Regions we cover
LINX Design & Build takes on architecture, planning, extensions, loft conversions, renovations and new builds across Oxfordshire, from Oxford's Victorian suburbs to Cotswold villages and Chiltern towns. One in-house team designs each project, secures approval from the relevant district or city 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
Oxfordshire has five planning authorities: Oxford City Council and four district councils, Cherwell, South Oxfordshire, Vale of White Horse and West Oxfordshire. Oxford is ringed by Green Belt, and three National Landscapes, the Cotswolds, the Chilterns and the North Wessex Downs, cover large parts of the rest of the county, so the planning route depends heavily on where the house is.
Oxford itself has many conservation areas, including the city centre and the Victorian suburb of North Oxford, and a large number of listed buildings. Beyond the city, local materials matter: honey-coloured Cotswold limestone in the west, ironstone around Banbury, and brick and flint in the Chilterns. We match the design and materials to the setting from the start.
Oxford's housing ranges from Victorian terraces in Jericho, east Oxford and the Cowley Road area to the large Victorian Gothic villas of North Oxford and interwar semis in Headington and Botley. Across the county, West Oxfordshire has Cotswold stone cottages and farmhouses, Banbury and north Oxfordshire use local ironstone, and Henley and the Chiltern villages mix Georgian brick fronts with brick-and-flint cottages. Bicester and Didcot have grown with large modern estates suited to rear extensions and loft conversions.
Our services
Our architects design for Oxford's conservation areas, Cotswold stone villages and Chiltern towns, choosing forms and materials that suit each setting.
Find out more 02We prepare applications to Oxford City Council and the four district councils, including Green Belt, National Landscape and listed building cases.
Find out more 03Side-return and rear extensions suit Oxford's terraces, while Cotswold cottages and farmhouses often suit carefully detailed stone or glazed rear extensions.
Find out more 04Rear dormers suit terraces in east Oxford where permitted; in conservation areas such as Jericho and North Oxford, and in the three National Landscapes, loft conversions need planning permission.
Find out more 05We renovate period homes across the county, using breathable materials on older stone and timber buildings and seeking listed building consent where required.
Find out more 06We design and build new and replacement homes, taking account of Green Belt policy, National Landscape design guidance and flood risk along the Thames.
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
Usually, yes, for anything beyond a modest single-storey rear extension. The Cotswolds National Landscape is Article 2(3) land, so side extensions, two-storey rear extensions and loft conversions are not permitted development there, and many Cotswold villages are also conservation areas. If the cottage is listed, listed building consent is needed for alterations that affect its character, inside or out. We design with local stone, roof pitches and proportions in mind.
Usually only with planning permission. Much of North Oxford lies in the North Oxford Victorian Suburb conservation area, where loft conversions are not permitted development, and many of its large houses are divided into flats, which have no permitted development rights. Oxford City Council is likely to look for rooflights or carefully designed dormers that keep the Victorian roofline. Some North Oxford villas are also listed. We check the designations for your address first.
Yes, as long as it is not a disproportionate addition to the original building, which is how Green Belt policy treats house extensions. Each district council has its own guidance on what that means. Permitted development rights still apply in the Green Belt unless removed, so a rear extension within the 3 m or 4 m limits may not need planning permission. Larger or two-storey schemes usually need a householder application.
We price every Oxfordshire project individually: after a free survey we give a fixed-price quote based on the agreed design, the existing structure and the specification. Older Oxfordshire buildings can bring specific costs, such as natural stone to match a Cotswold cottage, lime-based materials for solid walls or listed building requirements, and these are included in the quote from the start.
Householder planning applications have an 8-week statutory determination period from validation, whichever of the five Oxfordshire councils decides them. Listed building consent has the same 8-week period and is often submitted alongside. Conservation-area and National Landscape cases can take longer if the council asks for changes. Prior approval for a larger rear extension is decided within 42 days. We confirm the build programme once approvals are in place.
We take on projects across Oxfordshire, including Oxford, Summertown, Headington and Jericho, Abingdon, Wantage, Didcot, Wallingford, Henley-on-Thames and Thame in the south, Witney, Woodstock, Burford and Chipping Norton in the west, and Banbury and Bicester in the north. Every project begins with a free survey and a fixed-price quote from our in-house team.