Victorian 3 bed mid terrace straight onto ginnel, no garden but good size back yard with brick walls 9ft high, can I just put a glass roof on it

[Alijaynecam]

Okay so we back straight onto a ginnel, but good yard with high walls, but no garden obviously, what we was thinking is literally sticking a polycarb or glass roof on the four high walls, going from over d/ room window to make it slipped slightly, maybe use as a kitchen return? We do have a front garden so wouldn't be gardenless! I had also thought about knocking out the understair cupboard, and maybe having a one wall kitchen that would go into this space where the galley kitchen walls
and understair cupboard would be gone to then run through into the dining room, I believe it's stud work upstairs? Though cupboard under
stairs is brick, house built 1890s, decisions decisions!

Sorry kitchen! Got a seven month old who loves a bit of predicted text! Unfortunately substituting kitchen for kitten is not the worse her little toes have managed when I'm typing

Probably a good thing if that's your attitude.

If you are considering on using it as an extension to your living space it will definitely require building regulations approval, it may require planning approval however depending on the proposal it may fall under permitted development.
Garden/yard walls are unlikely to be structural so would at the very least need reinforcing and possibly foundations as old yard walls often don't have them, if they are single skin brick without a dpc, it's worth remembering that they will also not be waterproof so driving rain and damp from the ground will end up in this space. How are you going to ventilate, insulate & heat this space?
It's going to be extremely hot in summer and extremely cold in winter.
You will need to insulate to meet building regs. Knocking through from the house will require structural calculations. How are you going to sort out drainage? The Down pipes usually come down into this space from the main house roof, you will also need to drain this new roof into this space.
Yes this space could probably be utilised however you are going to need some professional help.

My neighbours (who already have a massive two story extension so don’t think are covered by permitted development) have done something similar across the back of their house. So it’s plastic, but very solid, the width of their house and about ten foot deep. It has side ends and a roof, the house acts as a third wall and then it’s open to the garden. They’ve attached electric wall heaters and put a sofa there and sit outside being noisy to all hours.

i don’t know if it should have planning permission, they certainly didn’t bother with it.

Friends of our moved to a bungalow with something similar, the garage was detached from the house, the previous owner put a polycarbonate roof over the gap between house and garage, brick frontage with a door at the front, I think the back to the garden was open. It was a nice space, for chilling out on cool days, evening in summer, drying washing on rainy days, growing plants, taking tea.

I haven’t read the full thread but building control are likely to have an issue with solar gain.
It all depends on who owns the boundary walls, drainage and planning. Also, you can only build on a % of your garden. You also need to make sure that you don’t negatively affect biodiversity.

so, I guess the answer is no

I have a similar yard situation and we have a big parasol in the main bit (with a table) which is enough coverage tbh. To cover the whole thing would be unbearably hot! If you want to do something in the side return what about an awning that's attached to the house? The yard wall probably isn't strong enough to actually support anything substantial

Who own's the walls you're planning on attaching the plastic roof to? If it's not you, the answer is probably that you can't do it. A covered pergola should be possible though.

Covered pergola is a great idea!

An alley way

For posters who have asked, a ginnel is a jitty.

Hope that's clear now

a ginnell is a passageway that you can walk down between houses

A twitten, surely.

No, it’s a snickelway 😀

No, it’s a snicket.

Thank you all for your messages, nearly as random as my ginnel, gunnel, or is it a gennel? Tis actually just open narrow road between the houses, I must google it lol! Think I might need to think further on this, dare I ask what anyone thought about the one wall kitchen idea ..(standard galley kitchen) high ceilings..taking out kitchen to dining room wall and knocking out under stair cupboard, could be my only other option.

Yes it's a snicket!!!!!

Thank you for you great feedback guys, will defo take that on board! I'm just know I'm gunna become the ginnel girl from now on!!!😅

I think we need a floor plan to understand your kitchen idea. Is this separate to the outside space?

I think in terms of giving you a more useable outdoor space some sort of covering isn't a bad idea (maybe a sail or something would be an easier and cheaper option or a part Polycarbonate covering for drying washing, allowing you to have more of an outdoor room. Attempting to make it part of the house is a non starter.

I don’t think anyone has mentioned twitchells yet.

Or a snicket/snickleway.

Ginnels are the ten foots here 😀