Advantages of a Loft Conversion for your South London Property

You will no doubt have seen countless loft conversions out and about within your local and wider neighbourhood. In fact, they are so common these days that we challenge anyone to find us a residential street in a London postcode that hasn’t had some form of loft conversion. Since there are permitted development rights available for loft conversions, they are easily one of the most common project types that we handle.

Whether it’s a new master bedroom with en-suite, a home office, or even a cinema room the possibilities for what a loft conversion can offer you almost endless. As architectural designers in London we are perfectly placed to offer you loft conversion ideas and advice. But what are the advantages of a loft conversion to you? L.E.A.V.E.S is the answer, you might be thinking what have plants got to do with my attic space? Take a read below and all will be quite clear.

Light – Increase the incoming light into your property

Forgive us for stating the obvious but the roof of your house is hit with the most sunlight in comparison to any other part of your property. A loft conversion can look to take advantage of this by adding in features such as roof windows that will take advantage of this natural resource and put it to great use. Natural light has many benefits such as improving overall mental and physical health as well as improving sleep quality. Depending on the use of the room it will also be an advantage in reducing eye strain and potential headaches which can be an effect of poor light or overuse of artificial lighting. We have plenty of loft conversion ideas that will look to maximise the use of natural light coming into your loft conversion and into other areas of the house using clever design features to direct it towards more needed areas.

There are plenty of companies that offer a wide range of roof windows both for pitched and flat roofs, with a variety of different visual finishes that mean that roof windows can easily become a functional and aesthetic feature of your loft conversion.

Easier – Easier than moving home

Moving home is without a doubt far more complicated than having a loft conversion done to your property. The endless list of considerations such as solicitors’ fees, surveying fees, moving logistics, change in commute and potentially changing your children’s school is enough to put the idea in the bin, and that’s all before the hardest part, actually finding the new home that you want.

A loft conversion simply does away with all that hassle, an architectural practise such as GBS Architectural will look to ensure that the process of measuring your home, designing, gaining approvals, selecting a contractor, and even overseeing the work is as stress-free as possible. Once all is said and done, you’ll be laughing at the idea you even want to leave the home you clearly loved.

As residential architectural designers we always want to make sure that we are improving the local housing stock and that is another reason why we would encourage potential clients to seek to improve their home rather than move.

Approval – Planning Permission is not always required

We alluded earlier to the introduction of permitted development rights being one of the main contributing factors to the popularity of loft conversions. Due to the simple tick box nature of permitted development rights it is regularly possible to circumnavigate the need for a formal planning approval process providing that the guidance is followed.

The immediate concern here is whether you have access to the rights or not, we can carry out the checks needed to confirm this on your behalf. If they are available and providing there is no reason not to, we would always advise that we look to utilise the rights to guarantee a smooth design and planning stage of your loft conversion project.

If the project doesn’t lend itself to using the rights or if they are simply not available to you, we could then look at the feasibility of a formal planning application, if the local planning guidance doesn’t oppose loft conversions there is nothing to suggest that this would be a problem. Regardless of the approval method we have experience in handling these matters and can offer plenty loft conversion ideas to you to ensure a smooth approval route.

Value – Increase the potential value of your home

Value is always a key factor in any conversation about potential projects and loft conversions are no different. There are countless ways to add value to your home and a loft conversion is as close to a guarantee as you can get. Research conducted by Nationwide suggests that a loft conversion can add over 20% onto the value of your property, considering that your average loft conversion can cost anywhere between £20,000-£60,000 (depending on project scope and host property) it is clearly a project worth thinking about.

A potential buyer or even prospective tenant will always be looking for a property that is cut above the rest of the market and stands out. A loft conversion is a perfect way to enhance your chances of a sale or letting by showcasing the full potential of your property. A loft conversion is the perfect way to not only offer you the space you need today but also provide a valuable investment should you ever decide to sell in the future.

Energy – Increase the energy efficiency of your home

A study from TheGreenAge states that roughly 25% of the heat produced within your home will escape from your roof without proper insulation. There are many schemes and technologies available that look to reduce the impact of this such as rolled quilt insulation or more efficient boilers but to excuse the pun they simply ‘paper over the cracks.’

As part of the building process, you will be required to meet the guidance within Part L of the Approved Documents to comply with the latest revision of the UK Building Regulations. Without going too deep into the technical matters this will ensure that in the winter your loft conversion stays warm and cosy and, in the summer, it doesn’t allow the heat from outside to seep in. What this means for you is less money spent heating your loft conversion and in the most extreme cases, potentially remove the need for expensive equipment such as air conditioning.

There is also the potential to include smart technologies in your loft conversion such as solar panels that can further reduce your energy spend by producing electricity for your home. It is also important to remember that energy costs are a key consideration for potential buyers, we have plenty of loft conversion ideas that can increase energy efficiency and therefore property value.

Space – Provide you with space your home needs

It's always wise to save the best until last, and we didn’t want to disappoint in that matter. Space is undoubtedly the biggest advantage to a loft conversion; it is most likely the reason you have loft conversion ideas in the first place.

Outgrowing your home and needing more space is incredibly easy, whether this is because your young family is growing (or growing up), elderly family members have moved in or because you will be spending more time working from home. The factors all point to one thing – more space.

Extending out may not be possible for you or it may not offer the solutions you need in terms of the space it will provide and this is where a loft conversion can come into its element. The are extremely flexible in what they can offer you now and into the future, the nature of a modern loft conversion means that the internal partitions are unlikely to be load-bearing and as such the space can be changed later if needed.

The best feature of a loft conversion is that it will usually take up dead space within your home, unlike an extension that will east into your garden space a loft conversion will take up the attic space above you which will maximise the potential of your home.

GBS Architectural – How Can We Help You?

The above is a broad outline of how a loft conversion can benefit you. To gain a better understanding of the exact benefits you are likely to see or the potential constraints on your property we would suggest you send us an email or give us a call and we would be happy to discuss your project with you.

From there we can provide you with a more detailed outline of the benefits specific to your property in addition to outlining the process you will need to go through to get from the initial conception stage. We will also aim to provide you with several loft conversion ideas to help maximise the potential of your loft conversion and ensure that it not only satisfies your needs today but into the future.

GBS Architectural is London based CIAT chartered residential architecture practise with offices in Wimbledon. We specialise in handling the entire architectural process (conception, planning, technical, tendering, contract administration/project management) of all residential projects such as house extensions, loft conversions, outbuilding designs, and bespoke residential new-build homes.

We provide a stress-free service that puts out client’s satisfaction at the forefront of our working relationship by acting as a single point of contact for our clients.

If you would like us to help you with a new or existing project, please do get in touch.