Regions we cover
LINX Design & Build takes on architecture, planning, extensions, loft conversions, renovations and new builds across Cambridge and Cambridgeshire, including Peterborough. One in-house team designs each project, secures approval from the relevant council and builds it, starting with a free survey and a fixed-price quote.
Tell us about your project — we'll come back with next steps and a time for a free survey.
Design & build
In Cambridge and South Cambridgeshire, planning applications are handled by the Greater Cambridge Shared Planning service on behalf of both councils, while East Cambridgeshire, Fenland and Huntingdonshire district councils and Peterborough City Council decide their own. The Cambridge Green Belt surrounds the city and many of its nearby villages, and Cambridge itself has a large number of conservation areas.
North of Cambridge, the landscape changes completely. Much of Fenland and parts of East Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire are low-lying and in Environment Agency flood zones, so extensions often need a flood risk assessment and suitable floor levels, and soft fen soils and shrinkable clays can call for deeper or specialist foundations.
Cambridge's housing includes Victorian terraces of gault and red brick around Mill Road, Romsey and Chesterton, larger Victorian and Edwardian houses in Newnham and the De Freville area, and interwar and post-war suburbs to the south and east. The surrounding villages have thatched and timber-framed cottages alongside modern estates, while Ely, St Ives and Wisbech have Georgian and older centres. Peterborough mixes Victorian terraces with homes built during its new-town expansion, many of which suit rear extensions and loft conversions.
Our services
Our architects design for Cambridge terraces, conservation-area houses and Fenland homes, with materials such as gault brick in mind where they matter.
Find out more 02We prepare applications to the Greater Cambridge Shared Planning service, the three other district councils and Peterborough City Council, coordinating flood risk assessments where needed.
Find out more 03Side-return and rear extensions suit Mill Road and Romsey terraces, while detached homes in the villages and Fenland towns suit larger single and two-storey extensions.
Find out more 04Rear dormer lofts suit Cambridge's Victorian terraces outside conservation areas; in conservation areas and for flats, planning permission is needed.
Find out more 05We renovate Victorian terraces, Edwardian houses and older village cottages, including listed buildings where listed building consent is required.
Find out more 06We design and build infill and replacement homes, checking Green Belt policy around Cambridge and flood risk in the Fens before the design is fixed.
Find out morePlanning
How it works
We visit, measure up and talk through what you want to build and what the site allows.
Our in-house team draws the scheme and handles planning or a Lawful Development Certificate, plus Building Regulations.
You get an itemised, fixed price in writing before any work starts.
One team builds it, keeps you updated weekly and hands over with a 10-year structural guarantee.
800+ projects completed since 2017 · 4.9★ from 500+ reviews · See our starting prices
Questions
The Greater Cambridge Shared Planning service handles planning applications for both Cambridge City Council and South Cambridgeshire District Council, although each council remains the planning authority for its own area with its own adopted local plan. In East Cambridgeshire, Fenland, Huntingdonshire and Peterborough, the district or city council decides applications directly. We confirm the right authority and the relevant policies for your address before design starts.
Often, yes, but check the conservation area first. The Mill Road and St Matthew's conservation area covers many streets in the area, and inside it a dormer loft conversion needs planning permission. Outside conservation areas, a rear dormer on a terraced house can usually be permitted development if it adds no more than 40 m³ and stays off the front roof slope. We check your street and the right route at the feasibility stage.
Usually, if the house is in Environment Agency Flood Zone 2 or 3, which covers much of Fenland and low-lying parts of East Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire. A householder planning application in a flood zone normally needs a flood risk assessment, and raised floor levels or flood-resilient construction may be expected. A rear extension within permitted development limits, 3 m on an attached house or 4 m on a detached one, may not need an application at all.
We price each Cambridgeshire project individually and give a fixed-price quote after a free survey. The cost depends on the design, the existing structure, foundations, drainage, access and specification. Local factors, such as deeper foundations on fen soils or clay, flood-resilient construction, gault brick to match a Cambridge terrace or listed building requirements in a village, are included in the quote from the start.
Householder planning applications have an 8-week statutory determination period from validation, whether they go to the Greater Cambridge Shared Planning service, a district council or Peterborough City Council. Prior approval for a larger single-storey rear extension is decided within 42 days. Conservation-area, Green Belt and flood-zone cases can take longer if further information or amendments are needed. We confirm the build programme once approvals are in place.
We take on projects across Cambridge and Cambridgeshire, including Chesterton, Trumpington, Newnham, Histon, Great Shelford, Sawston and Cambourne around the city, Ely and Soham in East Cambridgeshire, Huntingdon, St Ives and St Neots in Huntingdonshire, March and Wisbech in Fenland, and Peterborough. Every project begins with a free survey and a fixed-price quote.