Architects in Brighton

Brighton and Hove in figures

MHCLG's district tables show Brighton & Hove City Council deciding 706 householder applications in the four quarters to 30 June 2026 and granting 94.9% (MHCLG planning statistics). Householder means work to an existing home, such as extensions, lofts, porches and outbuildings. We calculated from the same counts that 95.8% were decided within eight weeks or an agreed extension; that is our own measure, not an MHCLG headline.

A high grant rate is not a promise about your house. The count blends every kind of householder job, and it says nothing about how many schemes were reshaped or withdrawn before a decision. Use it as a reason to design to the local rules, not as a forecast.

Why do heritage controls reach so far across the city?

The council's conservation areas page lists 34 areas, from The Avenues, Brunswick Town, Regency Square and Kemp Town to Rottingdean, Patcham and Portslade Old Village (conservation areas). Its extensions guide adds that the city has over 3,400 listed buildings (SPD 12). In the Council Tax valuation lists, 39.6% of homes were built before 1919 and another 15.6% between 1919 and 1939 (VOA, 31 March 2026). Flats are in those counts, so read them as a portrait of the city rather than of one street.

What that means for a project is practical. The council says planning controls are tighter in conservation areas, and that the level of control varies between listed buildings, single family homes, commercial buildings and flats. Most areas have a character statement, and the council expects changes to preserve or enhance the special interest it describes. Read the statement for your area before you brief anyone.

Which streets have lost permitted development rights?

The council's Article 4 page says most of its directions protect the character of a conservation area, and that they usually apply to single dwelling houses because flats and other buildings already face stricter controls. Most cover street-facing elevations, though some reach alterations and extensions at the rear or in back gardens. The page links to a list of directions as of 22 September 2021 (Article 4 directions).

• The Avenues direction affects all property in that conservation area and parts of the Cliftonville and The Drive areas. The council's summary says it was approved in March 1991 and that consent is needed to alter a roof, build a porch or hardstanding, and install dormers (The Avenues).
• Brunswick has a comprehensive direction, approved in August 1993 for parts of Brunswick Town, with a similar list of controlled work (Brunswick).
• Kemp Town's direction is narrower: it covers painting and redecoration of the elevations of named terraces and squares, with a prescribed colour scheme (Kemp Town).

Separately, a citywide direction means planning permission is needed everywhere in Brighton and Hove to change a dwelling house (use class C3) into a small house in multiple occupation (C4). The council also says extensions and alterations to small HMOs need the full application form, not the householder one (HMO guidance, householder checklist).

How do flats change the route?

If your home is a flat, the council's design guide says permitted development rights usually do not apply to it. Its checklist for full planning applications covers extensions other than householders in a single dwelling. Where a proposal sits in a development that includes flats, the council's forms page says notice must be served on all freeholders and leaseholders, unless a leaseholder has less than seven years of the term left (forms and checklists).

One local detail: the council's wildlife assessment guidance says a full application that pays the householder fee, including work to an individual flat, submits the wildlife check instead of the full-application biodiversity checklist (wildlife check guidance). Ask the planning team which fee and form apply to your flat before you commission drawings.

What does the council's design guide expect?

Supplementary Planning Document 12 was adopted by the council on 16 January 2020 and now guides decisions (council SPD 12 page, adoption statement). City Plan Part Two, adopted in October 2022, holds the policy behind it: DM21 grants permission for extensions and roof extensions that are well designed and scaled, take account of the area's character and use complementary materials (City Plan Part Two). SPD 12 asks extensions to be subservient to the original house and sets out separate advice for rear, side and front extensions, roof alterations and dormers. We turn that into practical points on our pages for Brighton house extensions and Brighton loft conversions.

The guide also covers neighbours. It expects schemes to respect privacy, daylight and outlook, and it describes balconies and roof terraces that create new overlooking as unlikely to be approved. On the packed rear elevations in the second photograph, that overlooking test is one the guide keeps returning to.

What does it cost to ask before you apply?

The council's householder pre-application fees include VAT at 20%. A written response costs £154.50, a virtual meeting with a written response £194.10, a site meeting with a written response £237.16, and a follow-up written response £37.55. Where the house is listed or in a conservation area and heritage advice is agreed as necessary, the same four options cost £408.54, £752.18, £860.15 and £118.42. Additional consultants are £95.17 an hour (household pre-application advice).

You complete a form and email it to the planning applications team, then pay online. If your house is listed or in a conservation area, the council asks you to email first to discuss whether heritage advice is recommended. The council's preferred route for applications is the Planning Portal, and they are tracked on the council's planning register; the householder checklist asks for a wildlife assessment check and, in conservation areas with 100 square metres or more of new floor space, a design and access statement (householder checklist).

How do you choose an architect for a Brighton or Hove home?

Check that anyone using the title appears on the Architects Registration Board register (ARB public information). If your address is near the boundary with Lewes, Adur or Mid Sussex, our guide to finding your local planning authority shows how to confirm which council decides.

1. Ask for a comparable job: a bay-fronted Victorian terrace, a Regency villa in a conservation area, or a flat in a converted house.
2. Ask whether the scheme will use the council's paid pre-application service, and which of its four options.
3. Ask how the fee splits between planning drawings and building regulations information, and whether the building control route is a full plans application or a building notice.
4. Get written quotes on one shared brief. The common fee bases are set out in our post on what architects charge.

Project pages for the city: Brighton house extensions, Brighton loft conversions and Brighton planning applications.