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We design and build Earl's Court loft conversions across Earl’s Court Square, Philbeach Gardens, Nevern Square - dormer, mansard, L-shape, hip-to-gable and Velux conversions for Stucco Italianate terraces, Garden-Square houses, Large Mansion blocks where planning strategy, conservation detailing, structural steel design, Building Control and staircase sequencing need handling properly.
Every loft conversion project in Earl's Court is designed to respect the Earl’s Court Conservation Area and the character of stucco Italianate terraces, garden-square houses, large mansion blocks. Our in-house RIBA Chartered Architects handle RBKC planning applications, our chartered structural engineers specify any load-bearing work, and our directly-employed trades deliver the build under one fixed-price contract. We coordinate Building Control, Party Wall awards where needed, and all certifications through to handover.
Earl's Court falls within a conservation area, which means visible external alterations require careful design and often full planning permission. Our architects have extensive experience securing approvals in RBKC's conservation areas.
Our loft conversion projects in Earl's Court are delivered by our in-house team of RIBA architects, structural engineers and specialist tradespeople. Every project is managed under a single fixed-price contract with no hidden costs.
Earl's Court reads as one long white front, and that fact shapes any loft here. Nevern Square and Philbeach Gardens carry sweeping stuccoed Italianate terraces, while Penywern Road and Earl's Court Square add tall white-fronted houses now largely divided into flats — one of the highest concentrations of period conversions in the borough. On terraces this tall, a mansard is the form that wins back a full storey, rebuilding the roof slope within the existing lines.
The Royal Borough treats those long stucco runs as a protected group, not house by house, so a roof addition is judged for how it reads along the whole terrace. On streets including Earls Court Square, Eardley Crescent, Nevern Square and Philbeach Gardens, Article 4 directions have removed permitted development rights over roof coverings, so a mansard or dormer proceeds by planning application. Where the house is a conversion, a freeholder consent and a party-wall award between the attached homes add further layers.
Costs track the form the roof can take. A mansard runs £65,000–£110,000 excluding VAT, a dormer £60,000–£100,000, a hip-to-gable £65,000–£120,000 where a gable can be built, and a Velux conversion within the existing plane £50,000–£90,000.
Converting a loft turns dead roof space into a proper storey — usually a bedroom suite, office or studio — with the staircase, steelwork, insulation and fire strategy resolved together rather than improvised on site. Steels are engineered before a rafter is cut, the staircase position is fixed early so the floor below keeps its shape, and the whole build runs under one fixed-price contract. The right approach depends on your roof, and we design and build all of the main forms.
Whichever form suits your roof, the scope runs from steel and floor structure through staircase, en-suite plumbing, insulation, fire doors and detection to fitted eaves storage and final decoration.
Six stages, engineered on paper before the roof is touched.
Read the full loft conversion guide for roof-type recommendations, planning tables and the week-by-week programme.
Many dormer and hip-to-gable conversions fall within permitted development, subject to volume allowances of 40 cubic metres on terraced houses and 50 on semis and detached homes — though conservation areas restrict this and flats have no loft PD rights at all. Where new steels bear on a wall shared with a neighbour, the Party Wall etc. Act 1996 requires two months’ notice before work begins, and Building Regulations govern the structure, staircase, insulation and fire safety of every conversion. Our planning guide library explains what applies in your borough.
A loft conversion is a structural project wearing a bedroom’s clothes, and we staff it accordingly. Layouts come from our in-house RIBA Chartered Architects, the steelwork is designed by our own structural engineers, and party wall support comes through RICS surveying at our sister company, Hampstead Chartered Surveyors. Delivery is by our long-standing build teams on a fixed-price JCT contract, insured to £10M for professional indemnity and public liability, with a 12-month defects period and a 10-year workmanship warranty. Enquire before 2pm on a weekday and we will call you back the same day.
The mansard, more often than not. Nevern Square, Philbeach Gardens, Penywern Road and Earl's Court Square carry tall white-fronted houses, and on a terrace of that height a mansard rebuilds the roof slope to recover a full storey while the front line stays put. It is the form that best fits Earl's Court's grand stuccoed runs.
On many streets, yes. RBKC's Article 4 directions have withdrawn permitted development rights for small external changes — roof coverings among them — at addresses on Earls Court Square, Eardley Crescent, Nevern Square and Philbeach Gardens, so a roof alteration there needs a planning application rather than proceeding as permitted development.
As London-wide guidance, a dormer sits at £60,000–£100,000 excluding VAT and a mansard at £65,000–£110,000 excluding VAT. Which applies to an Earl's Court house — and where in the band it lands — follows from the roof structure and the consent route, so we price from a surveyed design.
They frame it. Earl's Court sits within the Royal Borough's conservation areas on grand stuccoed garden squares, and the long stucco terraces are protected as a group rather than individually — so a new dormer or mansard is assessed for its effect along the whole run, not just on one house.
It adds parties. Earl's Court has one of the borough's highest concentrations of period conversions, where much of the stock is leasehold; a top-floor loft there needs the freeholder's consent, and structure, acoustics and a party-wall award between the flats are handled together with the finish.
Earls Court sits in the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea, and where its grand stucco terraces and garden squares, mostly now mansion and converted flats have suitable roofs, a loft conversion — dormer, mansard or rooflight — adds bedrooms and bathrooms without touching the footprint. In the many flats, top-floor and roof-space opportunities are handled under the lease.
Roofline is the sensitive issue: because most homes are leasehold flats and many buildings are listed, a loft has to respect the established roof form and the rhythm of the street, and most schemes need a full application. We design the structure, the staircase and the roof form together from the first drawing.
Earls Court heritage & architecture: Converting lofts · Roof developments & conservation · Period facades · Facade planning rules · Conservation areas · Listed buildings
the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea · SW5
Roof alterations are the most sensitive works in Earl’s Court. Rear dormers can sometimes fall under permitted development, but within Earl’s Court's conservation areas those rights are usually withdrawn, and mansards, hip-to-gable changes or any alteration to the front roofslope require full planning permission from the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea.
Earl’s Court SW5 sits within Earl’s Court's conservation areas, and the Royal Borough operates one of the country's strictest planning regimes — its basement policy limits excavation to a single storey beneath the footprint, and listed-building and conservation control is extensive. Earl’s Court spans the Royal Borough and Hammersmith & Fulham. Our in-house RIBA Chartered Architects prepare and submit every application to the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea and handle pre-application discussions where early planning advice is useful.
Loft Conversions in Earl’s Court must satisfy Building Regulations — covering fire escape and protected stairways to Part B, floor and structural strengthening to Part A, and insulation to Part L. Our in-house engineers manage Building Control from initial notice to completion certificate.
Explore our other Earl’s Court services — Kitchen Renovation House Extensions — or the Earl’s Court renovation hub.
Our in-house planning team prepares and submits every the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea application and manages building control end to end. View our planning track record →
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We survey your property, discuss your vision and provide a clear budget framework.