Dormer loft conversion drawings in Kensington and Chelsea

Article 4, conservation areas and listing in Kensington and Chelsea

The borough has 39 conservation areas and 84 Article 4 directions. Class B roof enlargements are not permitted development on article 2(3) land.

Historic England lists 1,350 entries here, including 18 at Grade I and 116 at Grade II*. There are also 16 registered parks and gardens.

Trees, flats and freeholders

Only 17 per cent of the borough's 66,884 households live in a house. For a top-floor flat or maisonette, permitted development does not apply and the freeholder must agree.

The borough has 4,560 tree preservation orders, which can affect scaffold and crane access.

How Kensington and Chelsea decides householder applications

The council decided 664 householder applications in its latest year and granted 93.7 per cent, with 91.9 per cent decided in time. These cover every home project, so they only inform timing.

Permitted development for a Kensington and Chelsea dormer

On an unlisted house outside a conservation area or direction, volume is limited to 40 m³ (terrace house) / 50 m³ (any other house) additional roof volume. No enlargement beyond the plane of a roof slope that forms the principal elevation and fronts a highway.

Because the borough has so many conservation areas and Article 4 directions, we check the address first and treat a planning application as the likely route.

Reading the terrace before drawing a dormer

On a Kensington and Chelsea terrace, the first step is to read the roofs as a row. Which dormers are original? Which are later alterations? Which houses have none at all? The answers decide what the council will accept.

We photograph the row from the road and from the rear, and mark each existing dormer on a simple elevation. Where original dormers survive, the design respects them in form and scale. Where the row has been altered, we still refuse to rely on that as a precedent, as the council will not.

That reading becomes a short design note on the drawing sheet, so the officer can see why the proposal sits as it does.

Heritage statements, listed consent and building regulations

On a listed house or inside a conservation area, the application usually comes with a heritage statement. Our planning drawings set carries the drawings that the statement refers to.

Building regulations apply in every case. The thermal rule for new roof elements is: New elements in existing dwellings, limiting U-values W/(m²·K): roof 0.15, wall 0.18, floor 0.18, windows 1.4 (or WER Band B), doors 1.4. The fire rule for a converted loft is: New storey above 4.5 m by loft conversion: protect the full escape route with fire-resisting doors (min E 20) and partitions (min REI 30).

Both are covered in our building regulations drawings once the planning design is settled.

What we check on a Kensington and Chelsea address before quoting

The borough has 43 entries on the Heritage at Risk Register and 116 Grade II* listings, so we check the address against listing, Article 4 and the conservation areas before anything else.

We then ask for photographs of the whole terrace from the road and the rear, and for any earlier planning history you hold. With the survey, that tells us whether the roof can take a dormer, and in what form.

Kensington and Chelsea dormer drawings and related pages

Each set has plans, a section and four elevations. Price: £695. If the council asks for changes, we redraw at no charge until approval.

See loft conversion drawings in Kensington and Chelsea, house extension drawings in Kensington and Chelsea and architectural drawings in Kensington and Chelsea. Neighbours include Westminster and Hammersmith and Fulham.