Apex designs and builds loft conversions across Patcham and the wider BN1 area, on houses that have often already been extended once and have run out of ground to build on. Dormer, hip-to-gable, Velux, mansard and L-shape, with architectural support kept in house. Ask us for a free, no-obligation quote.
Thinking about a loft conversion in Patcham? For a great many houses here it is the last space left. The back has already taken an extension, the garage has been absorbed into the house, and the plot has no more room to give. The roof is the one part of the property that has never been touched, and it is usually the cheapest square footage still available.
That history matters more than it sounds. What has already been added shapes what the loft can be: where a new staircase can start, whether the existing landing carries it without losing a bedroom, how the new floor ties into work done years ago, and how much of the allowance for enlarging the house is still there to use. We would rather look at all of that on the first visit than design around it afterwards.
Apex works right across Patcham and the surrounding BN1 area, from the older properties at the top of the suburb to the family housing spread out below, with Brighton & Hove City Council as the planning authority for the great majority of addresses. 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 Patcham house depends on the roof you have, how much of the new floor clears usable head height, and what the property has already had done to it. Five types come up across BN1. On a house that has been extended before the shortlist is often shorter than the owner expects, and it is better to know that at the first visit.
The type that returns the most usable floor area for the money, and the common answer on Patcham family housing. A dormer projects out from the roof slope to give a flat ceiling and standing room across a useful width. On a rear elevation it will often fall within permitted development, though an earlier extension can have used part of the allowance the dormer would need. Worth establishing before a design is drawn rather than after.
Suited to hipped roofs, where the side of the roof slopes inward rather than rising to a flat wall. Rebuilding that slope to a full gable recovers the volume the hip takes away, and it often turns a roof that measured marginally short into one that works. It changes the shape of the house seen from the side, so it is a straightforward proposition across most of the suburb and a more considered one on the older ground at the top.
The lightest touch of the five, and a sensible answer where head height is already generous or the outside needs to stay as it is. We strengthen the structure, insulate, board the floor out and fit rooflights set into the existing slope. Nothing about the roofline changes. What you gain is limited by the roof you already have, so we measure before we recommend it rather than after.
The biggest change of the five, rebuilding a roof slope to near vertical for maximum floor area and headroom. Full planning permission is almost always required, and on a house that has already been enlarged the case is made on the whole property rather than the roof alone. It suits the larger Patcham houses more than the standard suburban stock, and it is worth testing with Brighton & Hove City Council before design time goes into it.
An option only where the house has a two-storey rear projection to build onto. A dormer goes on both that projection and the main roof, and the two combine into an L-shaped floor. On Patcham houses extended at the back over two storeys rather than one, that earlier work has often created the shape without anyone intending it. Plenty of houses here do not have it, so we look for it early rather than 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 Patcham that means starting with what has already been built, because a house that has grown once has both more to work with and more to work around. We would rather show you the realistic option at the first visit than take you through a design the property was never going to carry.
We are based in Worthing and in Patcham regularly, so a site visit or a call-out mid-build is easy to arrange. We work across the Brighton and Hove suburbs and know the general planning picture under Brighton & Hove City Council, including how the position changes on the older ground at the top of the suburb. You get a local team on site, the same standards from first day to last, and a crew that treats your home as somewhere people are living.
Level floors, plumb walls, clean plaster lines and joinery that fits properly: our team and specialist partners work to a standard that holds up close to. Where a conversion meets an extension built years earlier, the join is what gives away a poor job, so we take those details seriously. Everything is built to current Building Regulations, with your Building Control inspector coordinated at the right stages. There are completed projects in the gallery below.
A Patcham loft runs through six stages from first visit to handover. Design and any planning application sit with our in-house architectural support, and the building is ours. Two things stay with you and we would rather be blunt about it than let them surprise you: serving Party Wall notices, and appointing Building Control.
We come to your Patcham home, measure floor to ridge, look at the roof structure and work out where a staircase could land. We also ask what has already been done to the house, because a previous extension or a converted garage changes both the structural picture and what is left of the allowance. You get an honest view before anyone talks about design. No cost, no obligation.
Have drawings already? We will price against them. If not, our in-house architectural support produces the layout and the technical drawings an application or certificate needs. Anything that has to be built on or tied into gets resolved at drawing stage, so the earlier work is designed for rather than discovered. The quote and an outline programme follow with the drawings.
Where a planning application or Lawful Development Certificate is needed, our architectural partners can prepare and submit it to Brighton & Hove City Council on your behalf. On addresses at the top of the suburb it is worth checking first whether the property falls to the South Downs National Park Authority instead. Confirm the position for your own address, and talk to a surveyor or architect about Party Wall requirements before work starts, since those notices are the homeowner's legal responsibility and cannot be served by us.
Site work starts once consents, drawings and structural calculations are all settled, and the roof stays weatherproof from the moment it is opened. How long the programme runs depends on the conversion type and the property, and you will have an indicative one with your quote. Where a house has been altered before, we build to what the opened structure actually shows rather than to what a drawing assumed.
Building Control is appointed by you, either through the council or an approved inspector, and the visits are booked by you as well. We flag each stage well ahead of the point it is ready so nothing gets closed up before it has been seen. Junctions with an older extension are the ones most worth having inspected while they are still open.
With the final inspection signed off, we hand over. Keep the completion certificate and any planning or consent paperwork with your property records, alongside the paperwork from whatever was done to the house before. A buyer's solicitor will want the full set rather than the latest piece of it.
Finished projects from across Sussex, spanning different roof shapes, property types and conversion styles. Describe your house and we will point you to the nearest match.
General context for Patcham homeowners, not legal advice. Confirm the position for your property with Brighton & Hove City Council, and where relevant with an architect, planning consultant or party wall surveyor, before work starts.
Planning authority. Brighton & Hove City Council covers the great majority of Patcham addresses.
National Park. The South Downs National Park boundary runs through the older ground at the top of the suburb rather than stopping at its edge, so a minority of addresses fall to the Park authority instead.
Conservation area. One covers the historic core around the old parish church, where permitted development rights are tighter and a full application more likely.
Listed buildings. There are some in and around that core, and listed building consent is separate from planning permission.
Permitted development. Elsewhere many conversions proceed under it, subject to the usual limits, to any Article 4 Direction, and to how much of the allowance earlier extensions have used.
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.
Apex covers Patcham alongside the neighbouring parts of Brighton and Hove, so arranging a visit is straightforward and the build keeps its pace once it starts.
The first step is a free site visit. We measure up, assess the roof structure and head height, and look at what the house has already had done to it, which in Patcham is usually the thing that decides your options. From there our in-house architectural support can take on the drawings and any application, and you will want to confirm the planning position for your address 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 often on Patcham jobs, answered plainly. If yours is not here, send it through the contact form.
It depends on the conversion type, the size and condition of the property, and the consents involved. Rooflight conversions are usually quickest, with dormer, hip-to-gable, L-shape and mansard builds taking progressively longer. On a Patcham house that has been extended before, the survey and design stage often runs a little longer than average, because earlier work has to be understood before anything is drawn over it. We give you an indicative programme for our part of the work at quote stage.
Often not, but it turns on your own address and on your house’s history. Across most of Patcham a rear dormer or a hip-to-gable can fall within permitted development, subject to the national limits on volume, position and window design and to any Article 4 Direction. The catch here is that the volume allowance applies to the house as a whole, so an earlier extension or a converted garage may have used part of what a dormer would need. Inside the conservation area around the historic core, permitted development is usually tighter and a full application to Brighton & Hove City Council more likely, and on the older ground at the top of the suburb some addresses fall to the South Downs National Park Authority instead. A mansard normally needs permission wherever it is. Where an application or a Lawful Development Certificate is needed, our architectural partners can prepare and submit it. Building Regulations apply either way and are separate from planning.
Most households do stay put. Work happens above the existing ceiling for the bulk of the programme and the roof is weatherproofed as soon as it is opened, so the house stays dry and usable. There will be noisy days, mainly when steels go in and when the stair opening is cut. In an already-extended Patcham house the stair is the part to agree in advance, because the position you would expect to use has often been built over.
A well-built conversion has long been regarded as one of the better returns among home improvements, though the actual figure depends on the property, the quality of the finish and the local market at the time. In Patcham the usual driver is practical rather than speculative: the family has outgrown the house, the ground floor has already been extended, and the roof is what is left. It is worth taking an estate agent’s view alongside ours, particularly on how the finished layout reads rather than on floor area alone.
Around 2.2 to 2.3 metres is the working benchmark, taken from the top of the existing ceiling joists up to the underside of the ridge before anything is built, since both the new floor and the roof lining eat into it. One measurement in the middle of the span tells you very little on its own, and a roof over an earlier rear extension can read completely differently from the main house. Both get measured properly at the free visit.
As a broad steer: a hipped roof usually points to a hip-to-gable paired with a rear dormer, and a house that already has a gable end may need only the dormer. Where there is a two-storey rear projection, often the result of earlier work, an L-shape becomes worth considering. Rooflights suit a generous roof or a property where the outside has to stay as it is, and a mansard belongs to the larger houses here. We will recommend the right option for your property at the free site visit.
Yes. Every conversion needs it, whether or not planning permission is involved. Building 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 a Patcham house where the loft sits over or beside an earlier extension, those structural and fire elements have to work across both parts of the building, and that is a common reason a design comes back for revision. You appoint Building Control and book the inspections, through the council or an approved inspector.
