Velux loft conversion drawings in Havering

Local guidance and heritage in Havering

The council's guidance for householder work is the Residential Extensions and Alterations SPD, and it also publishes a Heritage SPD. We draw to the first on every job and read the second where the house is near a protected building or area.

Havering has only 11 conservation areas and 146 listed entries, relatively few for London, so the majority of houses face no heritage control on the roof. We still run the check, because for the few that are affected a listing changes the whole route.

Where the house is clear, a Lawful Development Certificate is the usual choice; otherwise see planning drawings in Havering.

Velux loft conversion drawings in Havering: how the council decides

Havering decided 985 householder applications in its latest published year, a large number, and granted 85.9 per cent. An unusually high 97.8 per cent were decided in time.

That speed is helpful, but it also leaves less time to fix a thin submission during the application. We make the first set complete. These are borough-wide numbers and do not predict any one decision.

Because the borough has few controls on roofs, the main risk to a Havering scheme is not the council but the neighbours. A loft room with windows in the side slope can overlook a garden, and the rule on obscure glazing exists for that reason. We draw the side-slope units with their glazing type noted so no one is surprised.

A measured survey comes first. Bungalows often have a low wall plate, so we record the wall plate and ridge precisely; a few centimetres decide whether a bedroom is usable.

Stairs, escape and energy detail

In a bungalow the stair has to be created from nothing, usually from the hall or a bedroom. Where headroom is short, the guidance allows: Loft conversions where 2.0 m cannot be achieved: 1.9 m at the centre of the stair, 1.8 m at the side (half width). We lay the stair out on the plan and section together so you can see what it costs the floor below.

A bedroom in the roof needs an escape route: Escape window: unobstructed openable area at least 0.33 m², at least 450 mm high and 450 mm wide, bottom of opening no more than 1100 mm above floor. The rooflight nearest the eaves usually serves, and we fix its sill height on the section. New windows must also meet: 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.

A bungalow loft becomes a two-storey house in building regulations terms, so the later building regulations drawings in Havering carry the fire and structure detail.

Price, checking and related pages

The fixed fee is £695 including VAT. Every sheet is checked by a second MCIAT chartered technologist, and we redraw without charge if the council asks for changes. A semi-detached house averages 540,897 pounds here, which frames what a new bedroom is worth.

For more headroom, see dormer loft conversion drawings in Havering. The full set of options is at loft conversion drawings in Havering, the borough overview is architectural drawings in Havering, and the national guide is Velux loft conversion drawings.