Who is the architectural designer for extensions in Hawarden?

Mike at Deeside Architectural Design grew up in Hawarden and has lived in the village most of his life. He has 25 years of experience drawing and submitting householder applications, and works with Flintshire County Council's planning department every month.

House Extension Plans in Hawarden

He learned these streets on a paper round.

Born and raised in the village · 25 years drawing its extensions

Most people looking for extension plans in Hawarden are choosing between firms in Chester or Wrexham who'll drive over, take some measurements and drive back. Mike grew up here. He learned the layout of every street the hard way — delivering papers out of the local post office as a boy. Penarlâg on the signs, the fountain at the crossroads, the Glynne Arms, the long climb up towards the castle grounds.

That matters more than it sounds. Hawarden is not a straightforward place to extend a house. The village centre is a designated conservation area with numerous listed buildings inside it, and the land slopes north towards the Dee, which changes what a rear extension does to your neighbours' light and outlook.

Dated brick bungalow in Hawarden before dormer conversion — Before

The same Hawarden bungalow after conversion to a 1.5-storey home with rendered gable and new driveway — After

Bungalow Transformation — Braeside Avenue, Hawarden

A dated brick bungalow turned into a 1.5-storey family home: new gable, rooms brought into the roof, rendered upper storey, replacement windows and a re-formed frontage and driveway.

Flintshire refused the first application. Mike took the council's reasons, redrew it and resubmitted — approved five weeks later. This is the result.

You don't have to take that number on trust.

Every planning application Deeside Architectural Design submits goes onto the council's public register — under the practice name, with the decision attached, permanently. It's free to search and it isn't curated by us. What the register cannot show you is the other half of the work: the projects that qualified as Permitted Development, needed no application at all, and saved the client the council fee. Those leave no public trace. So the numbers below are the part you can check — not the whole of it. Read them before you decide whether Mike is the right person to draw your extension.

165 applications

Submitted to Flintshire County Council under Deeside Architectural Design since 2010 — every one searchable, with its decision attached.

12 of 15 in Hawarden

Twelve of the fifteen applications submitted in the village were approved — several inside five weeks of validation, against the council's eight-week target.

Since 2010

Deeside Architectural Design Limited, incorporated January 2010, and 25 years of drawings behind it. Companies House no. 07128221.

Check it yourself

Open Flintshire's planning register, put Deeside Architectural in the Agent field, and read every decision — including the ones that didn't go our way.

Search Flintshire's planning register →

Figures taken from Flintshire County Council's public planning register, August 2026.

Instant Estimate

What might the design & approvals stage cost?

Mike's fee plus the council fees for planning and building control — the full professional stage, before a builder is involved. Two taps for a figure — no obligation.

Your project

Mike’s fee

£750 – £1,400

Fixed and written down before any work begins. The £60 appraisal fee comes off it.

Covers the whole design and approvals stage — survey, drawings, planning and building regs.

What’s included — and why the range?

Mike’s fee covers the complete design and approvals stage:

✓ Full measured survey of your home
✓ Existing & proposed drawings
✓ Planning application — prepared, submitted and handled (if one is needed)
✓ Full building regulation drawings your builder prices from

Why the range? Every home is different. The lower end covers a straightforward project — standard drawings, no planning application needed. The higher end covers larger or more complex work — a full planning application, more detailed drawings, or structural design to coordinate.

Before any work begins, Mike gives you a detailed written fee proposal — so you know exactly what you are paying and what it covers. The number you agree is the number you pay.

📋 Book the £60 Initial Site Appraisal Meeting ⓘ Why do I need an Initial Site Appraisal Meeting?

What else you may pay — and to whom

Council planning fee£548 – £585

Only if planning permission is needed. Wales charges £585 for a householder application and Cheshire West & Chester £548 — the fee is set nationally, so it does not vary between Welsh councils. Paid directly to your council, never through Mike.

Planning Portal charge£149

The service charge for submitting a planning application online. It also only applies if permission is needed, and it is charged per application submitted.

Building control£650 – £1,350

This one always applies, permission or not. It is calculated on floor area and subject to the final design — smaller projects sit toward the lower figure, larger ones toward the higher. Paid to the council's building control team or a private approved inspector, never through Mike, and he gets you an exact quote once the design is finalised.

Design and approvals only. This is what it costs to get your project drawn and approved — it does not include your builder’s costs for the actual building work.

If your project turns out to be Permitted Development, you will not need to pay the council planning fee or the Planning Portal charge, a saving of up to approximately £734. Mike checks this at the Initial Site Appraisal Meeting.

What Hawarden's conservation area means for your extension.

This is the single biggest thing Hawarden homeowners get wrong. Welsh Permitted Development rules allow a single storey rear extension of up to 4 metres beyond the rear wall, whatever the house type, to go ahead without an application — sometimes, and only within strict limits. But Permitted Development rights are restricted inside a conservation area, and Hawarden village centre is one.

The catch is that the boundary isn't obvious from the street. Two houses that look identical, a few hundred yards apart, can have completely different rights — one extends with no application and no council fee, the other needs a full householder application designed to respect the character of the area. Mike checks which side of the line you're on before you commit a penny. If your house is listed, listed building consent is needed alongside planning.

The same applies to anything sitting close to Hawarden Castle and its parkland, which Flintshire's own planning policy treats as a heritage constraint.

Hawarden village

Conservation area, listed buildings, older estate stock and Victorian cottages. The most design-sensitive part of the community — and the part Mike knows best.

Ewloe

Separated from Hawarden by the playing fields. Mixed post-war and modern stock, usually with more generous Permitted Development scope.

Mancot

Largely post-war semis and estate housing — classic territory for rear kitchen extensions and garage conversions with no planning application needed.

Aston

Family housing running down towards the Dee. Level changes and boundary distances are the usual design questions here.

How the work runs.

You deal with one person from the first sketch to the approval — no juniors, no outsourcing. Applications go to Flintshire County Council, whose planning department Mike has worked with for 25 years, and the householder fee is £585 when permission is actually needed. The council works to an eight-week target from validation; allow ten to twelve weeks end to end once the survey and drawings are included. The estimator below is already set for Flintshire.

1 · Measured survey

Once your fee is agreed, Mike returns and measures the house himself — no juniors, no outsourcing. This is the second visit; the earlier £60 Initial Site Appraisal Meeting comes off your fee.

2 · Existing & proposed drawings

Scaled drawings of your home as it is and as it will be — the documents your planning application stands on.

3 · Planning application

Prepared, submitted and handled for you — or confirmation you don't need one under Permitted Development, which saves you the council fee entirely.

4 · Building regulation drawings

The technical pack — structure, insulation, fire safety, drainage — that building control approves and your builder prices from.

Item	Typical cost	Paid to
Mike’s fee — single storey extension	£750 – £1,400	Mike (fixed, written)
Mike’s fee — two storey extension	£950 – £1,800	Mike (fixed, written)
Planning application (if required)	£585 Wales / £548 Cheshire	Your council
Planning Portal service charge	£149	Planning Portal
Building control (approx.)	£650 – £2,000	Council / inspector

Questions people ask.

Do I need planning permission for an extension in Hawarden?

Sometimes you may not need it — but Hawarden is a place where it genuinely depends. Welsh Permitted Development rules cover some single storey rear extensions with no application at all — within strict limits and outside protected land. Inside the village conservation area those rights are restricted, and the boundary isn't obvious from the street. Mike checks which side of it you're on at the Initial Site Appraisal Meeting, before any council fee is committed.

My house is in the conservation area — can I still extend?

Yes, in almost all cases. It means a full householder application rather than Permitted Development, and a design that answers to the character of the area from the outset — materials, proportions, how it reads from the street. That's a design question, not a refusal.

Have you ever had an application refused?

Yes — and anyone who tells you they haven't either hasn't submitted many or isn't being straight with you. Refusals are a normal part of planning, and every one of ours is on the public register for anyone to read. What matters is what happens next. A refusal arrives with the council's reasons attached, and most of the time those reasons are fixable — a roof line dropped, a window moved, a material changed. Mike talks to the case officer, amends the drawings and resubmits. The bungalow above was refused, redrawn and approved five weeks later.

How much do extension plans cost in Hawarden?

Extension plans from £750, loft conversion plans from £950, always as a fixed written fee agreed before any work starts. Flintshire's £585 householder fee plus the £149 Planning Portal charge are separate, paid directly, and only apply when permission is genuinely needed.

Does growing up in the village actually make a difference?

Honestly — for the drawings themselves, no. A competent designer produces the same technical pack wherever they're based. Where it counts is judgement: knowing the conservation area boundary, how the land falls towards the Dee, what Flintshire's case officers have accepted on similar streets, and being ten minutes away when something needs looking at rather than half a day.

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House extension plans in Hawarden.