The side return is the narrow strip of ground beside the back addition on a Victorian terrace. It is usually a metre or two wide, holds a few bins, and gets no light. Building over it turns a dark galley kitchen into a proper room.
It is a small footprint but a technical job: party wall on one side, existing drainage underneath, and the whole thing has to be lit from above. We build these across Ealing, Hammersmith and Fulham most weeks of the year.
Almost always. Adding one and a half metres across the side of a back addition converts a galley kitchen into a room you can put a table in. Because the footprint is small the cost is lower than a full rear extension, and the change to how the ground floor works is bigger.
A single-storey side return within the permitted development limits usually does not, provided the property is a house and not in a conservation area with an Article 4 direction. Width, height and materials all have limits, so we check your specific address before drawings.
Not if it is designed properly. The middle of a terrace plan gets no side windows, so the light has to come from above — a glazed roof over the return, or a run of rooflights. That is the single most important detail in a side return and it is where we spend the design time.
Excavating next to the neighbouring wall requires one month’s notice, and cutting into a party wall requires two. If your neighbour dissents, surveyors have to be appointed and an award prepared. We start that as soon as the design is fixed so it does not sit on the critical path.
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Side Return Extensions across eight West London boroughs
