Architects Sevenoaks

Read our illustrated synopsis of the planning processes across London and the Southeast. It will help you to understand and navigate the permissions stage of your project, whether you’re undertaking a home extension, renovation or new-build.

Building, rebuilding or expanding a home in Sevenoaks requires adherence to building regulations dictated by the Sevenoaks District Council. This takes time and perseverance, but a good architect can guide you through the process. Scenario Architecture has a flawless record securing planning permission for our clients, and can help homeowners negotiate with local councils across the southeast.

We’ve created this guide to help steer you through planning in Sevenoaks, London and the Southeast. Download it below.

Working with Scenario Architecture on your Sevenoaks project

The affluent, family-oriented reputation of Sevenoaks makes it a great place to come from, live in and move to. Located a few moments outside the M25 ring road, it connects to London Bridge Station in less than a half hour and Charing Cross thereafter, making it popular with professionals. And the wealth of top schools – public and private – produces the next generation.

Like most market towns south of London, the area grew up more than a thousand years ago. A logical stop between the Kent coast and the city of London, it became popular with travellers and pilgrims heading to and from Canterbury, inspiring its motto: Floreant Septum Quercus, or “May the Seven Oaks Flourish”. The Sevenoaks market, still a major presence in town, has operated constantly since the 1200s. The Vine cricket ground is the oldest in the world.

The whole of Sevenoaks is ringed by green, so that every home in town sits within walking distance of a vast park – most of them protected by the National Trust. The High Street, slicing the city in two halves, veers off into Deer Park, a bucolic idyll inhabited by red and fallow deer. The 1,000 wild acres are a vestige of the 15^th-century Archbishop of Canterbury, who built the great house Knole at the southeastern edge of town 600 years ago. The lavish stately home passed down to King Henry VII and then to Queen Elizabeth I – she gave it to her relatives the Sackvilles, who maintain it to this very day. The house has its own 26-acre walled garden, which inspired writer Vita Sackville-West; the house itself inspired Virginia Woolf’s novel Orlando.

Knole sets the tone for the elegant housing stock across Sevenoaks – which alternate between the local brown and red brick, with touches of white. Family homes dominate, running from small two-bedroom cottages to rambling estates. Homes bordering the parks tend to be the largest, oldest and most coveted.

But where many families feel they can make their mark is in the serpentine streets lined with postwar homes just outside the centre. Here, with the right architects, homeowners can add contemporary two-storey annexes to the rear façade, rooms over attached garages and expand basements beneath. If you’re interested in learning about the potential of extending or renovating a home in Sevenoaks, explore our site or ask your preferred architect. A good architect will pilot your project through the Sevenoaks regulations process and liaise with you throughout the life of your home extension or renovation.