Builders in Waltham Forest

Side returns, rear extensions, lofts and full refurbishments across Walthamstow, Leyton, Leytonstone and Chingford. Fifteen minutes up the A112 from our East Ham office.

Victorian terraces and the side return

Walthamstow and Leyton are almost entirely Victorian terraces, and most of them have the same wasted strip of land: the side return, a narrow alley between the back addition and the boundary fence. Infilling it is the single most common job we do in this borough. It turns a dark galley kitchen into a wide kitchen-diner without touching the garden, and on most of these houses it falls under permitted development.

• Side-return infills in E17 and E10, usually combined with a short rear extension in an L-shape.
• Rear dormer lofts — these terraces have steep roofs with plenty of head height, so nearly all of them convert.
• Full refurbishments on houses bought by families moving out from Hackney and Islington, which is most of the market here now.
• Larger extensions on the 1930s semis and detached houses in Chingford and Highams Park, where plots are wider.

Walthamstow Village and conservation areas

Walthamstow Village, Leyton Church Road, Highams Park and several other pockets are conservation areas, and Article 4 directions remove some permitted development rights inside them. That can turn a straightforward side return into a planning application. We check the address before the site visit and tell you which route you are on.

Structural glazing and the L-shape

The L-shaped side-and-rear extension is the borough's signature job, and it lives or dies on the steelwork. Removing the rear wall and the side wall together means a picture-frame of steel with a corner post, designed by an engineer and signed off by building control. We have done enough of these to price the steel and the foundation work accurately at quote stage rather than as a provisional sum.

Postcodes we cover

E17 WalthamstowE10 LeytonE11 LeytonstoneE4 ChingfordE4 Highams Park

Just outside the borough? We also work in Newham, Redbridge and Hackney.

Questions from Waltham Forest customers