Loft conversion in North Kensington

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

RBKC’s 2021 designation map shows the Oxford Gardens - St Quintin conservation area designated in 1975 and extended in 2002 and 2021, the latest phase along Latimer Road, where a March 2021 RBKC analysis had assessed the traditional terraces between North Pole Road and the Westway. That analysis says the area was first designated in 1975 for the speculative Victorian and Edwardian suburban housing on the Portobello and St Quintin estates. RBKC lists the adopted appraisal in an entry dated October 2021; the street descriptions here come from its October 2018 consultation draft.

The draft dates the red-brick Edwardian houses to 1905–1914: mainly long two-storey terraces with large original rear outriggers, most with full-height canted bays and one-over-one sashes, and none built with basements. Cottages and flats in cottage form followed in 1919–1926, designed by the LCC architect A. S. Soutar for the Royal Borough of Kensington. Subdivision is older still: the draft records large houses in the area failing to attract wealthy owners and starting to be divided in the 1880s.

The name North Kensington and the W10 and W11 postcodes are only a starting point: on their own they cannot show who the planning authority is, where a conservation area stops, whether a building is listed or under an Article 4 direction, or what consents a job needs. Parts of the borough line with Hammersmith and Fulham were realigned by a 1995 order that took full effect on 1 April 1996: RBKC says that near Latimer Road the line now runs along the railway’s north-eastern edge, and the Neighbourhood Plan records Bracewell Road, Brewster Gardens and the south side of Dalgarno Gardens joining Kensington and Chelsea that year. So settle first which council the full address falls under; then check the address against the national list, RBKC’s Article 4 table and its conservation area map, with the title or lease and the site’s planning history to hand.

Local design and consent context

On roofs, the 2018 draft describes valley roofs behind continuous parapets on Chesterton Road, Latimer Road, Calderon Place and the streets east of Ladbroke Grove, and, in most Edwardian streets, modern dormers on the main roofs, some oversized, while the outrigger roofs have remained undeveloped and are often clearly seen across gardens from the street. It finds the west side of the conservation area leafy and suburban, and the part east of St Mark’s Road more heavily built up and urban.

RBKC confirmed the St Quintin and Woodlands Neighbourhood Plan 2015–2030 in July 2018, and it forms part of the development plan for its area, which covers 42 hectares and includes some 1,700 households. When the plan was written, almost all the area’s streets were in the Oxford Gardens conservation area, Latimer Road and the streets off it being the exception. Its policies guide decisions on planning applications. Policy C1 supports dormers for loft rooms on the rear main roofs of houses, subject to details, except on the cottage properties of Oakworth Road, Methwold Road, Hill Farm Road, the east side of Pangbourne Avenue, the south side of Barlby Road and the west side of St Mark’s Road, and on London or butterfly roofs.

Policy C2, in the streets and part streets covered by Directions 46 and 62, supports minor ridge-height changes for insulation that do not materially affect the roof’s appearance or create an uneven terrace roofline, and requires main chimney stacks to be kept; C3 resists non-permeable front-garden surfaces above the permitted development limits; C4 makes no requirement for a set-back where a ground-floor rear or side extension takes in the original side passage; C5 resists such extensions that are over 3m high at the party wall, have a roof slope over 45 degrees or infringe neighbours’ rights of light; C6 seeks to limit rear-garden outbuildings to 12 square metres of coverage, with 2.5m eaves and a 3m ridge; and C7 asks for discreet bin stores, flues, dishes and meter boxes on house fronts where permission is needed. Ask RBKC how these sit with the Local Plan 2024 for your proposal.

Access and site planning

A resident parking bay can be suspended only on at least 10 full working days’ notice, and RBKC asks for any suspension to be applied for before the licences themselves. The applicant for a highways licence must be a registered company; RBKC reviews each application within 10 working days of payment, and nothing may start on the street until it has given written approval. Scaffolding and hoardings count as temporary structures, licensed three months at a time, while a skip on the road needs a licence issued for a month at a time, and roll-on, roll-off storage containers are not allowed anywhere in the borough.

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

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