Loft conversion in Barnsbury

Test the roof space before settling on a layout.

Start with the loft conversion brief

A measured roof survey should establish headroom, structural spans and where a staircase could meet the floor below. Plan the stair, escape route, insulation and building services together before treating the loft as another room.

Compare the proposed roof shape with the address-specific design guidance below. Record chimneys, shared walls and neighbouring rooflines, then ask the appointed designers to identify the structural work and consents the proposal needs.

The local building context

Islington’s Barnsbury Conservation Area Design Guidelines, dated January 2002, call it the largest conservation area in Islington, declared to be of outstanding importance. They describe formal late-Georgian and early-Victorian residential developments, naming sequences of squares and terraces such as Lonsdale Square, Gibson Square and Thornhill Square, with mature trees and planting in many of the squares. They describe the area as predominantly residential, with shopping frontages on Liverpool Road and Caledonian Road, and say the council wishes to retain all listed and locally listed buildings and all other 18th and 19th century buildings there.

The guidelines record buildings of brick, stucco and stone, with timber windows and doors and slate or tile roofs, and say the most common roof is the hidden valley roof behind a parapet. Some properties have front basement areas behind cast-iron railings, and gaps between detached and semi-detached villas give Barnsbury Square, Belitha Villas, Hemingford Road and Richmond Avenue a spacious character. Islington’s April 2010 local list describes 7, 8, 10 and 11 Barnsbury Square as villas of two storeys and basement with hipped slate roofs, and 16 Thornhill Road as three storeys plus basement in stock brick.

Barnsbury is the name of an Islington ward, a conservation area and a housing estate that Islington’s Site Allocations list as adjacent to, not within, the Barnsbury and Regent’s Canal West conservation areas. Neither the name nor an N1 postcode settles the council, a conservation boundary, a listing, Article 4 coverage or the consent route. Confirm the council with the official lookup, then check Islington’s conservation and Article 4 map, the list entry, the local list, the lease or title and the planning history for the address.

Local design and consent context

For a refurbishment, the guidelines bear most on the outside. Traditional roof extensions may be permitted on the properties listed in Schedule 10.2; otherwise none visible from any street level position will be permitted, including long views. New or enlarged dormers and rooflights are not permitted on the front or side slopes of exposed pitched roofs; plant rooms, air conditioning units and water tanks at roof level are opposed where they can be seen from the street or public space; and full width rear extensions above one storey are not normally permitted. The council seeks to keep porticos and traditional ironwork, and will not give permission to alter or remove original or traditional front walls and railings.

Islington has removed permitted development rights by Article 4 direction in 40 of its 42 conservation areas to prevent some minor alterations, and explains that a direction may mean applying for planning permission for changes such as external doors and windows or painting outside brickwork. Its works-to-windows and external wall insulation checklists name Barnsbury among the conservation areas where an Article 4 direction removes the permitted development right to make material changes to house windows, or to apply external insulation to a house, facing a public highway.

Islington’s Urban Design Guide, adopted in January 2017, says roof extensions anywhere along an unaltered roofline in a conservation area will not generally be acceptable, that acceptable roof extensions on terraces or villas must be restricted to a single storey, and that flat mansards are usually not acceptable in conservation areas. It asks for chimney stacks to be retained, and for butterfly parapet profiles to be kept where they are a characteristic feature.

Access and site planning

Decide where deliveries will stop and where waste will wait. Islington needs a licence for scaffolding, hoardings and building materials on the highway, and an obstruction on a red route such as Upper Street needs Transport for London’s permission. Only a company holding a waste carriers licence can apply for a skip licence, which takes five days to process. Islington’s list of traffic-sensitive roads puts Barnsbury Road, Caledonian Road, Liverpool Road and Offord Road in the category where a skip should stand in a suspended parking bay, and marks Upper Street and Pentonville Road for Transport for London to license. Bay suspensions need at least 10 days’ notice for Pay By Phone bays and 14 days for others, and Islington cannot suspend yellow lines.

Continue planning

The Barnsbury area guide · Loft conversion across London · Hampstead Architecture & Planning · Hampstead Chartered Surveyors

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