Home Extensions in Amersham

Extending a home in Amersham

Amersham is really two places for a builder, and the difference matters. Amersham on the Hill, which grew with the Metropolitan line, is largely early to mid twentieth century housing on good-sized plots — well suited to substantial rear and side extensions, and generally straightforward to build on. Old Amersham, down in the Misbourne valley, is a historic market town with a high concentration of listed buildings and a conservation area, where any alteration needs a much more conservative and evidence-led approach.

We handle both, but we approach them differently. On the Hill the conversation is usually about maximising open-plan living space and glazing to the garden. In Old Amersham and the surrounding villages it is about sympathetic materials, traditional detailing, lime mortars where appropriate and an extension that reads to the original building.

Planning, the AONB and listed buildings

Buckinghamshire Council is the local planning authority. Amersham sits within or adjoining the Chilterns National Landscape — formerly the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty — which raises the bar on design quality, materials, roof form and the visual impact of any addition. Parts of the area are also Green Belt, which limits the proportional increase permitted over the original dwelling.

Old Amersham's conservation area and its listed buildings bring further requirements. Listed Building Consent is a separate consent from planning permission and is needed for alterations affecting character, internally. Permitted development rights are commonly restricted or removed in these areas.

None of this makes a good extension impossible — we deliver them regularly. It does mean the planning research has to come first. We check designations, listing status and planning history for your specific property before any design work, set out honestly what is achievable, and prepare and submit the necessary applications.

Construction in a sensitive setting

• Brick, flint and render matched to the existing building
• Traditional roof forms and appropriate tile or slate selection
• Timber or slim aluminium glazing chosen to suit the property's period
• Careful structural solutions where original fabric must be retained
• Full Building Regulations compliance and building control sign-off
• Party Wall Awards arranged where a boundary is affected

Working with us in Amersham

You get a single company responsible for the whole project: survey, drawings, planning and listed building applications, structural design, the build itself and the final certification. One point of contact, a fixed written quotation, and a realistic programme agreed before we start. On period properties we would always rather spend longer at the survey stage than discover something behind a wall halfway through.

Areas we cover around Amersham

We work throughout Amersham and the surrounding Chilterns villages, including Amersham on the Hill, Old Amersham, Little Chalfont, Chesham Bois, Chesham, Great Missenden, Prestwood, Penn and Holmer Green.

To talk through an extension or refurbishment in Amersham, arrange a free site visit or read what to expect from a property refurbishment.