Apex designs and builds loft conversions across Broadwater and the wider BN14 area, on the older properties around the green and on the family housing that grew up around them. L-shape, dormer, hip-to-gable, Velux and mansard, with architectural support kept in house. Ask us for a free, no-obligation quote.
Thinking about a loft conversion in Broadwater? There is one thing worth checking before anything else, and it is at the back of the house rather than the top of it. A good many properties here have a two-storey rear projection, the narrower back wing running off the main body of the house. Where that exists, an L-shape conversion is genuinely available: a dormer on the main roof, a second on the projection, the two joined into one L-shaped floor upstairs.
That matters because the L-shape is the type most often described and least often possible. It gives noticeably more floor than a standard rear dormer without the planning weight a mansard carries, and it usually produces the layout people actually want, a double bedroom with a separate en suite rather than one room with a shower in the corner. Broadwater has more houses with the right shape for it than most of the areas we cover, so it is the first thing we look for when we walk round, and we will tell you straight if yours is not one of them.
We work right across Broadwater and the surrounding BN14 area, with Worthing Borough Council as the planning authority through the Adur and Worthing shared service. Our in-house architectural support covers layout planning, structural coordination and technical drawings, and our architectural partners can prepare and submit a planning application or Lawful Development Certificate where one is needed. We build to current Building Regulations throughout.
Which conversion suits a Broadwater home depends on the roof you have, how much of the new floor clears usable head height, and whether there is a rear projection to build onto. Five types come up across BN14, and the shape of the house at the back tends to decide which two of them are worth pricing at all.
The workhorse, and the type that returns the most usable floor area for the money on a house with a plain rectangular footprint. A dormer projects out from the roof slope to give a flat ceiling and standing room across a useful width. At the rear, away from the conservation areas, it will often fall within permitted development. Where there is a rear projection as well, the dormer usually becomes half of an L-shape rather than the whole scheme.
Suited to hipped roofs, where the side of the roof slopes inward rather than rising to a flat wall, common on the housing built out from the old village. Rebuilding that slope to a full gable recovers the volume the hip takes away and often makes an otherwise marginal roof workable. It is a visible change to the side of the house, so it is straightforward on the later streets and needs more care within the protected core.
The least intrusive option, using rooflights fitted into the existing slope so nothing outside changes beyond the glazing itself. The structure is strengthened, insulation goes in and the floor is boarded out. Round the old village core, where the roofline is expected to stay as it is, this tends to be the cleanest route through, and on a roof with height to spare it still yields a genuine room.
The heaviest intervention of the five, rebuilding a roof slope to something close to vertical so that floor area and headroom are maximised. Expect to need full planning permission. Inside the Broadwater conservation areas it is the least likely of the five to succeed, which puts it with the larger properties well away from the historic core. Test the position with Worthing Borough Council before committing design time.
The type Broadwater is unusually well suited to. Where a house has a two-storey rear projection, a dormer is built on both that projection and the main roof and the two are joined into an L-shaped upstairs. It delivers substantially more floor than a rear dormer alone and avoids the planning weight of a mansard, which is why it so often produces the bedroom-and-en-suite layout owners have in mind. The projection has to be structurally suitable, so we assess it before it goes anywhere near a drawing.
The best conversion is the one your existing structure and your planning position will actually support, so we design around the house rather than from a template. In Broadwater that starts with the footprint, because two houses with identical front elevations can offer very different lofts depending on what sits behind them. Better established at the first visit than after a scheme has been drawn that the back of the house cannot carry.
Our base is in Worthing, which puts Broadwater a few minutes away and makes a site visit or a mid-build call-out simple to arrange. We are working somewhere in this town almost every week, so the general planning picture under Worthing Borough Council is familiar ground, including where it shifts between the protected core and the housing that surrounds it. A local crew, consistent standards throughout, and a team that remembers you are living in the house.
Our team and specialist partners finish to a standard that survives a close look: floors level, walls plumb, plaster lines clean, joinery properly fitted. The detail that makes or breaks an L-shape is the junction where the two dormers meet, which decides whether you end up with one room or two that happen to adjoin. That belongs on the drawing as much as on site. All to current Building Regulations, with your Building Control inspector coordinated at the right points. See the gallery below.
Six stages, from the first knock on the door to the keys of a finished room. Our in-house architectural support carries the design and any planning application, and the build itself is ours. Two responsibilities cannot be handed over and we would rather name them now than later: Party Wall notices, and appointing your Building Control body.
We come to your Broadwater home, measure floor to ridge, look at the roof structure and work out where a staircase could land. We also look hard at the back of the house, because whether there is a usable two-storey projection decides which conversions are worth pricing at all. An honest view first, design later. No cost, no obligation.
Bring us drawings and we will price them as they are. Otherwise our in-house architectural support develops the layout and the technical drawings needed for an application or certificate. Where an L-shape is in play, the two roof elements and the join between them are settled on paper, not improvised at first-fix. Your quote and an outline programme arrive with the finished drawings.
Our architectural partners can prepare and submit a planning application or a Lawful Development Certificate to Worthing Borough Council where one is called for. Because an L-shape spreads across two roof elements, it clears permitted development less often than a plain rear dormer, which makes settling the position an early job rather than a late one. Party Wall requirements need a surveyor or architect before anything starts, and those notices are yours to serve by law.
Once consents, drawings and structural calculations are all settled, the crew starts. The roof is made weatherproof as soon as it comes open and stays that way. How long it runs comes down to the conversion type and the house, and you will have had an indicative programme with your quote. In an older Broadwater property we build to what the opened structure actually shows, since a rear projection rarely matches its survey drawing.
You appoint Building Control, either through the council or an approved inspector, and you book its visits. Each stage is flagged to you well ahead of the point it is ready to close up. Where a conversion spans a main roof and a rear projection, the structural connection between the two is the stage most worth having seen while it is still open.
Handover follows the final inspection sign-off. File the completion certificate together with any planning or consent paperwork among your property records. Where an L-shape has been built, hold onto the structural drawings as well, because a surveyor acting for a future buyer will want to see how the two roofs were tied into each other.
Completed jobs from Worthing and across the county, taking in a range of roof shapes, house types and conversion styles. Tell us what you have and we will show you something comparable.
General context for Broadwater homeowners, not legal advice. Confirm the position for your property with Worthing Borough Council, and where relevant with an architect, planning consultant or party wall surveyor, before work starts.
Planning authority. Worthing Borough Council, through the Adur and Worthing shared planning service, handles Broadwater addresses.
Conservation areas. Two cover the historic part of Broadwater, one over the old village core and one over the green, and within them permitted development rights are tighter and a full application more likely.
Listed buildings. The old parish church is listed at the highest grade and there are others nearby, with listed building consent separate from planning permission.
Permitted development. Away from the conservation areas many conversions proceed under it, subject to the usual limits and to any Article 4 Direction, though an L-shape qualifies less often than a plain rear dormer.
Party wall. On semi-detached and terraced homes, serving any Party Wall notice is the homeowner’s legal responsibility and cannot be done by the builder.
Broadwater is on our doorstep, since we are based in Worthing, so visits are easy to book and the build keeps moving once it is under way.
It begins with a free site visit. We measure up, assess the roof structure and head height, and check whether the back of the house opens up the L-shape option, which is normally what decides how much room a Broadwater loft ends up giving you. Drawings and any application can then be taken on by our in-house architectural support. Get your planning position confirmed with Worthing Borough Council before the build starts.
Apex works on loft conversions across Worthing, Brighton & Hove and the wider West Sussex coast. The pages below give a closer look at
the housing, planning and conversion types we see in each area. If your town or village isn’t listed, we likely still cover it, get in
touch for a quick check.
The questions that come up most on Broadwater jobs, answered plainly. If yours is not below, send it through the contact form.
Three things move it: which conversion you are building, the house itself, and what consents are involved. A rooflight scheme is the quickest to finish, then dormer, hip-to-gable, L-shape and mansard in roughly that order. Since an L-shape amounts to two dormers and the junction between them, it sits at the longer end and is better given room in the diary than forced into a date. You will get an indicative timeline for our stages with the quote.
It depends where in Broadwater you are and what you are building. Away from the conservation areas a rear dormer or hip-to-gable can often fall within permitted development, subject to the national limits on volume, position and window design and to any Article 4 Direction. An L-shape uses more of that volume allowance across two roof elements, so it qualifies less often and is worth checking before it is designed rather than after. Within the two conservation areas covering the historic part of Broadwater, and on any listed building, rights are usually tighter and a full application to Worthing Borough Council is more likely. A mansard normally needs permission wherever it is. Where an application or Lawful Development Certificate is needed, our architectural partners can prepare and submit it. Building Regulations apply either way and sit separately from planning.
Most households do. The roof is weatherproofed as soon as it is opened and the bulk of the work happens above the existing ceiling. There will be louder days, mainly when steels go in and when the stair opening is cut. On an L-shape there are two roof areas opened at different stages rather than one, so the disruption spreads over a longer period instead of concentrating, which most families find easier to live with.
Conversions are generally reckoned among the stronger home improvements for return, though what you see back turns on the property, the standard of finish and the state of the local market when you sell. The practical point in Broadwater is what the space becomes: an L-shape producing a genuine double bedroom with a separate en suite tends to be valued differently from a single room under a rear dormer, even where the floor areas are not far apart. An estate agent’s read is worth having alongside ours.
Roughly 2.2 to 2.3 metres is the working benchmark, measured before any work begins from the top of the ceiling joists to the underside of the ridge, since the new floor build-up and the roof lining both take a share. On a house with a rear projection there are two roofs to measure and they are often different heights, so a reading taken in the main roof alone can mislead badly. We measure both properly at the free visit.
As a broad steer: where there is a two-storey rear projection, an L-shape is usually the option worth pricing first. A plain rectangular house with a hipped roof points to a hip-to-gable paired with a rear dormer, and one that already has a gable end may need only the dormer. Around the old village core rooflights are often the realistic starting point. We will recommend the right option for your property at the free site visit.
Yes. Every conversion needs approval, whether or not planning permission is involved. The regulations cover structural stability, normally steels and strengthened joists; fire safety, meaning escape routes, fire doors and alarms; the stair and its headroom; insulation; and sound separation from the rest of the house. On an L-shape there is a further structural question in how the new floor spans between the main house and the rear projection, normally resolved with the structural engineer before the design is finalised. Booking Building Control and its inspections is down to you, via the council or an approved inspector.
