Loft conversion in Ravenscourt Park

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

The council’s profile, approved on 2 July 1997, calls the park a remnant of the former grounds of the manor of Palingswick, surrounded by a street layout that has evolved from the 18th century, and the council’s park page says the lake at its centre, fed by Stamford Brook, was part of the manor’s moat. George Scott, owner of Ravenscourt House and Park, encouraged house building on the park’s sides while keeping strong control over their style: a plan of 1830 shows 78 houses within the park, and by 1845 there were 330.

On the east side, Ravenscourt Road is a relatively wide street of terraces and semi-detached villas, and the rear of its western side is highly visible from the park. Nos. 41–93 form a three-storey terrace with basements whose stucco detailing, frontage walls and piers the profile singles out, while Nos. 86–98 (even) and 95–101 (odd) are mid-Victorian two-storey pairs in stock brick with Doric-columned porches. Paddenswick Road has terraces and paired villas of 1830–1860 in stock brick with stucco detailing, and the profile calls their front gardens particularly important to their mature and relaxed character.

The profile describes the listed houses of Ravenscourt Gardens as two-storey stuccoed semi-detached houses of the mid to late 18th century whose original front railings have been removed, and Stamford Court as dominating the corner of the site north of Ravenscourt Gardens. On the park’s west side, Ravenscourt Square is built on three sides and opens east into the park; most of its houses are stock brick, and No. 17 is a Gothic cottage of about 1840. Ravenscourt ward, which contains the park, had 3,077 dwellings in 2021, most of them flats or maisonettes.

Local design and consent context

First designated on 20 February 1974, the Ravenscourt and Starch Green Conservation Area was enlarged in September 1982, January 1990 and March 1991, and it appears as number 8 in the Local Plan’s table of conservation areas; the boundary changes that took effect on 13 November 2018 did not include it. The council’s Planning Applications and Transport Sub-Committee approved its character profile on 2 July 1997 as supplementary planning guidance, and the printed copy carries the date December 1999. The council publishes it in eight parts with a boundary map and warns that the profile’s lists of Article 4 directions and Buildings of Merit are not complete.

Its design guidelines cover roofs, chimneys, walls, windows, pipework, front boundaries and trees. A front roof extension is generally considered unacceptable and will only be considered within a terrace already significantly impaired by front roof extensions; in some cases a highly visible rear roof may prohibit a roof extension; consent should not be granted to demolish original chimney stacks visible from the street or public spaces; and views in and out of the park are of particular importance. The profile predates the 2018 Local Plan, so ask the council how it applies these guidelines now.

The council lists five Ravenscourt and Starch Green directions, numbered 1 to 5, and where a direction restricts permitted development rights, the restricted classes of work need planning permission. Its address list of affected properties, last amended on 1 October 2011, gives 8 May 1979 for No. 1, which covers alterations to the roof, gables and dormers at the front, coverings included, changes to the rear roof covering and painting brickwork that is still unpainted at named houses in Ravenscourt Gardens, Ravenscourt Square, the road called Ravenscourt Park and Ravenscourt Road; at 15–19 (odd) and 41–105 (odd) Ravenscourt Road it also covers rear extensions, including the rear roof.

Access and site planning

Work out early where a skip, a scaffold or a delivery vehicle can stand. Hammersmith and Fulham accepts skip, scaffold and building-material licence applications only from the firms concerned, not from residents. A skip licence lasts 14 days at minimum and a skip may never sit on the footpath; a scaffold licence lasts a month at minimum and must keep a footway at least 1.2 metres clear; and materials or plant left on the road need a building contractor’s licence and can go on the carriageway only. To suspend up to six parking bays for up to three days, allow at least eight days’ notice, counting Saturdays and Sundays.

Continue planning

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

Discuss your project

Tell us what you are planning in Ravenscourt Park

Share the property location, the work you have in mind and any drawings or permissions you already have.

£5M public liability, £10M employers’ liability and contractors’ all risks cover.

Design support: Hampstead Architecture & Planning.
Surveying support: Hampstead Chartered Surveyors.