East Cornwall · PL14
St Cleer extensions — a East Cornwall studio
Extensions are the bread and butter of Cornish homes — adding the kitchen-diner the original layout never had, the bedroom for a growing family, or the light and views the back of the house should always have had. Anchor any St Cleer extension in the local fabric and the rest follows — St Cleer is a moorland-edge hamlet in the PL14 area, where exposed weather, narrow lanes and rural character set the brief, with a building stock that leans toward farm buildings and small rural infill.
St Cleer sits in East Cornwall — covering PL14 from Liskeard, Menheniot, Dobwalls outward.
- Rural / open-countryside policy area
- ✓ Cornwall Council regulars across every sub-area
- ✓ Free first site visit, no obligation
- ✓ Measured-survey accuracy from day one
- ✓ One studio — design, planning and build under one roof
Who this is for
St Cleer runs the full mix — owner-occupier, holiday-let, commercial and the occasional smallholding — so we scope every extension enquiry from the use-class up.
Local watch-list
Common St Cleer pitfalls we plan around.
Watch #1
Tighter Local Plan tests on isolated rural dwellings
Local proof — Most St Cleer extension clients we work with are second-time builders — they've seen the templated approach fail once already.
Get a free feasibility viewFAQs
St Cleer Extensions — local questions answered.
- Do I need planning permission for an extension?
- Often no — single-storey rear extensions, side extensions and modest two-storey additions can sit inside permitted development on a typical detached house. Conservation Areas, AONB and Article 4 zones remove some of those rights, so we always check the address first. In St Cleer specifically, we'd start by checking the latest parish-level planning history before committing to a direction.
- How long does the whole process take?
- Allow roughly three months for design and approvals, then twelve to twenty weeks on site for a typical single-storey extension. Wraparounds and two-storey add-ons take longer, mostly through approval and groundworks.
- Will my house be liveable during the build?
- For most rear and side extensions, yes — we sequence the works so the kitchen and one bathroom stay functional until the new build is watertight and connected.
- What about the Party Wall Act?
- If you share a wall with a neighbour or build close to a boundary, the Act applies. We flag it early, recommend a surveyor and keep the programme aligned with the notice period.
- How much does an extension cost in Cornwall?
- Build costs in Cornwall typically run from around £2,200 to £3,200 per square metre for a good-quality single-storey extension, more for kitchen-grade fit-out or complex glazing. We give a realistic budget before drawings start, not after.
Local context
Why St Cleer is its own job.
The planning backdrop in East Cornwall is real, not abstract: rural policy, landscape impact and services such as drainage are usually the key constraints, especially outside settlement boundaries. For extension specifically, Cornwall Council's Local Plan applies tighter tests to isolated rural dwellings here, so design rationale and policy fit need to be set out clearly from the outset. Treat the PL14 parish brief as the design brief and the St Cleer application has somewhere to land. Whether the project is on farm buildings in the centre or further out toward Liskeard, the extension response is locally tuned.
Planning note
Most extensions in Cornwall are either permitted development or a straightforward householder application — but Conservation Area and AONB sites need a more careful design conversation upfront.
What we focus on
Extensions considerations specific to St Cleer.
01
Extensions over a certain proportion of the original house trigger full Part L upgrade obligations to the existing building — worth knowing before brief is set.
02
Wind and sea-spray exposure can drive material choices on west-facing extensions; we detail accordingly.
03
Drainage on older Cornish properties is rarely on a clean modern map; CCTV survey before design is often money well spent.
04
Cornish granite and slate-hung walls react differently to new openings than modern brickwork — lintel choice and structural sequencing matter.
Our process
How a St Cleer extension project runs.
Step 1
Brief
We meet on site, talk through how you live now and what's missing from the current layout.
Step 2
Design
Two or three sketch directions with rough budgets, then refinement of the chosen route.
Step 3
Approvals
Planning or Cert of Lawfulness, then a full building regs package.
Step 4
Build
Either through your own builder with our drawings, or as a full build by our team.
Step 5
Handover
Snag, certify, hand over the keys to your new space.
Typical single-storey rear extensions run twelve to twenty weeks on site; two-storey and wraparound projects sixteen to thirty weeks.
Local fabric
Choosing a extension team that actually knows PL14.
Building stock
Across St Cleer (PL14) we work on stone cottages, farm buildings, isolated houses, converted barns, small rural infill. Each stock type drives a different extension response — farm buildings in particular needs careful detailing here.
Parish & policy
St Cleer sits in the parish of St Cleer, which matters for how parish-level consultation lands on a extension application.
Coverage
We cover PL14 from our studio, with regular extension jobs also running in Liskeard, Menheniot, Dobwalls. Most St Cleer site visits get booked within the same week.
What does a first St Cleer consultation cost?
Nothing. We come to the property, walk the site, talk through what works on a PL14 plot and follow up with a written feasibility note inside a week — no obligation either way.
Request a free visitSt Cleer is part of Liskeard
St Cleer sits inside the Liskeard catchment — we cover both as one extension territory.
See Extensions in Liskeard →Other services in St Cleer
Nearby places we cover
A extension in St Cleer stands or falls on how well it reads the street — we treat that as the design brief, not an afterthought.