Here’s one of the many confusing things about the English planning system: sometimes a council will turn down an application because there’s too much of the same thing already in an area. To keep us on our toes, a different council could turn down a similar application because there’s not enough of that same thing in the area.
In this case, the council wanted flat conversions to stay grouped together. So, the first thing that needed to be done on this project was to establish whether enough nearby houses had been split up and converted into self-contained units. Then we had to make sure the house met the council’s minimum size for a building that could be converted: 120 sqm. It passed that test with ease.
However, it’s important to understand that those basic facts only get you to the starting line. A council is not obliged to give you planning permission for a flat conversion just because you meet the basic thresholds. Therefore, in order to achieve the client’s favoured outcome, there was still a lot of work to be done.
Although the house was already large, we added extra space via a permitted development L-shaped dormer loft conversion. Importantly, householder permitted development rights disappear once a flat conversion is complete, so any extensions need to be made before the application for conversion.
The next step was to carefully split the house up into flats. The whole of the ground floor became a large two-bedroom flat with two bathrooms, a home office, and a spacious kitchen-dining-living area. The first-floor flat also has two bedrooms, each with an en-suite, as well as a bathroom with a big tub. And on the new loft floor, there’s a studio flat that’s comfortably larger than what minimum space standards require - enough to compensate for the lack of outdoor space. The two other flats, meanwhile, each enjoy their own private sections of the garden.
Barnet Council had set its rules to prevent average-sized family homes from being carved up into tiny flats, yet our planning and design teams were able to masterfully work within the rules and produce three thoughtfully designed, spacious flats. The end result maximises the potential of the property for the developer, while also providing much-needed additional housing to London - an ideal outcome for everyone involved.
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