Apex builds loft conversions throughout Durrington and the BN13 area, including on the single storey homes where the job is a whole new storey rather than one more bedroom. Dormer, hip-to-gable, Velux, mansard and L-shape, with architectural support in house. Ask us for a free, no-obligation quote.
Thinking about a loft conversion in Durrington? A good share of the housing here is single storey, and that changes the job completely. On a bungalow you are not adding a room above an existing upstairs. You are building the entire first floor, and the house has no landing to borrow and no stairwell already cut.
The staircase is what decides it. It has to come out of the ground floor plan you are living in now, which usually means giving up part of a hall, a bedroom or a reception room, and the position that suits the roof is not always the position that suits the rooms below. We would rather work that out with you at the first visit, because on a single storey house it is the question the whole design turns on. The taller semis and detached homes across the rest of Durrington are a more familiar job, and often a simpler one.
Apex works right across Durrington and the surrounding BN13 area, with Worthing Borough Council, through the Adur and Worthing shared planning service, as the planning authority. 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 and coordinate with your Building Control inspector as the job goes on.
Which conversion suits a Durrington home depends on the roof you have, how much of the new floor clears usable head height, and whether the house already has a first floor. Five types come up across BN13. On a bungalow the shortlist is decided as much by where the stair can land as by the roof itself, so we measure both before recommending anything.
Pound for pound the dormer gives back more usable floor than anything else on this list, and on a Durrington bungalow it is frequently what separates a proper new storey from a cramped half one. It pushes out from the slope to give you a flat ceiling and full standing height across a decent width. Rear dormers often sit within permitted development, subject to the usual limits. We work out the size around where the stair has to arrive, not the other way round.
This one is for hipped roofs, where the end of the roof slopes in instead of rising to a flat wall. Taking that slope up to a full gable gives back the volume the hip was eating, and on the single storey housing around Durrington it is often what converts a roof that measured just short into one that carries a real floor. It commonly runs alongside a rear dormer. It does alter how the house looks from the side, so we put that in front of you at drawing stage.
Rooflights change nothing outside. The slope stays exactly as it is; we reinforce below it, insulate, lay a proper floor and set windows flush into the existing pitch. That makes it the quiet option where a roof is already tall enough, or where you simply do not want the elevation altered. The catch on a single storey home is that it gives you the roof you already have and no more, which is often short of a genuine extra floor.
The most drastic of the five: the roof slope is rebuilt to something close to vertical, which buys the most floor area and the most headroom available. It virtually always requires full planning permission. Across most of Durrington it is not the natural fit for the suburban stock and belongs more to the bigger houses, so it is worth putting the idea to Worthing Borough Council before spending on design.
This only applies where there is a two-storey back projection to build onto. Dormers go on that projection and on the main roof, and the two meet to form an L-shaped floor. It rules out the single storey housing completely and applies to a minority of the two-storey homes here, which is why we look for the shape at the first visit rather than raising it late.
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 Durrington that starts with the staircase, because on a single storey home the stair is the part that costs you space downstairs and the part that most often decides whether a layout works at all. You will leave the first visit knowing what the roof can realistically give you and what it will take from the floor below.
Our base is in Worthing and Durrington is minutes away, so getting someone out for a first look or a mid-build question is simple. We work the BN13 area constantly and understand how Worthing Borough Council and the Adur and Worthing shared service tend to approach this kind of work. What you get is a local crew, one standard from start to finish, and people who remember the house is occupied.
The finish is where a conversion is judged, so floors go down level, walls go up plumb, plaster lines stay clean and joinery is cut to fit. On a job that creates a whole new storey the staircase is the piece the household touches every day and visitors see first, and it is detailed accordingly. All work meets current Building Regulations and we line up with your Building Control inspector at each stage. The gallery below shows completed projects.
A Durrington loft runs through six stages, from the first visit to handover. On a single storey home the first two matter more than usual, because the stair position has to be settled before anything else can be drawn. Our in-house architectural support carries the drawings and any application, and the build is ours. Two responsibilities stay with you by law: serving any Party Wall notice, and appointing Building Control.
We visit your Durrington home, take it from floor to ridge, look at how the roof is framed and work out where a staircase could sensibly come up. On a single storey house that means going round the ground floor with you as well, because whatever the stair takes has to be given up by a room you use today. You get a straight answer before any design work is discussed. Free, and no obligation.
Already got drawings? We will quote against them. Otherwise our in-house architectural support draws the layout and produces the technical set an application or certificate requires. Building a floor where there was none means the stair, the landing and the headroom above it have to be resolved together on paper, since moving any one of them later drags the other two with it. Quote and outline programme come with the drawings.
If an application or a Lawful Development Certificate is required, our architectural partners can draw it up and lodge it with Worthing Borough Council for you. Addresses on the far north western fringe are worth checking against the South Downs National Park boundary first, because a handful fall to the Park authority rather than the borough. Two things remain yours: confirming the planning position for your own address, and dealing with Party Wall notices through a surveyor or architect. Those notices are a legal duty on the homeowner and we cannot serve them.
Nothing starts on site until consents, drawings and structural calculations are all in place. From the moment the roof is opened it is kept weathertight. The programme length varies with the conversion type and the property, and an indicative one comes with your quote. Where there was no first floor before, the ceiling you have been living under becomes a structural floor, so we sequence that work to keep the rooms below in use as long as we can.
You appoint Building Control, through the council or an approved inspector, and you book the visits. Our part is to give you enough notice at each stage that nothing important gets covered over before it has been looked at. Where a whole floor is being created, three things repay getting right first time: the joists carrying it, the stair, and the route out in a fire.
Once the final inspection is signed off on your side, the loft is handed over. File the completion certificate with your property paperwork, along with anything issued for planning or permitted development. Where the work has turned a single storey house into a two storey one, that is precisely the paperwork a buyer's solicitor will go looking for, so it is worth putting somewhere findable.
Finished projects from across Sussex, covering different roof shapes, property types and conversion styles. Tell us about your house and we will point you to the closest match.
General context for Durrington 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, covers the built-up area of Durrington.
National Park. The South Downs National Park boundary sits just beyond the northern and north western edge of the suburb rather than running through it, so the residential streets are outside the Park.
Conservation area. The nearest covers Castle Goring on the north western fringe and is held by the National Park authority rather than the borough, which changes who you apply to on the few addresses it reaches.
Listed buildings. These are few across the suburb, and listed building consent is separate from planning permission.
Permitted development. Many conversions here proceed under it, subject to the usual limits and to any Article 4 Direction.
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.
Durrington is a short run from our Worthing base, which keeps visits easy to arrange and the build moving once it is underway.
Start with the free site visit. We take the measurements, look at how the roof is built and what head height there is, and on a single storey home we spend as much time downstairs as up, because the stair has to come out of the rooms you use now. After that our in-house architectural support can pick up the drawings and any application. Confirming the planning position for your own address is worth doing before the build begins.
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 we are asked most on Durrington jobs, including the ones specific to converting a single storey home. If yours is not here, send it through the contact form.
The honest answer is that it varies with the type of conversion, the size and state of the property, and what consents are needed. Rooflight jobs finish soonest; dormer, hip-to-gable, L-shape and mansard builds run progressively longer. Building a first floor onto a single storey house sits at the far end of that range, because the stair, the floor structure and the fire escape route are all being made from nothing rather than adapted from something. An indicative programme for our part of the work comes with the quote.
Frequently not, though it comes down to your particular address. Over most of Durrington a rear dormer or a hip-to-gable can proceed under permitted development, within the national limits on volume, siting and windows and subject to any Article 4 Direction. Mansards almost always need permission. The exception worth checking is the north western fringe: the Castle Goring conservation area there is held by the South Downs National Park Authority rather than the borough, so both the designation and the authority change on the addresses it reaches. When an application or a Lawful Development Certificate is required, our architectural partners can prepare and lodge it. Building Regulations are a separate matter and apply regardless.
Nearly everyone stays. For most of the programme the work is above your existing ceiling and the roof is made weathertight as soon as it is opened, so the house stays dry and liveable. Expect noise on particular days, mostly when steels go in and when the stair opening is cut. On a bungalow that second day is harder than average, because the opening is coming through a ceiling you are living beneath and the room underneath is unusable while it happens.
Loft conversions have a long-standing reputation as one of the stronger home improvements for value returned, though what you actually see back depends on the property, how well it is finished and what the market is doing locally. On a single storey house the swing is bigger both ways: you gain a whole floor, and you give up real room downstairs to the staircase. Worth getting an estate agent’s read alongside ours, particularly on how the finished plan works as a home rather than on floor area alone.
The rough working figure is 2.2 to 2.3 metres, measured before any building work from the top of the existing ceiling joists to the underside of the ridge, because the new floor build-up and the insulated roof lining will both take a slice of it. A single reading taken at the middle of the roof is close to meaningless. Shallow roofs are common on the single storey housing here, and on those the honest answer is often that a gable or a dormer is not an upgrade but the thing that creates the height in the first place. We take proper measurements at the free visit.
It depends on the roof, and on a single storey home it usually depends on two things at once. Where the roof is hipped, taking that side up to a gable and putting a dormer on the back is the combination that most often turns a marginal roof into a floor you can stand up in. A house that already has a gable end may only need the dormer. Rooflights suit a tall roof or a property whose exterior must stay put, and a mansard belongs to the larger houses rather than the standard suburban stock. We will tell you which applies once we have measured.
Yes, always, and it has nothing to do with whether you needed planning permission. The regulations deal with the structure holding the new floor up, usually steels and strengthened joists; with fire, meaning the escape route, fire doors and alarms; with the stair and the headroom over it; with insulation; and with sound between the new rooms and the old ones. Turning a single storey house into a two storey one raises the fire question across the whole property rather than just upstairs, and that is the point at which designs most often come back for revision. Building Control is yours to appoint and yours to book.
