I think your approach is good. That way, you can also get along with the neighbors in the long run. And everyone has their own ideas about their house, and I think they should be allowed to realize those within the framework of what is officially possible. The fact that they want to build offset doesn’t exactly make things easier now; but in the end, these are certainly all solvable problems.
I would also be curious to see how the whole thing progresses until completion and hope that you keep us updated!
By the way, we also have a [REH], in a row of four, to which another identical row of four adjoins. Our houses are all the same, but over the years, some have renovated and extended (into the garden or on the side). Things change again over the decades even after completion. In our row, there is a really great neighborhood with a lot of mutual help but also a lot of mutual tolerance, and I think that’s exactly why it works so well.