Flat conversion drawings in Ealing

What Ealing's planning figures show for small schemes

Ealing decided 821 minor applications in the latest twelve months, the class for fewer than ten homes. It granted 80 per cent and decided 94.2 per cent in time. Those are strong figures, and they suggest a well-run desk that rewards complete submissions.

The borough is a mix of house types. 50.3 per cent of households live in a house, a semi-detached home averages about £887,458, and a flat about £407,789. Large inter-war semis with long gardens are the usual candidates for conversion.

Levies, HMOs and heritage in Ealing

Ealing's own levy schedule was revised this spring and reads: £300/m² (Central Ealing); £150/m² (Rest of LPA). Mayoral CIL (MCIL2) £60/m² indexed additionally. Mayoral CIL sits in band 2, at an indexed £72.73 per square metre. Both apply per square metre of new floorspace, and a conversion that creates a dwelling loses the small-extension exemption.

Ealing has an Article 4 direction over HMOs, so if you are weighing flats against let rooms, we cost both before drawing. Heritage is spread thinly: the borough has 31 conservation areas and 309 listed entries. For the wider context, see architectural drawings in Ealing.

Preparing an Ealing conversion

We survey the house, model it in Revit and test the garden split, stacking and entrances in 3D. The deliverable is existing and proposed plans, elevations, sections, a block plan and the garden and area schedules, checked by a second chartered technologist. A neighbour-friendly bin and cycle store is drawn at the front.

Sound is the next job. Conversions need walls and floors that meet Separating walls 43 dB DnT,w+Ctr (min); floors and stairs 43 dB airborne (min), 64 dB L'nT,w impact (max) for dwellings formed by material change of use, which we detail in the building regulations drawings. The council fee is £610 per dwelling, paid to the council.

Ealing streets that suit a conversion

Ealing's suburbs are made of the house types that convert best: wide inter-war semis around Acton, Hanwell and Greenford, and Victorian terraces nearer the centre. A semi-detached home averages about £887,458, a terraced home £711,468, and the borough's average price moved by 0.8 per cent over twelve months.

The garden rule makes plot width and depth the first filter. A deep garden can satisfy the area test and still be divided so that each flat has a usable share, whereas a wide, shallow garden may meet the number but fail the sense of the policy. We scale the garden on the survey drawing before sketching any layouts, because everything else follows from it.

Ealing also decides a lot of paperwork outside conversions. Its latest year includes 754 lawful development certificate applications, and officers see plenty of loft and extension schemes alongside flats. If you want an extension first and a conversion later, a rear extension drawings set can be drawn so the later split is not blocked by the new layout.

Timing and neighbours on an Ealing conversion

Plan the order of events. The survey comes first, then two or three layout options in 3D, then one frozen design and the submission. In Ealing most decisions on small schemes arrive on time, so a sensible owner starts the building regulations drawings while the application is live, rather than waiting for the letter.

Neighbours matter more than owners expect. A new second front door, a bin store beside the boundary or a rear terrace overlooking the next garden are the points that draw objections. We show screening, obscure glazing and bin locations on the drawings, so the case officer sees how each concern was answered, and we respond to officer queries within five working days.