Premier Lofts are the longest established Loft Conversion company in London. With this reputation comes impeccable work and service. We specialize in:

  • Loft Conversions
  • Ground Floor Extensions
  • Kitchen Extensions
  • Shower Rooms
  • Bungalow Extensions
  • Victorian House Extensions
  • Loft Installations
  • Attic Conversions
  • Dormer Loft Conversion
  • Mansard Loft Conversion
  • Hip to Gable Loft Conversion

Why Choose Us?

Quality

Premier Lofts offer a service like no other. Not only will you have the highest quality work but you will have your own personal project manager in Malcolm who will oversee the work from start to finish. It’s this personal touch that sets Premier Lofts apart from the other companies in London.

Workforce

We have a very stable workforce with the same tradesmen working for us for many years.
Your personal project manager will oversee your project from start to completion, personally visiting any site a minimum of 3 – 4 times a week. Once we start work on site, we give you the home numbers of both the project manager and foreman. We ensure your new extension is thoroughly clean at the end of the job as we arrange for professional cleaners to come in.

Why choose to have a loft conversion?

It has been widely reported that a loft conversion is the most effective, hassle-free (if you hire the right company) way to add value to your home. In a recent article in the Daily Telegraph, it suggests that a loft conversion could add up to 20% to the value of your home.

A loft conversion is the right choice depending on your situations for a number of reasons

  • You are expecting a new child and could do with the extra space
  • You want to add value to your existing home for investment purposes
  • You want to upgrade to a bigger home but do not want to spend an extortionate amount.
  • You work from home or are going to start working from home and an extra room or two would be very beneficial to you.

If any of these apply to you then a loft conversion could be exactly what you are looking for. You can have us come in for a FREE consultation to discuss the possibilities of how Premier Lofts can help you achieve precisely what you want

PRESS:

Premier Lofts has been featured several times on Channel 4’s “Room for Improvement” TV program, as well as BBC News.

 

INFORMATION ABOUT YOUR LOFT CONVERSION

Party Wall

A party wall is a dividing partition between two adjoining houses that is shared by the tenants of each residence. If your property has a party wall then a written agreement must be in place before work can commence. Property owners looking to have their loft converted will need to give sufficient notice to adjoining owners.

The main types of party walls are:

  • a wall that stands over the lands of two or more owners and forms part of a building – this wall can be part of one building or separate buildings belonging to different owners
  • a wall that stands on the lands of 2 owners but does not form part of a building, such as a garden wall but not including timber fences
  • a wall that is on one owner’s land but is used by multiple owners to separate their buildings

If the owners sharing the party wall do not give their consent to the proposed building works, there are remedies and solutions that are in place to still comply with all the requirements. Whilst these formal requirements must be addressed a neighbour will not be able to physically stop you from having your loft converted. They would however, be able to affect certain elements of the process such as timing. It is usual practice that the neighbour would give their full consent and this will not be an issue. The consent will be given in what is known as a ‘Part Wall Agreement’. Any costs associated with this process are to be covered by the property owner who is looking to have the work done.

Rules and regulations surrounding the party wall are governed by the Party Wall etc Act 1996. This can be found at the following link:

Fire safety

When converting an existing loft or attic into a room or rooms, the provisions for escape need to be considered to ensure that all safety requirements are met. This often means that additional fire protection will be necessary in the existing parts of the house.

For example, a typical loft conversion to a two-storey house will result in the need to provide new fire-resisting doors and sometimes partitions to protect the stairway. This is because it is too dangerous to escape via windows from floors above first floor level.

Stairs

Fire & general safety

To ensure adequate safety for the dwelling a new stair serving the new loft will be needed.  Where there is not enough room for a full traditional staircase, it may be possible to use a “space saving” stair.  Retractable ladders or stairs are not normally acceptable so this is the best option.

For general safety reasons, there are specific criteria that a stair should be designed to and at Premier Lofts we adhere to every regulation.

Opening for new stairs

This would normally be formed by cutting away some of the existing ceiling joists between the habitable areas of the home and the loft-space.  As these joists are support the existing ceiling and restrain the pitched roof from spreading, replacement support should be provided.  This will take the form of timber “trimmers” around the opening, most likely to be at least two timbers fixed together (double trimmer) to ensure the load is transferred to remaining timbers.

Sound Insulation

Sound insulation is required between habitable rooms.  With a terraced or semi-detached house, the building control body may also ask for sound insulation between the converted loft and the neighbours loft to be improved.  If they think it is necessary the council will also ask for a test to be carried out, but this will depend based on a number of reasons.  The existing party wall will need to be upgraded to provide sound insulation between the properties.

Fire Doors

All rooms backing onto the protected stairs (except bathrooms, providing the enclosing walls have 30 minutes fire resistance) are to be provided with FD20 (or FD30) fire doors to BS 476- 22:1987 fitted with strips around the sides & on top of door or frame. Any glazing within the fire door or stairway enclosure is to have 30 minutes fire resistance including the beading as detailed in above options.

Existing solid/hardwood doors may achieve the required 20 minutes fire resistance or can be upgraded with proprietary intumescent products applied as manufacturers details to achieve 20 minutes fire resistance, as agreed with building control before works commence on site. Contact Cotswold Intumescent Products on: 01453 731006. A copy of the purchase invoice will be required by building control on completion to confirm product used.

Doors between garages and dwellings to have 100mm high fire resisting threshold step down into the garage, FD30 fire door & frame fitted with an approved mechanical self closing devise, intumescent strips and cold smoke seals.

Smoke alarms

All floors of the house must be provided with mains operated interconnected fire detection and fire alarm system to BS 5446 & installed in accordance with the relevant recommendations of BS 5839 – 6: 2004 to at least a Grade D Category LD3 standard.

Additionally, self contained mains operated smoke alarms (heat alarms installed in kitchens) with battery back up to be fixed at ceiling level in all circulation areas at each storey level, within 7.5m of all doors to habitable rooms.

Cavity wall filling with insulation by specialists

The suitability of the cavity wall for filling must be assessed before the works are carried

out by an insulation specialist in accordance with BS 8208: Part 1: 1985.

The insulation specialist carrying out the work must hold or operate under a current BSI

Certificate of Registration of Assessed Capability for the work being carried out.

The insulation material must be in accordance with BS 5617: 1985 and the installation

must be in accordance with BS 5618: 1985

The Installation of urea-formaldehyde (UF) in cavity walls is to be carried out in compliance with paragraphs 1.1 — 1.2 of ADD1

Ventilation

Purge (natural) ventilation

Purge (natural) ventilation to be provided to all habitable rooms equal to 1/20th (5%) floor

area where the external windows/doors open more than 30 degrees and increased to

1/10th (10%) of the floor area where the windows opens between 15 – 30 degrees.

Window openings which open less than 15 degrees is not suitable for purge ventilation

and alternative ventilation details are required as detailed below and in compliance

section 5 & Appendix B of Approved Document F1. Purge (natural) ventilation openings

to habitable rooms to be typically 1.75m above floor level. The area of external windows, roof windows & doors should not exceed 25% of the usable internal floor area otherwise SAP calculations may be required from a suitably qualified person to confirm design flexibility where they exceed 25% of the usable floor area. (ii) See the relevant section in this guidance for permitted unprotected external openings in relation to relevant boundaries.

Means of escape windows to be fitted with proprietary hinges to open to the minimum required clear width of 450mm. Escape windows must have minimum clear opening casement dimensions of 0.33m² and 450mm (typically 450mm wide x 750mm high), located within 800-1100mm above floor level to all bedrooms and habitable rooms at 1st floor level and inner habitable rooms on the ground floor. Windows above the ground floor storey and within 800mm of floor level are to be provided with containment/ guarding/ proprietary catches which should be removable (child proof) in the event of a fire. Where escape windows cannot be achieved in two story buildings, direct access to a protected stairs (or protected route to inner rooms) is acceptable in compliance with the guidance above. Escape windows are not required where protected routes are provided in compliance with this guidance.

Electrical safety

New works, existing electrical circuits or systems must be designed, installed, tested and certified to BS 7671 or with the current editions of the IEE regulations by a competent person in compliance with Approved Document P of the Building Regulations.

A competent electrician or a member of a competent person scheme must test and certify all such works. The electrician must provide signed copies of an electrical installation certificate conforming to BS 7671 for the owner of the property and a copy must be forwarded to the Building Control surveyor for approval at completion, so the Building Control completion certificate can be issued.

All switches and sockets including the consumer unit, ventilation & service controls etc, should be fixed between 450-1200mm above floor level. Accessible consumer units should be fitted with a child proof cover or installed in a lockable cupboard.

New external walls

Cavity walls

Walls must consist of either approved reconstituted stone facings,100mm tooled flush jointed brickwork or 2 coat rendered 100mm dense concrete blockwork external skin dependant upon exposure with a 100mm thick lightweight high performance 2.8N/mm² insulation block with either a 13mm lightweight plaster finish or 12.5mm plasterboard skimmed dry lining. Where required external natural stone facings to be tied to external block work with wall ties as detailed below and foundation widths increased by 150mm.

Walls must be built with 1:5/6 cement mortar and tied with BBA approved stainless steel wall ties suitable for cavity width at maximum spacing of 750mm horizontal (increased to 600mm if retaining partial fill insulation using proprietary retaining rings as manufacturers details), 450mm vertical and 225mm at reveals, verges and closings for cavities up to 100mm wide.

PLANNING PERMISSION

Generally when making any changes to your home, whether it be a loft conversion or a home extension, planning permission is required. The specifics of what is required will depend on the area that your home is located in and the individual requirements of the Local Planning Authority (LPA). To find your LPA, more information can be found at the following link and by entering your postal code:

Generally speaking, you do not usually need planning permission unless you are converting your roof space in the following ways:

  • Dormer Loft Conversion – these extend outwards from the loft in a box shape and are often referred to as kennel extensions
  • Mansard Loft Conversion – this involves extensively extending the roof by increasing the roof slant to around 72 degrees
  • Hip to Gable Loft Conversion – this involves converting the sloped (hip) side of a roof into a flat (gable) side to increase space

PERMITTED DEVELOPMENT

Not all home improvements will require planning permission. If a home is deemed to be ‘permitted development’ then no planning permission will be required, this was introduced in the planning law in October 2008.

There are limitations on which buildings can have loft conversions. A loft conversion would not be permitted if you live in a listed building or in areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, National Parks and the Broads, Conservation Areas and World Heritage Sites.

If your home does not fall into the categories previously mentioned, your loft conversion or extension will need to meet the following criteria to adhere to the permitted development requirements:

  • Ensure that the roof isn’t extended by more than 40 cubic metres if you live in a terraced house, or 50 for a semi detached property
  • The highest part of the extension shouldn’t be higher than the original roof
  • Building materials should match the original house
  • The extension should not include any balconies, raised platforms or verandas
  • Any side facing windows in your conversion should be obscure-glazed and open at least 1.7 metres above the floor
  • Unless you’re carrying out a hip to gable conversion, your extension should be set back at least 20 centimetres from the original roof eaves
  • No extension should be made beyond the plane of the existing roof slope of the principle elevation facing a highway.