Loft conversion in Tufnell Park

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 Tufnell Park Conservation Area was designated on 23 June 1970 and last amended or extended on 20 May 1993. Its January 2002 design guidelines describe it as largely the residential estate Lord Tufnell laid out in the 1860s and 1870s, mainly spacious detached and semi-detached villas and terraces of three and four storeys, many designed by the estate’s surveyor, Truefitt, with a variety of styles and a flamboyant use of materials and decoration. They record the area as predominantly residential, with a few houses then providing hotel or bed and breakfast accommodation.

The conservation area’s character, the guidelines explain, rests on surviving 19th century buildings in brick, stone and render, with timber windows and natural slate and tile roofs; only a few 20th century buildings exist. Roofs take the form of gables, mansards, exposed pitches and parapets, and sloping chimney stacks mark the rear of many terraces. Original porticos, porches and canopies are to be kept, as are ornate tiled dadoes in entrance porches, and front boundaries vary from railings on brick walls to engineering-brick finishes, several still carrying original house names. Gaps between houses give views of trees and rear gardens.

Islington’s Hillmarton guidelines describe an area mostly first built in the 1850s and 1860s as pairs of three- and four-storey semi-detached villas or as terraces, and those for Mercers Road/Tavistock Terrace name 6 and 9–21 Tufnell Park Road among the 19th century buildings to retain. In Camden, the Dartmouth Park appraisal describes late Victorian villas and houses on Dartmouth Park Hill either side of a 1950 group of houses and maisonettes, and finds most of that conservation area built between 1840 and 1890, with late 18th century terraces, cottages, mansion blocks and Victorian villas side by side.

• Islington conservation areas, designation dates and design guidelines
• Islington: Tufnell Park (CA11) Conservation Area Design Guidelines, January 2002 (PDF)
• Islington: Hillmarton (CA32) Conservation Area Design Guidelines, January 2002 (PDF)
• Islington: Mercers Road/Tavistock Terrace (CA24) Conservation Area Design Guidelines, December 2007 (PDF)
• Camden: Dartmouth Park Conservation Area appraisal and management strategy, adopted 22 January 2009 (PDF)

Local design and consent context

For a refurbishment, the guidelines bear most on the outside. New or enlarged dormers or rooflights are not permitted on the front or side slopes of exposed pitched roofs, while rear slopes are considered on their merits; chimney stacks and pots visible from the street or other public areas must stay; plant rooms, air conditioning units, water tanks and satellite equipment are opposed at roof level where they can be seen from the street or public space; and original porticos, porches and canopies are kept, with porches left unenclosed.

Islington’s list also gives Hillmarton (CA32), designated on 13 November 1990 and last amended or extended on 30 April 2004, with guidelines of January 2002; Mercers Road/Tavistock Terrace (CA24), designated on 25 July 1989 and last amended or extended on 12 February 2008, with guidelines of December 2007; and St John’s Grove (CA28), designated on 23 April 1990 and last amended or extended on 12 February 2008, with guidelines of February 2008. Islington has 42 conservation areas in all.

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 checklist lists Tufnell Park, Hillmarton, Mercers Road/Tavistock Terrace and St John’s Grove among the areas where an Article 4 direction removes the permitted development right to make material changes to house windows facing a public highway, so planning permission is needed. The Tufnell Park guidelines confirm a direction applies there; ask Islington for its full scope.

• Islington: Tufnell Park (CA11) Conservation Area Design Guidelines, January 2002 (PDF)
• Islington conservation areas, designation dates and design guidelines
• Islington permitted development and Article 4 directions
• Islington works to windows: planning permission checklist

Access and site planning

Decide where deliveries will stop and where waste will wait. In Islington, scaffolding, hoardings and building materials on the highway need a licence; only a company holding a waste carriers licence can apply for a skip licence, which takes five days to process; and bay suspensions need at least 10 days’ notice for Pay By Phone bays and 14 days for others. Islington cannot suspend yellow lines, and an obstruction on a red route such as Holloway Road needs Transport for London’s permission. In Camden, the skip company itself must apply for the skip licence, at least 5 working days ahead, scaffolds and hoardings need a building licence, and bay suspensions should be booked at least 17 days ahead.

• Islington highway licences and TfL red routes
• Islington skip licences
• Suspend an Islington parking bay
• Camden: skip licences
• Camden: building licences for scaffolds and hoardings
• Camden: parking bay suspensions

Continue planning

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