Turn unused roof space into a proper bedroom, bathroom or home office — usually without the need for full planning permission.
Square metre for square metre, a loft conversion is typically one of the most cost-effective ways to add a genuine extra room to a house.
Many of the terraced and semi-detached houses across Margate, Ramsgate and Broadstairs have loft space that's currently doing nothing more than storing Christmas decorations. With the right structural work — strengthened floor joists, a dormer or roof-light, and a proper staircase — that space becomes a bedroom, bathroom or study that adds real, usable floor area to the house.
We carry out dormer conversions, rooflight conversions, and hip-to-gable conversions depending on your roof shape and what you need the room to do. Two dormers were part of the extra bedrooms we added during a full renovation we recently completed in Whitstable — turning a two-bathroom terrace into a three-bedroom, three-bathroom family home.
As with extensions, most loft conversions are checked against permitted development rules first. Where full planning is needed — for example on a hip-to-gable conversion that changes the roofline significantly — we manage that process alongside the build.
Most loft floors aren't built to bedroom-standard loading. We install new floor joists sized for the finished use, and check the existing roof structure can take a dormer or roof-light before work starts.
The right conversion type depends on your roof shape and the headroom you need.
A loft bedroom is far more usable with its own bathroom. We run new plumbing and drainage up through the house and fit the bathroom as part of the same project.
Loft conversions have specific Building Regulations requirements around escape routes and fire doors, since you're adding a storey to the house.
The two dormer extensions built during our recent Whitstable terrace renovation added two of the property's three double bedrooms — the same structural and roofing work a standalone loft conversion involves.
View This ProjectWe assess your roof structure, head height and staircase options to confirm what type of conversion suits the property.
Most rear dormers and rooflight conversions fall under permitted development; we confirm this and apply for planning permission where the roofline changes more significantly.
Structural work, dormer or rooflight installation, new staircase, plumbing and electrics, then plastering and decoration.
Fire escape routes, insulation and structural work are all inspected and signed off before we hand the room over.
Most rear dormer and rooflight conversions fall under permitted development, provided they stay within volume limits and don't face the road. Hip-to-gable conversions and anything on a front elevation are more likely to need full planning permission — we check this specifically for your roof before quoting.
Yes — Building Regulations require permanent, safe access to any habitable loft room, which means a proper staircase rather than a loft ladder. Finding space for it is usually the first design decision we make with you.
Building Control generally looks for at least 2.2m of head height at the highest point of the new room. If your roof doesn’t currently have that, a dormer is usually the way to create it.
In most houses, yes. It usually means running new soil and waste pipework down through the property, which we plan for at the design stage rather than as an afterthought.
Tell us about your project and we'll come back to you within one business day.
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