Loft
conversions
in Dartmouth Park, NW5
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Dartmouth Park's roofs are watched from the slope opposite, so a loft here is judged from the next street's gardens as well as from the pavement.
Camden's appraisal calls the roofscapes highly important and says the original roofing materials contribute a great deal to them.
So a loft begins with photographs of the roof from wherever it can be seen: the street, the gardens behind and any higher road that looks down on it.
Source: Camden: Dartmouth Park Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Statement (adopted 22 January 2009)
Rear slopes that other streets can see
The ground falls towards the south-west, and the appraisal warns that rear slopes are often as important as fronts because neighbouring streets and buildings look onto them; rooflights on prominent slopes are named as a problem across the area.
From York Rise, for example, the central stretch looks across to the backs of Croftdown Road, Woodsome Road, Dartmouth Park Road and Laurier Road and their planted gardens.
For a house on one of those roads, a rear dormer is drawn as it will look from York Rise before it is drawn from inside the loft.
Source: Camden: Dartmouth Park Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Statement (adopted 22 January 2009)
New storeys and the Spencer Rise exception
Camden's 2009 strategy expects to resist additional storeys, fundamental changes to the roofline, intrusive dormers and poor materials.
It treats roof additions as likely to be unacceptable on a complete terrace or group whose roofline is still largely as built.
The single exception it describes is the south side of Spencer Rise, where most of a distinct group already has roof extensions and a mansard could fill the gap and reunite it.
Outside that group we rarely propose a new storey; the useful question is how much room the existing roof can give.
Source: Camden: Dartmouth Park Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Statement (adopted 22 January 2009)
Spencer Rise: butterfly roofs and a petition
Spencer Rise was built in the 1870s for artisans by several builders; its narrow houses stand back from the road, and many hide a butterfly roof behind a parapet.
The appraisal also records isolated mansards there that have made their host houses too prominent in the street.
While the neighbourhood plan was being prepared, Spencer Rise residents petitioned that many families needed the room a loft would give, and Policy DC4 was written to weigh that need against the street's character and the neighbours.
On a butterfly roof the valley runs down the middle of the house, so we take heights at both ridges and at the gutter before suggesting anything.
Sources: Camden: Dartmouth Park Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Statement (adopted 22 January 2009), Dartmouth Park Neighbourhood Plan (made by Camden, 2 March 2020)
Dormers under Policy DC4
The neighbourhood plan supports dormers and roof extensions that respect the existing roof in design, scale, materials and detail, and keeps them to the rear unless front additions already belong to the local character.
Its reasoning adds that a front dormer may be acceptable where a street already shows a varied pattern of roof changes, but is likely to fail in a terrace or group whose roofline is wholly or largely intact; where a rear dormer will be seen from public places, it asks for special care with design and materials.
We draw dormers with lead-clad cheeks and timber windows set well up from the eaves, and show them beside the neighbours' roofs in the application.
Source: Dartmouth Park Neighbourhood Plan (made by Camden, 2 March 2020)
Pitch, headroom and the new stair
The appraisal doubts that a roof pitched below 45 degrees gives enough height for a habitable room, and says each proposal is judged on its own merits even on streets where many lofts are already converted.
Camden's Home Improvements guidance looks for more than 2 metres of headroom, measured from the stair, before a dormer is worth proposing.
We take levels at the ridge, the purlins and the stairhead on the first visit, so a client learns early whether the roof can hold a bedroom or only storage.
Sources: Camden: Dartmouth Park Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Statement (adopted 22 January 2009), Camden Planning Guidance: Home Improvements (January 2021)
Which roof is on your street
Camden's 2012 energy guidance sorts the roofs: valley roofs behind parapets mainly on Bertram Street, Spencer Rise, Winscombe Street and parts of Boscastle, Chester, Churchill and Chetwynd Roads.
Mansards or pitched roofs with flat areas are found mainly on Dartmouth Park Avenue, Gordon House Road, Laurier Road, Lissenden Gardens, parts of Boscastle Road and the north side of Croftdown Road, while the detached and semi-detached houses of Dartmouth Park Avenue, Dartmouth Park Road and parts of Laurier Road have hipped roofs.
Each form gives a different loft: a valley roof little central height, a hipped roof a short ridge, a gable a full end wall for a window.
Source: Camden: Energy efficiency planning guidance for Dartmouth Park Conservation Area (adopted 23 August 2012)
Streets whose roofs are still as built
Woodsome Road keeps its original ridge heights with no rooflights or dormers on the front, and its grey slate runs on into Boscastle and Laurier Roads; red tiles on a few houses break the line.
On Twisden Road the long line of gables is a feature of the townscape, seen from the top of Spencer Rise, from Chetwynd Road and from the York Rise Estate.
Chester Road's Nos 18 to 56 have had no roof alterations at all.
On streets like these the honest advice is often rooflights at the back and a well-insulated roof, not a dormer.
Source: Camden: Dartmouth Park Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Statement (adopted 22 January 2009)
Rooflights and solar panels
Camden asks for conservation-grade rooflights laid flush with the roof, and warns they can still harm a highly visible, unaltered front slope or clash with gables and dormers.
For solar panels the 2012 guidance makes a similar request: out of prominent public view where possible and flush with the plane of the roof.
We size rooflights to the rafter spacing and set each one over a window below, so the back of the house keeps its order.
Sources: Camden: Dartmouth Park Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Statement (adopted 22 January 2009), Camden: Energy efficiency planning guidance for Dartmouth Park Conservation Area (adopted 23 August 2012)
Gables, hips and side dormers
On the west side of Brookfield Park, Smerdon's Arts and Crafts pairs have a third storey inside a gabled slate roof, and the appraisal notes side dormers that have broken that roofline, No 9 most of all.
Near Dartmouth Park Hill, Chetwynd Road's Italianate villas have hipped roofs with deep overhanging eaves.
A hipped roof rarely takes a side dormer without changing the shape the street sees, so we look first at the rear slope and at rooflights.
Source: Camden: Dartmouth Park Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Statement (adopted 22 January 2009)
Slate, chimneys and flues
Camden lists the loss of natural slate roofs among the changes that can badly affect a building here.
On Dartmouth Park Road west each villa has a tall stack with eight pots, and on Croftdown Road big stacks rise over every other party wall.
New flues can be very visible because the slope opens roofs to view, so the guidance prefers existing chimneys and keeps new flues off fronts and sides seen from the street.
In our loft schemes the stacks stay and are repaired, and any boiler flue goes up an old chimney or out at the back.
Sources: Camden: Dartmouth Park Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Statement (adopted 22 January 2009), Camden: Energy efficiency planning guidance for Dartmouth Park Conservation Area (adopted 23 August 2012)
Lofts above flats
A flat has no householder permitted development rights, so any roof addition over one needs a full application.
In Dartmouth Park many flats were created by dividing the houses of the central Victorian and Edwardian streets.
If the roof belongs to the freeholder, the lease decides whether a loft can be drawn at all, so we ask for the lease and title plan before the survey.
Sources: MHCLG: Permitted development rights for householders, Technical Guidance (September 2019), Dartmouth Park Neighbourhood Plan (made by Camden, 2 March 2020)
Building regulations and bats
Turning a loft into living space needs building regulations approval, the Planning Portal says.
The rooms need a proper stair, and fire-resisting doors and mains-powered alarms protect the route down.
If bats use the roof, a survey and possibly a licence come first.
Sources: 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, Planning Portal: Loft conversion, protected species
Before you apply
The roof and rear extension guidelines approved in 1984 for Laurier and Boscastle Roads have been superseded by later Camden guidance.
Camden's lighter homeowner pre-application service covers a single loft conversion.
Our pre-application pack shows how the roof is seen from the street, from gardens and from any road above, and Camden's comments are worked into the design before anything is submitted.
Sources: Camden: Dartmouth Park Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Statement (adopted 22 January 2009), Camden Council: Pre-planning application advice for homeowners
Questions about loft conversions in Dartmouth Park
Can I put a dormer on the front of my Dartmouth Park house?
Only where the street already shows a varied pattern of roof changes; on an intact roofline the neighbourhood plan expects refusal.
Will Camden accept a mansard on Spencer Rise?
Possibly on the south side, where the 2009 strategy allows one that fills a gap in a group already extended.
Is my roof steep enough for a loft room?
Camden's appraisal doubts that a roof pitched below 45 degrees gives the height a habitable room needs.
Do rooflights have to be flush?
Yes, conservation-grade and flush with the slates, and even then a prominent unaltered front slope may be refused.
Does the back of my roof matter as much as the front?
Often, because the slope lets neighbouring streets see rear roofs.
Do I need building regulations approval for a loft?
Yes, converting a loft into living space needs it whatever the planning route.
Sources: Dartmouth Park Neighbourhood Plan (made by Camden, 2 March 2020), Camden: Dartmouth Park Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Statement (adopted 22 January 2009), Planning Portal: Is building regulations approval needed for a loft conversion?
Related pages
Sources
- Camden: Dartmouth Park Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Statement (adopted 22 January 2009)
- Dartmouth Park Neighbourhood Plan (made by Camden, 2 March 2020)
- Camden Planning Guidance: Home Improvements (January 2021)
- Camden: Energy efficiency planning guidance for Dartmouth Park Conservation Area (adopted 23 August 2012)
- MHCLG: Permitted development rights for householders, Technical Guidance (September 2019)
- 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
- Planning Portal: Loft conversion, protected species
- Camden Council: Pre-planning application advice for homeowners
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