Loft conversion in Hatch End

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

Harrow’s 2021 character study counts the Victorian semi-detached villas at Woodridings among Hatch End’s oldest development, and the 2011 assessment says initial suburban development there was dominated by Woodridings, an estate of Italianate villas along Uxbridge Road, Devonshire Road and Wellington Road. Around Wellington, Devonshire and Cornwall Roads it records a mix: one three-storey Italianate pair surviving on Wellington Road, Edwardian and inter-war detached houses, a 1930s mansion block, 1960s and 1970s flats and 1950s maisonettes in two-storey pairs, with some front gardens lost to hard surfacing and forecourt parking.

Inter-war growth brought the garden suburb of Pinnerwood Park, the Tudorbethan estate at Sherrington Avenue and Royston Park. Around The Avenue, Royston Park Road and Royston Grove, the 2011 assessment records mainly Edwardian, 1930s and post-war houses, usually two storeys plus rooms in the roof, many Arts and Crafts in style with tall chimneys and complex hipped and gabled roofs in brick, tile and render, set well back on wide streets with very large mature trees. Along Uxbridge Road it records mainly 1930s detached and some semi-detached houses, some with Tudorbethan bays and gables.

The Pinnerwood Park Estate, now a conservation area that Harrow lists with Pinner and its 2021 study names among Hatch End’s garden suburb estates, was laid out for the Artizans, Labourers and General Dwellings Company, and its layout was granted planning permission on 6 October 1932; only about 435 houses were built. Its 2009 appraisal describes two-storey cottage-style houses of dark red multicoloured brick with lighter red quoins, hipped roofs of handcut red plain tiles and tall chimneys, separated by hedges rather than walls, on streets with grass verges, granite kerbs and mature trees.

• Harrow: Characterisation and Tall Buildings Study, August 2021 (PDF)
• Harrow: Character Assessment of Harrow’s Residential Areas, 2011 (PDF)
• Harrow: Pinner conservation areas
• Harrow: Pinnerwood Park Estate Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Strategy, adopted December 2009 (PDF)

Local design and consent context

The conservation area is in two parts, and the appraisal lists its roads, several only in part, among them Uxbridge Road, Grimsdyke Road, Altham Road, Woodhall Drive and Pinner Hill Road, so check the house number as well as the street. It records hipped roofs turned into gables, large dormers and third front gables as eroding the area’s appearance, says new front dormers would be out of character and hip-to-gable conversion is unlikely to be permitted, finds conservation rooflights only likely to be acceptable at the rear, and asks extensions not to overpower the house or offset the symmetry of paired houses.

Harrow explains that Article 4 directions remove permitted development rights, and it shows its directions on the conservation area pages. Pinnerwood Park Estate has two: the first, confirmed on 10 June 1991, covers the core area and requires planning permission for satellite dishes and antennae across the whole conservation area; an Article 4(2) direction, served on 30 November 1995 and confirmed on 25 January 1996, extended similar controls to the outer areas. Harrow’s current guidance note for residents describes both.

In the core area, planning permission is needed for additions and alterations, including replacing windows and doors other than at the rear, dormers, rooflights and the gabling of hipped roofs, porches to front or side doors, hard surfaces and boundaries in front and side gardens, and painting unpainted surfaces. In the outer areas, the same kinds of work need permission only on elevations facing a highway, waterway or open space. The 2009 schedules place 516 to 530 Uxbridge Road, except 522, in the core area and Grimsdyke Road from 35 to 67 (odd) and 40 to 82 (even) in the outer areas; confirm the house number with Harrow.

• Harrow: Pinnerwood Park Estate Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Strategy, adopted December 2009 (PDF)
• Harrow: Article 4 directions
• Harrow: Pinnerwood Park Estate Conservation Area Article 4 directions, guidance note for residents (PDF)

Access and site planning

Plan deliveries, waste and protection for any shared hall or drive before work starts. In Harrow, a skip on the public highway needs a licence, obtained by the skip company, and must be lit in the dark; scaffolding on the highway needs a licence issued to the scaffolding company; and building materials on the highway need a licence even briefly, placed on the carriageway rather than the footway. Bay suspensions are granted only in marked bays and can take up to 10 working days. Harrow’s 2011 assessment describes Uxbridge Road as heavily trafficked; check whether the road outside is one of TfL’s red routes, where TfL issues the highway licences for skips, scaffolds and building materials.

• Harrow: skip licence
• Harrow: scaffolding licence
• Harrow: licence to place building materials on a highway
• Harrow: parking suspensions and dispensations
• Harrow: Character Assessment of Harrow’s Residential Areas, 2011 (PDF)
• TfL: highway licences on red routes

Continue planning

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