GS Renovation converts lofts in Orpington, where BR6 is largely 1930s semis and detached family homes with hipped roofs and good-sized plots. The usual scheme is hip to gable with a rear dormer, which turns an unusable void into a proper top storey. We coordinate the structural engineer and take the job through Bromley Council building control.
Adding a storey to a BR6 family house
Orpington houses were built with room to breathe, and the roofs reflect that. Squaring off the hipped side into a vertical gable wall gives you standing height where the staircase has to arrive, and a rear dormer behind the gable then makes the back half of the roof genuinely usable. In a typical BR6 semi that produces a large double bedroom with an en suite, and in the bigger detached houses often a bedroom plus a study.
Before any of that we measure the ridge, looking for roughly 2.2m to 2.4m between the top of the existing ceiling joists and the underside of the ridge. Where a house was built with a shallower pitch or has been re-covered in heavy concrete tiles, the numbers change and so does the engineer's design. We would rather find that at survey than halfway through a stripped roof.
Consents and the practical sequence
A semi or detached house in Orpington carries the larger permitted development volume allowance, commonly cited as 50 cubic metres, and many BR6 conversions run on a lawful development certificate rather than a planning application. Matching materials, no projection forward of the roof plane facing the highway, no balconies and obscure glazed side windows are all conditions of that. Conservation areas and Article 4 directions remove the rights, so we confirm with Bromley Council first.
The sequence on site matters as much as the paperwork. We form the new floor structure and steels before opening the roof, keep the house weathertight through the dormer build, and only then cut the stairwell opening into the floor below. A semi means notice under the Party Wall etc. Act 1996 for the steels bearing into the shared wall, served by you as building owner with our structural detail behind it.
- En suite plumbing, drainage and mechanical extraction
- Hip to gable conversions on semi-detached and end terrace roofs
- Dormer cheeks, flat roof and leadwork detailed to last
- Water tank removal and conversion to a sealed system
- Rooflight conversions where the roof line must not change
The GS Renovation Difference in Orpington
Orpington families use GS Renovation because we keep the house liveable while the roof is rebuilt above them. One team handles the engineer, the gable, the steel beams and padstones, the new floor, the Part K staircase, the Part B fire strategy and Bromley Council building control. Fully insured, quotations are free and carry no obligation, and our founder brings 30+ years on site.
- Honest answer at survey if your roof will not take a conversion
- Rated 4.9 from 31 reviews on MyBuilder
- Staircase set out to Part K within the space you have
- Structural engineer instructed and coordinated on your behalf
- Clean, tidy and reliable tradespeople
- Interlinked mains alarms fitted and certified