Extend or Move? What the Autumn Budget Really Means for Your Renovation Decision
Every Budget season sends homeowners quietly googling house prices. This year, before you add yours to the market, it's worth asking what's actually changed — and what you'd really be leaving behind.
Will Your Planning Application Go to Committee — or Straight to an Officer?
From the end of October, most extensions and new homes in England will be settled by a planning officer, not a committee vote. Here's what's actually changing — and the one thing that could still send yours the other way.
Interior Courtyards: The Extension Trend Taking Over From Pure Open-Plan
For a decade, almost every extension brief has started with the same instinct: knock it through, open it up. We look at a quieter, older alternative that puts a fixed garden at the heart of the plan instead — and ask whether it might outlast the trend it's being mistaken for.
Can I Build a Bigger Extension Without Planning Permission? The Rules Homeowners Are Still Waiting On
Two and a half years ago, the government promised a bigger rulebook for extensions built without planning permission. It still hasn't arrived — and designing a project around legislation that may never land is a quiet way to lose a year, not gain one. Here is exactly what you can build under today's rules, and how to plan sensibly while the rest stays unwritten.
Can AI Design Your Extension? What AI House-Plan Generators Get Right — and What They Miss
Type a sentence, get a floor plan. It's genuinely useful — right up to the point it matters most. Here's our honest look at what AI house-plan generators do well, and what they quietly leave out of a once-in-a-lifetime extension.
“Broken-Plan” Living: Why Open-Plan Extensions Are Being Quietly Rethought
The open-plan box has had its decade. What today's best extensions offer instead is quieter: rooms that still flow, but know how to close a door.
The Hidden Cost of Extending in 2026/2027: What’s Happening to Planning Application Fees
Another rise in planning fees is on the table for December — though nothing is settled yet. Here's what's actually known, and why the fee itself was never really the point.
Jersey Planning Reform 2026: What's Changing Under Boleat
Jersey's planning process is genuinely getting easier under its new Minister. Whether your project's ecology is safer is a separate question — one a Jersey ecologist has just raised publicly, and worth understanding before you start.
The Mansion Tax Is Coming: What a £2m+ Threshold Means If You're Building or Extending
A new charge on £2 million homes arrives in 2028. Before it shapes a single decision about your extension or new build, here's what's actually known — calmly, and without the scaremongering.
NPPF August 2026: What the new planning rules mean for you
Somewhere between a government press release and a 130-page document, most homeowners lost the thread. Here's the version written for the people actually living through it.
Are Permitted Development Rules Changing in 2026? What's Actually True
Search "permitted development 2026" and you'll find a dozen confident articles about rules that haven't actually changed. We sorted out what's true, what's proposed, and what's already different if you live in the Peak District.
RIBA Stages Explained: What Actually Happens When You Commission an Architect
From first doubt to finished home: a plain-English walk through the RIBA Plan of Work, and what each of its eight stages actually asks of you as a client.