Extensions

Is a side return/rear extension viable on one bed ground floor flat with limited access?

Anonymous user 09/03/2024 - 2.36 PM

I own a ground floor flat of a converted Victorian mid-terrace house. It's a small one bedroom flat that I would like to turn into a two bedroom by changing the lounge (with bay at the front) into a bedroom to allow for more freedom with the back of the property with a side return and rear extension - that would need to incorporate a bathroom (which is currently at the very back of the property, off the kitchen) and an open plan lounge/kitchen space, ideally opening out onto the garden. There is no rear access to the property as it is a terrace. The only front entrance to the flat is shared with the upstairs neighbour who own the flat above. We are shared freeholders on the property. The current side return area and about a metre at the back of the property are concreted all around. About a metre or so into the garden, there is a brick wall about a metre high and some steps up to an elevated lawn. The very back couple of metres of the garden are on an even slightly higher level again. My question is really, how viable is doing an extension with this limited access to the rear? Presumably if some excavation/digging/removal of concrete etc is required - that will require equipment and materials to come through the flat? And anything not required/waste to have to leave the flat through my flat and the shared front door with the flat above. Even getting a long ladder through my flat is tricky manoeuvre. I want to be realistic about whether this idea is going to cause problems for the builders and for the owners of the upstairs flat going in and out. I've not got to architecture/planning/even speaking to the neighbours stage yet, but just wanted to get some initial advice. Thanks.