Loft conversion specialists covering Shoreham-by-Sea and the Adur coast, including the town’s conservation areas. We design and build dormer, hip-to-gable, Velux, mansard and L-shape conversions, with in-house architectural support on every project. Contact us for a free, no-obligation quote on your Shoreham loft conversion.
Thinking about a loft conversion in Shoreham-by-Sea? More than anywhere else on this stretch of coast, the answer here starts with heritage rather than structure. Shoreham carries an unusually high concentration of conservation area coverage and listed buildings for a town of its size, spread across its two historic cores, one inland by the river crossing and one around the old port. If your home falls inside that coverage, the conversation is about what the planning officer will accept on the roofline before it is about how much floor you gain, and rooflights and modest rear dormers tend to be received far more comfortably than anything that reshapes the roof.
Away from those cores Shoreham is a different proposition. The estates spreading north and east of the railway are largely unprotected family housing, much of it hipped, where a hip-to-gable with a rear dormer runs the standard route and often falls under permitted development. So the first useful thing we do on a Shoreham job is establish which side of that line your address sits on, because it changes the design, the programme and the cost.
As loft conversion builders working across BN43, we take a joined-up approach from the first drawing to the finished room. Our in-house architectural support covers layout planning, technical drawings and preparing a planning application or Lawful Development Certificate where one is needed, and we build to current Building Regulations throughout. Contact us for a free, no-obligation quote on your Shoreham loft conversion.
The right loft conversion for your Shoreham home depends on the roof type, the space you want to gain, and whether you are open to altering the external roofline. Five main conversion types come up across BN43, and which of them are realistic for you depends heavily on whether the property sits inside one of the town’s conservation areas. We will recommend the right one after the first visit.
A dormer projects outward from the existing roof slope to create standing headroom and usable floor area where the roof originally sloped in, and it is the most common conversion on the family housing away from Shoreham’s historic cores, where a standard rear dormer may fall under permitted development. Inside the conservation areas the position is different: a dormer is not ruled out, but its size, position and materials come under real scrutiny, and a modest one at the rear stands a far better chance than a full-width design. The space gained varies from home to home.
Well suited to the hipped-roof semis and end-of-terrace houses on the estates north and east of the railway line, where the side of the roof slopes inwards rather than rising to a vertical wall. A hip-to-gable rebuilds that sloping side up to a full gable and recovers the volume the hip removes, usually paired with a rear dormer to square off the floor. It is a poor fit inside the conservation areas, because it visibly changes the outline of the house, so it belongs to the newer half of Shoreham rather than the older one. Exact layouts depend on the property.
The option that does most of the work in historic Shoreham. Because the roof profile is unchanged, a rooflight conversion is the one most likely to be acceptable on a protected frontage or on a house sitting alongside a listed neighbour, and it is often the only realistic route on the tightest of the older properties. We strengthen the structure, insulate, board the floor and fit rooflights for daylight. Planning permission is rarely required, though conservation area status can affect the type and position of rooflight expected, and listed building consent applies separately where the property itself is listed.
The most transformative of the five conversion types, and the hardest to achieve in Shoreham. A mansard rebuilds the rear, and sometimes the front, roof slope to near-vertical for maximum floor area and headroom. Full planning permission is always the expectation, and given how much of the older town is protected and how visible its roofscape is from the river and the surrounding higher ground, the design detailing is examined closely. It is worth confirming the position with Adur District Council and a planning consultant before you commit to the idea rather than after.
Suited to the older Shoreham houses that carry a two-storey rear projection, the side return, which appears through the town’s older residential streets. An L-shape adds a dormer to both the main roof and the rear projection to create an L-shaped upstairs layout, often enough for a bedroom and a bathroom. Because most of that stock sits in or near the protected areas, it is a design that usually needs an application and careful handling of how the two dormers read together. It only works where the rear projection exists to build on.
Every Shoreham home is different, and the best loft conversion is the one that works with the structure you already have and with what the setting will allow. We design around your roof rather than from a standard template, checking ridge height, head heights at the walls, chimney breast positions and where a staircase can land before proposing a layout. On the older properties that assessment runs alongside a realistic read of what will get consent, because the most generous scheme on paper is worth nothing if it stalls at the council. You will leave the first visit with a clearer view of what the space could deliver.
Worthing is our base and Shoreham sits a short run east, well inside the stretch of coast we work along day to day. We know the general planning environment across BN43 and the Adur district, and we are used to the practical difference between quoting a straightforward estate house here and quoting a protected frontage in the older part of town. You get a local team on site, consistent standards throughout the build, and a crew that respects the home they are working in.
Our team and specialist partners focus on a finish that stands up to close inspection: plumb walls, flush trims, clean plaster lines, and joinery finished to a high standard. In Shoreham the external detailing carries more weight than usual, because in the protected parts of town the roof covering, the dormer cheeks and the window detailing are precisely what the planning officer looks at, and because the older roofscape is visible from the river and the ground rising behind it. Work is carried out to current Building Regulations, and we coordinate with your Building Control inspector at the relevant stages. Examples of completed work are shown in the gallery below.
A Shoreham conversion follows the six stages below, though on a protected property the early stages carry far more weight than the later ones. Design and any application go through our in-house architectural support. Party Wall notices, listed building consent and the Building Control submission remain the homeowner’s legal responsibility and should be discussed with a surveyor, architect or the council.
The first step is a free visit to your Shoreham home. We measure up, look at the roof structure, and check head heights and ridge clearance, then talk through what the space could realistically deliver. We will also flag at this stage whether the property looks likely to sit inside a conservation area, because that shapes the design before anything is drawn. There is no cost and no obligation to proceed.
Where drawings already exist we will work from them. Where they do not, our in-house architectural support develops the layout and the technical drawings, and on a protected frontage the scheme is drawn with the consent route in mind from the first sketch rather than corrected after a refusal. A detailed quote and a proposed programme come with the drawings.
This is the stage that defines a Shoreham job. Where the property sits inside one of the town's conservation areas, a full application to Adur District Council is the expectation, and our architectural partners prepare and submit it for you. Where the property is itself listed, listed building consent runs as a separate application on top, and it reaches inside the house as well as outside it. Build the consent period into your plans generously here. Confirm the position for your own address with the council, and take Party Wall advice from a surveyor or architect before work begins, since serving those notices is legally the homeowner's job and not something a builder can do for you.
On-site construction begins once the consents, drawings and structural calculations are in place. Timescales vary with the conversion type and the property, and we set out an indicative programme at quote stage. The opened roof is kept weatherproof throughout. Access in the older parts of Shoreham is genuinely tight, and the beach community across the river is reached by a single route, so scaffold, deliveries and any skip are planned in advance rather than assumed.
Building Control is yours to appoint and book, through the council or an approved inspector. We build to the current regulations throughout and coordinate the timing, which matters on an older Shoreham property where the insulation and fire detailing has to satisfy the inspector without disturbing what the planning consent protects.
Once the final inspection has been signed off on your side, we hand the finished loft over. Keep the completion certificate and related paperwork with your property records, along with any planning or listed building consents obtained along the way, since on an older Shoreham property those are exactly what a buyer's solicitor will ask for.
Recent loft conversion projects from across Shoreham, the neighbouring Adur towns, the Brighton & Hove coast and the wider Sussex area, covering both older properties in protected settings and later family housing. If you would like to see something closer to your own property or more like your own roof, get in touch and we will send relevant examples.
The notes below are general context for Shoreham homeowners considering a loft conversion and don’t constitute legal advice. Always confirm the position for your property with Adur District Council, and where relevant with an architect, planning consultant or party wall surveyor, before any work starts.
Planning authority. Planning in Shoreham-by-Sea is run by Adur District Council through the shared Adur & Worthing service.
Conservation areas. Shoreham carries a high concentration of conservation area coverage for a town of its size, across both historic cores and parts of the waterfront, where permitted development rights are usually restricted and a full application is likely.
Listed buildings. The town holds a notable number of listed buildings, including its two historic parish churches and a spread of older properties around them. Listed building consent is separate from and additional to planning permission.
Permitted development. On the later housing away from the protected areas, a loft conversion can often proceed under permitted development, subject to the usual limits and to any Article 4 Direction, with a Lawful Development Certificate worth obtaining for your records.
Tidal flood risk. The town sits on a tidal river, and the low-lying streets near the water, the harbour edge and the spit south of the river fall within Environment Agency flood zones, which bears on ground works far more than on the loft itself.
Party wall. On terraced and semi-detached homes, serving any Party Wall notice is the homeowner’s legal responsibility and cannot be done by the builder.
Apex is based in Worthing and works right across Shoreham-by-Sea, from the older streets near the river to the family housing on the higher ground north of the railway and across to the beach community, along with neighbouring Lancing, Sompting, Southwick and Portslade. The run east is short, so site visits are easy to arrange and the build keeps moving.
The first step is a free site visit. We measure up, assess the roof structure and head height, and talk you through realistic options for the space, including a straight view on what is likely to get consent if your home sits in a protected part of town. From there our in-house architectural support can handle drawings and any planning application, and you will want to confirm the planning position for your property directly with Adur District Council and discuss any Party Wall requirements with a surveyor or architect 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.
Questions we are regularly asked by homeowners in Shoreham. If yours is not covered below, use the contact form and we’ll come back to you.
Timescales vary with the conversion type, the size and condition of the property, and the consents involved. Simpler rooflight conversions are generally the quickest, while dormer, hip-to-gable, L-shape and mansard builds take progressively longer. In Shoreham the consent stage is what most often stretches a programme, because a large share of the town’s older housing sits inside a conservation area and a listed property adds a separate consent on top. On the later estates away from those areas, where the work may fall under permitted development, the timeline is usually much closer to the build itself. We will give you a realistic programme for our part of the work at quote stage.
It depends very much on where in the town you are. Shoreham has a high concentration of conservation area coverage for its size, taking in both historic cores and parts of the waterfront, and inside those areas permitted development rights are usually restricted or removed, so a full application to Adur District Council is likely. If the property is itself listed, listed building consent is required separately and applies to internal as well as external alterations. On the later housing north and east of the railway, many loft conversions can proceed under permitted development, subject to the national rules on volume, position, materials and listed-building status, and to any Article 4 Direction. Where an application or Lawful Development Certificate is needed, our in-house architectural support can prepare and submit it on your behalf, and we would always recommend confirming the position for your specific property directly with the council. Building Regulations apply either way.
In most cases, yes. Once the roof is opened up it is kept weatherproof, and most of the build takes place above the existing first-floor ceiling. You should expect some noise and dust at various points, but it is usually practical to stay in the house throughout. Steel installation and the staircase cut-through are typically the most disruptive stages, and we flag both in advance. Shoreham adds a logistical layer rather than a structural one: the older streets are narrow, and the beach community across the river has a single route in, so we agree scaffold, delivery and skip arrangements with you well before the first lorry is booked.
Industry research has long suggested that a well-built loft conversion can add meaningful value to a home, though the actual uplift varies with the property, the local market and the quality of the finish. In Shoreham, where demand is shaped by the waterfront setting, the rail links to Brighton and London, and prices that sit below neighbouring Hove, an extra bedroom or bathroom is generally well received. On an older or protected property, a conversion carried out with the right consents and finished sympathetically tends to be valued more highly than a larger one that sits awkwardly on the roofline, and the paperwork matters to a buyer.
Around 2.2 to 2.3 metres from the top of the existing ceiling joists to the underside of the ridge is the usual working minimum, and below that a rooflight conversion will not produce a room you can stand up in. That threshold carries extra weight in Shoreham. On a protected frontage the rooflight route is frequently the one most likely to win consent, so if the height is not there to begin with, the fallback is a design that needs a full application and closer scrutiny rather than a simpler alternative. We take the measurement at the free site visit and tell you which of those two conversations you are in.
It depends on your roof shape, the space you want to gain, and where in Shoreham the property sits. As a broad steer, hipped-roof semis on the later estates usually suit a hip-to-gable with a rear dormer; houses with a gable end already may need only the dormer; older houses with a two-storey rear projection can suit an L-shape; and on the protected frontages a rooflight conversion, or a modest and carefully detailed rear dormer, is normally the realistic choice. We will look at both the structure and the planning position and recommend the best option for your specific property at the free site visit.
Yes. Every loft conversion has to meet the Building Regulations, whether or not planning permission is required, and that is entirely separate from conservation area or listed building consent. The regulations cover structural stability, often steel beams and reinforced floor joists, fire safety including escape routes, fire doors and smoke alarms, staircase design and headroom, thermal insulation, and sound insulation between the new rooms and the rest of the house. On Shoreham’s older properties, meeting the insulation and fire requirements while keeping the historic fabric and the approved external appearance intact is usually the interesting part of the job, and it is worth designing for from the start. Building Control submission and inspections are the homeowner’s responsibility.
