Extensions and roof extensions in Amsterdam

For this kind of work Amsterdam is really two cities. In the nineteenth-century belt and the Amsterdam School districts it is nearly always a ground-floor apartment with a garden: an extension is the conversation there. The first question is not structural but legal: is the owners’ association with you, and who owns the ground behind the house? The second question is the foundation. Many of these buildings stand on timber piles, and their condition then determines how the new structure has to be founded.

In Noord, Nieuw-West, Osdorp and Buitenveldert it is different: post-war family homes with a concrete ground floor slab and often a flat or shallow-pitched roof. That is about the best possible starting point for a roof extension. In protected townscapes and on listed buildings, additional rules apply to appearance and materials; we find out in advance what applies at your address, but the decision stays with the council.