GS Renovation converts lofts in Streatham, where SW16 is Edwardian terraces and period houses, a good many of them long since split into conversion flats. On a whole house the roofs here are tall and generous, which usually means a straightforward and genuinely worthwhile conversion; in a converted flat the roof space rarely belongs to you at all.
Tall Edwardian roofs in SW16
Streatham's Edwardian terraces were built with steeper pitches and higher ridges than a lot of London stock, so head height is more often on your side here. Measure from ceiling to ridge: roughly 2.2m to 2.4m makes a conversion work without lowering the rooms beneath. Where the number is comfortably above that, a rooflight conversion adding no volume at all can produce a usable room for an indicative £30,000 to £45,000, the cheapest route by some margin.
Most owners want more than that. Where the house has a rear closet wing, an L-shaped dormer at roughly £55,000 to £80,000 gives a double bedroom plus a shower room. Without the wing, a rear dormer at £45,000 to £65,000 gives one large room. The chimney stacks in these houses are tall and often shared with the neighbour, and their position, along with the landing below, generally decides where the new stair can go.
Lambeth planning and what building control needs
Lambeth Council decides planning in SW16, and the borough has conservation areas across Streatham where permitted development for roof extensions is withdrawn. Outside them, a rear dormer on a terrace can sit within the 40 cubic metre allowance provided it stays behind the roof plane, uses matching materials and has obscure glazed side windows. Because designation boundaries can run along the middle of a street, we check your specific address rather than the neighbourhood.
Whatever the planning route, building regulations bite. Part B requires a protected stair route to a final exit with fire doors and interlinked alarms once the house has three storeys; Part K governs the stair itself, which is why a space-saver stair is only permitted where it serves one room. The floor is carried on engineer-designed steels bearing on padstones in the party walls, and notices under the Party Wall etc. Act 1996 go to the neighbours on both sides.
- Staircase design to Part K, including the landing below
- Water tank removal and conversion to a sealed system
- Hip to gable conversions on semi-detached and end terrace roofs
- Mansard conversions where planning will not accept a dormer
- En suite plumbing, drainage and mechanical extraction
The GS Renovation Difference in Streatham
Streatham has the roof height to make a loft genuinely worth building, and GS Renovation delivers it as one job: engineer's design, steelwork, dormer, stair, insulation and finish, with Lambeth building control and the party wall notices handled in the same programme. We are fully insured, we work to building control approval, and the founder brings more than 30 years of hands-on structural experience.
- Clean, tidy and reliable tradespeople
- New floor structure carried on steel, never on the old ceiling joists
- Party Wall notices prepared for steels bearing into a shared wall
- Staircase set out to Part K within the space you have
- Aftercare and snagging support once the job is finished
- Straight advice on what is and is not worth spending money on