House Extensions in Lichfield

Lichfield splits sharply into two planning worlds, and which one you are in matters more than the building itself. The historic city core is heavily regulated — conservation area designation throughout and a significant number of listed buildings, with Georgian and Victorian stock where any extension has to be genuinely subordinate and sympathetic. The outlying villages are far more straightforward, with substantial detached houses on generous plots where the main design driver is how the work reads from public space.

Georgian property is the distinctive part of working here. It behaves differently from the Victorian stock we handle in Harborne and Edgbaston: shallower foundations, softer handmade brick, lime mortar throughout, and a strict formality of proportion that makes a badly-sized extension obvious immediately. Window rhythm, floor-to-ceiling heights and parapet lines all have to be read from the original before anything is drawn.

Lichfield District Council is a different planning authority from Birmingham City Council and Solihull MBC, with its own local plan and its own expectations. That matters practically: application requirements, validation checklists and the way conservation officers engage are not the same as in Birmingham. We work to Lichfield's process rather than assuming a Birmingham approach transfers. Lichfield is at the outer edge of our regular working area, so we plan deliveries and trade scheduling around the travel rather than treating it as a local job.