Build a new home in your garden in Loughborough

Building a second home behind your own in Loughborough is a construction project with one unusual feature: you live beside the site from the first spade to the last coat of paint. That shapes how we plan it, from the fence that separates your garden on day one to where deliveries park.

The route covers everything between an idea and a finished house. We survey and design, prepare and submit the planning application, arrange Building Regulations approval and the structural warranty, organise new water, drainage and electricity connections, and then build. You keep ownership of the land throughout.

Timber-frame house under construction with scaffolding at the bottom of a back garden, seen from the patio
Planning authority
Charnwood Borough Council
Postcodes
LE11, LE12
Noon sun, 21 March
About 37°
Shadow from a 5 m eaves line
About 6.6 m
Planning plan
Local Plan
County
Leicestershire

Before you decide in Loughborough

In Loughborough, applications for a new home in a garden are decided by Charnwood Borough Council, which weighs them against the council’s Local Plan and national policy. Officers look at access, privacy, daylight, parking, bins, drainage and how much garden is left for each house, and neighbours can comment during consultation.

We read the local policies and any design guidance before drawing a line, and check the planning history of nearby plots for decisions that show how the council has applied them. If the policy picture is uncertain, pre-application advice lets us test the scheme with officers before the formal application goes in.

Section showing noon sun and shadows in Loughborough: about 37 degrees on 21 March and 14 degrees on 21 December21 m21 Mar, noon: sun 37°, shadow 6.6 m21 Dec, noon: sun 14°, shadow 20.4 mExistingNew home
Noon sun in Loughborough on 21 March sits about 37° above the horizon, so a typical two-storey eaves line (about 5 m) throws a shadow of roughly 6.6 m. In December the sun is only about 14° up and shadows stretch much further. Drawn for a garden facing north, where it matters most.

From first call to decision

Getting started in Loughborough takes one step from you: send your address and a few photos of the garden, or call us. We check the title plan, access and planning constraints from our desk, then talk the plot through. If it looks viable we arrange a visit, discuss whether you want to sell, let or keep the new home, and set out the survey and design stage in writing before you commit.

  1. Free plot appraisal

    We check the title plan, access, constraints and planning policy from our desk, talk the plot through with you, and visit if it looks viable. There’s no cost and no obligation.

  2. Survey and design

    A measured survey records levels, boundaries, trees and neighbouring windows. We then design a layout and house that suit the plot, the street and your budget, and decide whether pre-application advice is worth seeking.

  3. Written quote and build

    Once design and survey are complete you get a written quote. The build runs in stages — access and groundworks, foundations, frame and roof, fit-out and external works — with inspections at each key point.

  4. Handover

    You receive the completion certificate, warranty documents, Energy Performance Certificate, manuals and utility details, so the new home is ready to move into, let or put on the market.

Worth checking early

  • A build next door means months of noise, deliveries and contractors near your home; good planning reduces the disruption but doesn’t remove it.
  • Building and selling a new home can change your tax position compared with selling only your house; take advice from a tax adviser first.
  • Your own garden gets smaller and the new home will be visible from your house, so screening and separation matter for both homes.

Questions about garden plots in Loughborough

Do you visit gardens in Loughborough before giving advice?

We start with a desk review of the title plan, access, constraints and planning policy, then talk the plot through with you. If it looks viable, we arrange a site visit to see the access, levels, trees and neighbouring windows for ourselves. The appraisal is free and carries no obligation.

Can the new home in my Loughborough garden connect to the main sewer?

Usually, yes, but the route and depth decide how easily. The new home needs its own foul connection, agreed with the water company, and gravity drainage is simplest where the sewer sits lower than the new floor. If it doesn’t, a pumped connection may be needed. Where a public sewer runs under your garden, a build-over agreement or diversion may also be required.

How close can a new house be to my own in Loughborough?

There’s no single national distance. Many councils use separation guides of around 21 metres between facing back windows and around 12 to 15 metres between a back window and a blank side wall, but the guidance used by Charnwood Borough Council decides. Window positions, ground levels, roof shape and screening all affect what is acceptable, which is why we survey before we design.

Who decides planning for a garden house in Loughborough?

Charnwood Borough Council decides applications for addresses in Loughborough, using the council’s Local Plan, national policy and its own design guidance. Neighbours and consultees such as highways officers can comment, and the decision is made by the council’s planning officers or, where the rules allow, its planning committee. Pre-application advice from the council can help test a scheme before the formal application is submitted.

Other options in Loughborough

Build in your garden near Loughborough

Find out what your garden could become

Free garden plot appraisal. No cost, no obligation, and a straight answer if it won’t work.