Designing Your Loft Conversion
Designing The Exterior
If planning permission is required then our Architectural Surveyor will work to designing well balanced recessed type of roof dormer(s) at the sacrifice of some internal space rather than the huge top heavy dormers that will dominate the elevation and be refused permission. Furthermore, many home owners do not value the external look as much and insist on the largest dormer possible, this is acceptable under Permitted Development (no planning permission necessary). In some cases the space gained to the interior can compensate the large bulky dormer seen from the outside.
Fortunately, the planners have got to grips with a lot of loft conversion designs these days and they now have a great more control over schemes that a few years ago could have been built under Permitted Development. This means that they have encompassed good design guides in an attempt to stamp out the bulky full width box dormer built on the principle elevation (front) that turned a beautiful Victorian semi into something that looks like giant match box dumped on top of the roof.
Conversely, we have debated with the planners that the small cottage type pointy roof dormers are quite simply impractical and do not provide enough space for a fully functional room. However, designing your loft conversion is all about compromises and choices which have to be made. Fortunately, home owners are now becoming far more design aware than they ever used to be. We must accept that the formation of more space must not be at the expense of a poor external visual impact that simply jars with the whole look of the locality. This type of poor loft conversion design can not only decrease the value of your own home but that of the neighbours as well!