Loft conversion in Cockfosters

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

Along Cockfosters Road, the appraisal records Cockfosters Cottages, built in the 19th century for the Bevans of Trent Park to house estate workers. It dates Nos. 337–345, a red-brick terrace with small-paned sashes, to about 1800–20; Nos. 325–335 are a grade II listed Tudor revival group of 1837–1840 in yellow stock brick with four-centred arched porches; and Nos. 305–319 are a late-Victorian terrace with unusual triangular dormers. It finds a degree of unity in their consistent scale, eaves lines and brick and slate on low-pitched roofs, with small front gardens and picket fences softening them.

Around the Chalk Lane cricket ground, the appraisal finds formally arranged suburban housing on three sides, and calls Christ Church, built in 1839 of stock brick, an important local landmark whose spire is highly visible, particularly from the Underground station. Across the boundary, Barnet’s 2007 Monken Hadley appraisal describes Games Road with housing on one side only, set back behind greens, including Nos. 10 to 18, a terrace of modest cottages built in 1750. It records Ludgrove Hall, of the 1830s, and West Farm Court as converted into apartments, and The Grange as a modern block of neo-Georgian flats.

Neither the name Cockfosters nor an EN4 postcode settles which council decides, whether a home is in a conservation area or listed, which Article 4 direction applies or which consent route the work takes. Enfield’s Cockfosters ward also takes in Hadley Wood, Barnet uses the name for streets in its East Barnet ward, Heddon Court Avenue appears in both councils’ records, and Enfield’s own records list some Enfield properties with a ‘Barnet’ postal address. Confirm the council with the official lookup using the full postcode, not EN4 alone; Barnet notes that postcodes do not match administrative boundaries exactly. If in doubt, ask the council. Then read that council’s conservation map, the list entry, the Article 4 schedule or mapped area, the title or lease and the planning history of the property.

Local design and consent context

The appraisal says designation brings a general control over the demolition of unlisted buildings and over lopping or felling trees above a certain size, while some changes to family houses do not normally need planning permission and an Article 4 direction can withdraw particular permitted development rights. The management proposals say development affecting listed or locally listed buildings, buildings identified as making a positive contribution, or buildings affecting their setting, should normally use matching traditional historic materials and detailing, and that mass-produced materials such as uPVC and concrete roof tiles will not normally be appropriate within the conservation area.

Enfield made Article 4(2) directions on 26 January 2006 covering parts of eleven conservation areas, and the confirmed direction was sealed on 27 June 2006. In the Trent Park Conservation Area it covers 305–319 and 323–345 (odd) Cockfosters Road, the Cockfosters Cottages group. For elevations facing or visible from a highway or open space, it withdraws permitted development rights for enlargements and other alterations, including installing or replacing windows and doors, replacement roof coverings in a different material, roof lights, guttering of a new design or in different materials, and rendering or cladding, and for roof additions or alterations, porches, hard surfaces, satellite antennae, gates, fences and walls and their demolition, and painting exposed brickwork or unpainted render. On every elevation, it also covers demolishing or replacing chimneys.

In Barnet, the Monken Hadley Article 4(2) direction was approved at a Barnet Cabinet meeting on 15 January 2007, and planning data maps its Area 15 at the Cockfosters end, near Games Road and Chalk Lane. Where the works front a highway, waterway or open space, it withdraws rights for enlargements and other alterations of a house, roof-slope alterations, porches, outbuildings, enclosures and pools, hard surfaces, satellite antennae, gates, fences and walls and their demolition, and exterior painting; the erection, alteration or removal of a chimney is covered whether or not it fronts such a location. Barnet also has an Article 4 direction on small houses in multiple occupation, recorded in planning data from 29 May 2016.

Access and site planning

Enfield’s appraisal describes Chalk Lane, for much of its length, as a winding lane bounded by a hedge on the cricket-pitch side and without a footway, so plan where deliveries stop and waste waits. In Enfield, a skip company must register with the council before placing a skip on any road, each licence lasts 14 days unless extended, and a skip on the road or pavement must be lit at night. Scaffolding or hoarding on a road or pavement needs a licence, valid for 30 days and extendable, and if Enfield decides the road should be closed, a temporary traffic order needs at least six weeks’ notice. Enfield asks for applications to suspend parking restrictions at least 10 working days ahead, and a temporary dispensation to park for building works does not assure you of a space. For a Barnet address, ask Barnet what its own licences require.

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

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