Loft conversion in West Kensington and Barons Court

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

Designated on 10 April 1989, the Barons Court Conservation Area was extended on 2 July 2002 to include Gledstanes Road, Beaumont Crescent and parts of Greyhound Road and North End Road; in the April 2005 profile its northern edge follows Talgarth Road to include West Kensington and Barons Court stations. East of Hammersmith Cemetery, and particularly east of Vereker Road, the profile finds terraces noticeably grander than much of the locality, at four storeys or three over semi-basements; west of Vereker Road they become plainer red brick, generally three storeys, some with basement flats or roof dormers.

West of the cemetery the scale drops. Nos. 38 to 90 (even) and 51 to 71 (odd) Margravine Gardens, most of St Dunstan’s Road and the north side of Claxton Grove are two-storey terraces with suburban front gardens, mostly red stock brick under slate roofs with protruding party walls. The island site formed by Barons Court Road, Barton Road and Palliser Road holds 34 linked 1920s semi-detached houses in the style of Voysey, roughcast under steep clay-tiled mansards, and the present Comeragh Mews houses were made by converting the original two-storey mews buildings into three-storey units.

Queen’s Club Gardens was begun in 1892 by W. H. Gibb, formerly of the Gibbs and Flew partnership, as mansion flats around a communal garden and tennis courts; most blocks are four storeys with a basement, late Victorian red brick with white-painted timber sashes. Gibbs and Flew had begun Auriol Road, the Gunter Estate’s first phase, in 1882. The Fitzgeorge and Fitzjames Conservation Area, designated in September 1982 and described in March 2000 as the two avenues, was extended on 2 July 2002 to three eight-storey North End House blocks built from 1930 and the North End Parade shops.

Local design and consent context

Its guidance for the outside of houses is specific. Front roof extensions will only be considered where a terrace is already significantly impaired by them, and raising a ridge for more internal ceiling height is considered unacceptable. Excavating a front garden for basement windows or light will not normally be permitted where its planting is integral to the street or terrace, though carefully designed lightwells may be acceptable. It notes open views to the rear of terraces in many places, with the rears of Barons Court Road highly visible from the railway, and says the uniformity of rear elevations should be preserved.

An Article 4 direction of 3 July 1981 removes the permitted development rights to alter the roofs, build rear extensions or paint previously unpainted brickwork at Nos. 1 to 6 (consec.) Queen’s Club Terrace. The profile adds that a new or enlarged front lightwell needs planning permission and will not normally be permitted where it would take more than half the front garden, that removing original chimney stacks seen from the street needs permission and should be resisted, and it encourages owners of PVCu windows to change them for designs and materials matching the originals.

Hammersmith and Fulham’s summary list of properties under Article 4 directions was last amended on 1 October 2011, and for Barons Court, Queen’s Club Gardens, Gunter Estate, Fitzgeorge and Fitzjames, Olympia & Avonmore and Turneville / Chesson its only entry is Nos. 1 to 6 Queen’s Club Terrace. The Barons Court profile of April 2005 and the Fitzgeorge and Fitzjames profile of March 2000 each recorded no directions at the time, and the council’s directions page names none for those areas, but a list last amended in 2011 may not show later changes, so ask about the exact address.

Access and site planning

Settle the delivery and waste arrangements with the street in mind before anything is booked. Hammersmith and Fulham grants skip licences to skip companies alone, for no less than 14 days; no skip may stand on the footpath, and one in a parking bay needs a suspension as well. Scaffold licences go only to scaffolding companies, for a minimum of one month. Bay suspensions need notice: 8 days for up to six bays for up to three days, and two weeks or more for bigger or longer ones. The council lists Talgarth Road and West Cromwell Road among roads where Transport for London is responsible for the pavements; on TfL red routes, TfL issues the licences and would rather materials were loaded straight into a vehicle than into a skip.

Continue planning

The West Kensington and Barons Court area guide · Loft conversion across London · Hampstead Architecture & Planning · Hampstead Chartered Surveyors

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