Loft conversion in Streatham

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

Streatham Common Conservation Area, first designated on 16 June 1994, lies on Lambeth’s southern boundary; the adjoining Norwood Grove is in Croydon. Its April 2017 appraisal describes an eclectic mix of historic housing round a historic open space, in stock, red and gault brick, with timber sliding sashes the usual 19th-century window. Leigham Court Road (South), designated in 1981 and wholly residential, adjoins it at its own south-west corner and has smart detached houses in large gardens; unusually, it takes in some front gardens but not the houses behind them.

The Streatham High Road and Streatham Hill area, first designated on 7 December 1999 with boundary changes in January 2024, has a busy town-centre character: shops and entertainment buildings beside churches and residential mansion blocks. Immediately east of the High Road, Sunnyhill Road has modest terraced and semi-detached Victorian brick cottages, and Leigham Court Road (North), designated in 2002, has villas widely spaced in ample grounds. The Leigham Court Estate, first designated on 18 February 1981, was built between 1889 and 1928 as long terraces of flats and houses on a grid.

A Streatham address or an SW16 or SW2 postcode does not settle the council, a conservation boundary, a listing or the consent route. The Streatham Park and Garrads Road area sits on Lambeth’s boundary with Wandsworth and is contiguous with Wandsworth’s Tooting Bec conservation area, and Streatham Common is on the edge with Croydon. Lambeth’s own skip page asks applicants to confirm an address is in Lambeth first. Check the constraints tab on Lambeth’s planning database, the list entry, any Article 4 direction, the lease or title and the planning history.

Local design and consent context

Lambeth’s documents give these first designations: Garrads Road, 1969, renamed Streatham Park and Garrads Road in 1999; Sunnyhill Road, 2 April 1973, part of which moved to the High Road area in 1999; Leigham Court Estate, 18 February 1981; Leigham Court Road (South), 1981; Streatham Common, 16 June 1994; Telford Park, 9 September 1994; Streatham High Road and Streatham Hill, 7 December 1999; Leigham Court Road (North), 2002; and Streatham Lodge, 8 June 2009.

The Leigham Court Estate direction is dated 22 October 1996 and was approved by the Secretary of State for the Environment on 18 November 1996. It takes away householder rights to enlarge or alter a house, add to or alter the roof, build a porch, lay hard surfaces and fit satellite antennas, plus rights over gates, fences and walls, means of access and exterior painting. The estate’s 2001 guidelines say that demolition under the direction includes removing chimney pots or stacks, windows, doors, fences or hedges.

The Streatham Lodge direction was made on 21 June 2010, served on 23 July 2010 and confirmed on 18 October 2010, and covers only part of the conservation area: the houses its schedule names on nine streets, including Baldry Gardens, Braxted Park, Copley Park and Strathbrook Road. Where the work fronts what the notice calls a relevant location, it controls house alterations, roof slopes, porches, hard surfaces, gates, fences and walls, their demolition and exterior painting. Lambeth says permission is required for any work a direction identifies.

Access and site planning

In Lambeth only skip companies can obtain skip licences, applying on the customer’s behalf, and the council asks them to confirm first that the address is in Lambeth, which matters at Streatham’s edges with Wandsworth and Croydon. The largest skip allowed is six yards; anything bigger counts as a container under a highways licence, which also covers scaffolding, hoarding, materials storage and cabins and is not granted until the fee and any deposit are paid. A standard parking suspension, including one for a skip, needs at least 10 working days’ notice.

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

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