Lofts · Forest Hill
Loft conversion in Forest Hill
Design-led: we plan the room before we price the work, so the drawing and the build match.
Build-led: our own builders, plumbers and electricians on site, one team from strip-out to finish.
We design and build loft conversions, from roof lights to a full dormer with an en-suite.A good loft conversion in Forest Hill starts with the roof you have, the stair and what the room is for.
SE6 · SE23 · SE26 · Lewisham
Start with the room
Loft conversion in Forest Hill: where to start
Forest Hill's Victorian and Edwardian houses often have good roof height.
On a hill, the view from a rear dormer can be the best thing in the house.
Decide what the loft is for, a bedroom with an en-suite or a workroom, before choosing between a dormer and a mansard.
Where the new stair lands on the floor below decides more of the layout than the roof does.
We draw the stair, the structure and the bathroom drainage together, so the new floor works with the house below it.
Sometimes the roof will only give a smaller room than hoped, and we will say so before anything is drawn in detail.
Make it buildable
Dormers, mansards and roof lights in Forest Hill
In the Forest Hill conservation area, roof extensions are not permitted development.
The Article 4 direction brings roof changes seen from the street into the application.
Outside it, a rear dormer on a house can often go ahead within the permitted development volume limits.
Getting scaffolding and materials onto a roof on a steep street belongs in the plan from the start.
One team handles the structure, the roof, the stair, the services and the finish.
The local check
What changes from one property to another
Forest Hill sits in Lewisham, and several of its streets are conservation areas.
There, permitted development rights are cut back, and windows, doors and front boundaries come into the application.
The hills matter too, and not just for the view.
A level change across a rear garden can pull retaining work and a party wall agreement into a simple extension.
Lewisham has also made an Article 4 direction across most houses in the Forest Hill conservation area.
Changes to windows, doors, the roof and front boundaries seen from the street need planning permission there.
Much of this area is a conservation area, which removes permitted development rights that apply elsewhere.
Windows, doors, roofs and front gardens come into the application.
Each conservation area has its own appraisal of the materials the council considers appropriate.
They differ, so the answer on one street is not the answer on the next.
We check the actual address and the proposed work before saying what consent is needed.
Check the rules for your address
These are the local authority and estate sources relevant to Forest Hill.
The national rules
Permitted development, in plain terms
These apply across England.Conservation areas, Article 4 directions and estate covenants can tighten them, which is why the address comes first.
- A house, not a flat or maisonette, can usually add roof space without a planning application.The limit is 40 cubic metres on a terrace and 50 on a semi or detached house, including earlier roof additions.
- A dormer may not face the road at the front, and side-facing windows have to be obscure-glazed and fixed shut below 1.7m.
- In a conservation area, roof extensions are not permitted development and need planning permission.
- Every loft conversion needs Building Regulations approval.It covers the structure, insulation and a protected escape route down the stairs.
- Steel beams bearing on a party wall, or work to raise it, need notice under the Party Wall etc. Act 1996.
From our work
A closer look at our work
Finished rooms from our work across South East London: the joinery and bathrooms a loft usually needs.
Talk it through
Start with a call, then a site visit if it helps.
Tell us the postcode, the house and what the new room is for.The calculator gives a free provisional bracket; anything firmer comes from a call and a site visit.
Keep exploring
Related work nearby
Further reading
The regulations: the official guidance
- Planning Portal: Loft conversion
The permitted development limits for a loft conversion, and the Building Regulations that apply.
- GOV.UK: Building regulations approval: when you need it
Building Regulations approval is separate from planning permission, and you may need both.
- GOV.UK: The Party Wall etc Act 1996: explanatory booklet
Notices to neighbours for work on a shared wall, at the boundary, or excavating near their foundations.
- GOV.UK: Permitted development rights for householders: technical guidance
The government's detailed guide to what you can build without a planning application.