, basement schemes with the engineering drawn in from the start, and new houses from feasibility through planning. Pre-application advice is nearly always worth it on a new build or a basement.
Planning
Which planning route do the drawings go through?
The drawings are prepared for the route the project needs — and we check which one that is before we draw.
Route
Applies to
Time
What we do
1. Lawful Development Certificate
Permitted development extensions and lofts
~8 weeks
Drawings proving the scheme meets the PD limits; certificate for your file
2. Prior approval
Single-storey rear to 6 m (8 m detached)
42 days
Larger home extension submission with neighbour notification
3. Full planning
Wraparounds, two storey, mansards, basements, new builds, flats, conservation areas
8–13 weeks
Planning drawings, design statement, pre-app where worthwhile, application and negotiation
4. Listed building consent
Listed houses
8 weeks
Heritage statement alongside the application
Building regulations & party walls
The other approvals
Whatever the planning position, every structural change, extension, loft or basement needs building-regulations approval. We work through LABC with full-plans drawings and our own structural calculations, so the inspector is checking a design he has already approved. Where a shared wall or a neighbour's foundations are affected, the Party Wall Act applies and notices go out at least two months before work starts.
Council application fees are paid by you at submission; they are set nationally and we tell you the figure before we submit. Where a borough is helpful on pre-application advice we recommend it and prepare the pack; where it is not, a precedent search and a well-argued design statement do more.
How long planning takes · Permitted development rights guide
Projects we designed and built
Bohun Grove, East Barnet EN4 — rear extension, hip-to-gable loft and whole-house renovation
LABC 2024 Best Residential Extension in London
Semi-detached family home One programme loft + extension + renovation
A total renovation of a family semi: a rear extension opening into a full-width kitchen and dining space with floor-to-ceiling glazing and skylights, a hip-to-gable loft conversion with a rear dormer, two Lusso Stone bathrooms, enlarged bedrooms, new windows throughout, a regulated outbuilding and landscaping.
Because the loft and extension ran under one contract, the steelwork for the open-plan ground floor and the loft floor was designed together and lifted in on the same day — one crane hire, one scaffold, one building-control file.
See the Bohun Grove project · All projects
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ANDERSON · FOUNDER, LCCL CONSTRUCTION
Anderson's advice: put the rooflights over the island
Rooflights over kitchen islands transform natural light more than any other single design decision. We position them on the plan before the kitchen layout is fixed, not after — moving a rooflight on a drawing costs nothing; moving one in a finished roof costs a week.
The second thing we say on every call: decide where the dining table goes first. Everything else — doors, lighting, the run of the units — follows from that.
How architectural design runs with LCCL
From the first call to approved drawings — and, if you build with us, straight on into construction without a second design stage.
WEEK 0
Free consultation call
A 30-minute phone call about the house, what you want and a realistic budget. We tell you the likely planning route before you pay for anything.
WEEKS 1–2
Measured survey
The existing house, roof and garden measured and drawn up as existing plans, elevations and sections — the base for everything that follows.
WEEKS 2–4
Concept & planning drawings
One or two layout options, revised until you're happy, then the planning set to the council's validation standard. Your detailed itemised estimate for the build is prepared from the same drawings.
WEEKS 4–16
Submission & approval
LDC, prior approval or planning application submitted and managed by us; officer's queries answered; conditions discharged.
AFTER APPROVAL
Construction drawings
Construction details, specification, building-regulations package and structural calculations — the set the site team builds from. If you build with LCCL, the design fee is absorbed into the project price.
“We used Lccl construction first time for our kitchen extension 2019 with a view to build a loft conversion afterwards. We just have had our loft conversion completed including bedroom, bathroom, storage loft it has Juliet balcony with velux windows to the…”
Tracie · Trustpilot
“We engaged with LCCL Construction to get our loft conversion and house extension project going. The whole process was explained to us in a straight forward way including how the design stages work, timescales, what to expect during the build and the costs…”
Daniel Freedman · Trustpilot
“I highly recommend LCCL Construction. They completed our loft conversion to a very high standard, and the quality of workmanship throughout was excellent. The team was professional, reliable, and completed everything within a very reasonable timeframe.…”
Alina A · Google Reviews
Architectural design questions we get asked most
From £750 in 2026 for the survey and planning drawings on an extension or loft, submitted to the council on your behalf; council application fees and any specialist reports are on top. Construction drawings after approval are priced per project. If you build with LCCL, the design fee is absorbed into the project price.
You need drawings — for planning or a lawful development certificate, for building regulations, and for the builder to price and build from. Whether they come from an independent architect or from a design and build company's architectural team is your choice; ours are drawn by the people who will build from them.
Two to six weeks from the survey to a submitted application, depending on the project. The council then takes about eight weeks for a lawful development certificate or a householder application, 42 days for prior approval, and up to thirteen weeks for a larger scheme.
Yes — the standalone service gives you the drawings in PDF and DWG to use as you wish. Most clients who start with drawings go on to build with us because the itemised estimate is prepared from the same set, but there is no obligation.
Yes. We check the permitted development position first, choose the route — lawful development certificate, prior approval or full planning — prepare the drawings and statements the council requires, submit on your behalf and deal with the officer's queries. Council fees are paid by you at submission.
Planning drawings show the council what the building will look like and where it sits — plans, elevations, sections, site plan. Construction drawings tell the builder how to build it — details, dimensions, materials, specification — and go with the structural calculations to building control. You need both; many disputes on site come from building from planning drawings alone.
No one can promise a planning decision, but designing for the officer from the first sketch — matching materials, respecting the 45-degree rule, keeping within the borough's guidance, checking precedent on the street — is what gets most schemes approved first time. Where the route is permitted development, the certificate is a matter of meeting the limits, which we measure.
Our architectural team prepares and submits the drawings under LCCL's contract, working with our chartered structural engineer and our project managers. We are a design and build company: architecture, engineering and construction under one roof, LABC Building Excellence Award winners in 2024 and 2026.
Where we design
From Finchley N3 we cover North London, North-West London, Central London, South-West and West London, and Hertfordshire — and we also work across the rest of London, Buckinghamshire, Surrey, Kent and Essex. We submit applications to every London borough and the Hertfordshire districts every month — Barnet, Enfield, Camden, Haringey, Westminster, Kensington & Chelsea, Wandsworth, Hammersmith & Fulham and Hertsmere most often.