Velux loft conversion drawings in Croydon

Conservation areas, listed buildings and the Green Belt edge

The borough has 19 conservation areas, and Historic England lists 180 entries. There are 15 entries on the Heritage at Risk Register in the borough as well, a reminder that some of the older housing needs care.

Part of the borough is rural. Green Belt covers 25 per cent of the area, and while rooflights are not new buildings, a house there can carry a long history of extensions. We add up what has already been built before we suggest more.

On a house with its rights intact, the national limit on rooflight projection applies: Roof alterations (e.g. rooflights) may not protrude more than 0.15 m beyond the roof plane. We dimension the units on the roof section so the figure is visible on the sheet.

How Croydon has handled householder applications

In its latest year Croydon decided 786 householder applications, granted 86.6 per cent and decided 94.4 per cent in time. Those figures are for every householder project and say nothing about any single roof. We use them to judge pace and to set expectations about timing.

The certificate route is well used here. The borough dealt with 494 certificate applications of all kinds in its latest return. For a rooflight loft on an unprotected house, our lawful development certificate pack is usually the first option we look at.

If the address is protected or the rights have been withdrawn, a householder application follows. We draw it as a set of planning drawings, with a roof plan, a section and photographs of the slopes.

Houses, gardens and the typical Croydon loft

The average terraced house in Croydon sold for £396,579 in the latest figures, which is within reach of many families who then look for space in the roof rather than a move. Domestic gardens make up 32.8 per cent of the borough's land in the Generalised Land Use Database, so there is room at the back as well, but the loft is often the simplest extension to plan because it needs no new foundations.

We do not offer a figure for the value a loft adds. The sales data does not show one, and we would not guess. What we do offer is a roof survey that tells you whether the loft works: the floor-to-ridge height, the ceiling joists, the position of the chimney breast and the water tank.

From that survey we choose between one rooflight over the stair and a pair over the room, and we place them so the light reaches the bed and the stair as well as the floor.

Where a rooflight loft stops being enough

A rooflight scheme gives a room under the slope, and the headroom at the edges is low. When the client wants a wardrobe wall or a standing shower at the eaves, the roof needs a dormer, which is a different design and a different application. We show a dormer on the section when it might help, and we explain what it adds in planning terms.

For many Croydon households the simple version is enough: a bedroom or a study with two rooflights and a stair, drawn precisely and checked twice.

Price, set contents and nearby councils

Velux loft conversion drawings in Croydon start at £695 including VAT, fixed before you commit. The set includes existing and proposed plans, a roof section dimensioned for stair headroom, elevations of each slope and the location and block plans. A second chartered technologist checks each sheet, and we redraw at no charge if the council asks for changes.

For more headroom, see dormer loft conversion drawings in Croydon or loft conversion drawings in Croydon. The service guide is at Velux loft conversion drawings, and the local overview at architectural drawings in Croydon. Nearby we cover Bromley, Sutton and Merton.