Loft
conversions
in Camden Town, NW1

Camden's Camden Town strategy describes many diverse historic rooflines worth keeping, and says it will not accept a fundamental change to a roofline, insensitive alteration, poor materials or intrusive dormers.

Our first loft drawing in NW1 is a section through the existing roof, measured from the stair, the party walls and the ridge; it shows which roof shapes are possible before any planning question is asked.

Source: Camden: Camden Town Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Strategy (adopted 4 October 2007)

In Albert Street the terrace at Nos 22 to 46 alone has a historic mansard attic. Elsewhere in the street the appraisal points to oversized mansards, dormer windows and flat-roofed rooms set behind front roof terraces, partly visible over the eaves parapets.

Delancey Street's terraces date from the 1840s and stand three storeys high over basements, a number of them already carrying mansards.

Camden's Home Improvements guidance ties the traditional mansard to Georgian and Victorian buildings, where a parapet at the front or a valley roof allows an extra level to be inserted simply.

If an entire terrace or group has been identified as significant for its roofline, though, that guidance says a new roof level is likely to be unacceptable in any form.

Before drawing a mansard we count which houses in the group already have one and check whether the parapet line seen from the pavement would change.

Sources: Camden: Camden Town Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Strategy (adopted 4 October 2007), Camden Planning Guidance: Home Improvements (January 2021)

Camden's appraisal notes that the best preserved stretch of Parkway, its south side between Arlington Road and Albert Street, has kept its original building heights because no roof extensions were added.

Its houses date from the 1820s and 1830s: modest three-storey fronts with continuous eaves parapets and little ornament.

On a street read as one run of parapets, a new room usually stays inside the existing roof, lit from the rear slope.

Source: Camden: Camden Town Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Strategy (adopted 4 October 2007)

Where terraces of the early to mid 19th century turn their backs to the Regent's Canal, their rooflines are part of the conservation area's character, and an extension that fundamentally alters a roof visible from the canal will not normally be permitted.

For a house backing onto the canal we photograph the roof from the towpath, since that is the view the planning officer will test.

Source: Camden: Regent's Canal Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Strategy (adopted 11 September 2008)

Government guidance takes roof extensions in conservation areas outside permitted development altogether, so each one is a planning application.

A dormer earns Camden's support only with over 2 metres of standing height measured from the stair, and inside a conservation area it should leave more roof slope showing than it would elsewhere.

A habitable loft needs building regulations approval, the Planning Portal says, partly because ordinary loft joists only hold the roof together and carry the ceiling below.

Access must be by a proper staircase, not a retractable ladder, and the escape route needs fire-resisting doors plus interlinked mains smoke alarms at each landing.

Sources: MHCLG: Permitted development rights for householders, Technical Guidance (September 2019), Camden Planning Guidance: Home Improvements (January 2021), Planning Portal: Is building regulations approval needed for a loft conversion?, Planning Portal: Loft conversion, building regulations: stairs, Planning Portal: Loft conversion, building regulations: fire safety

A flat, or a building divided into flats, has no householder permitted development rights, so roof alterations over one always need a full application.

The Camden Square strategy adds that creating extra flats in roof spaces will not normally be acceptable where it harms the conservation area.

Above flats, or on houses taller than three storeys, the building regulation requirements for a loft follow the same lines as for a small house but can go further and involve other parts of the building.

Where a top-floor flat owns the roof void, we read the lease and confirm the freeholder's position before drawing a room.

Sources: MHCLG: Permitted development rights for householders, Technical Guidance (September 2019), Camden: Camden Square Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Strategy (adopted 11 March 2011), Planning Portal: Is building regulations approval needed for a loft conversion?