Loft conversion builders covering Wick and the wider BN17 area. Dormer, hip-to-gable, Velux, mansard and L-shape conversions, taken from first survey through to finished room by one team, with architectural partners for drawings and applications. Ask for a free, no-obligation quote.
Thinking about a loft conversion in Wick? Apex designs and builds them here and across BN17, a straightforward run west along the coast from our Worthing base. Wick sits on the low, level ground north of Littlehampton town centre, on the flat coastal plain where the land is drained by a network of small watercourses running down towards the river. Two practical things follow from that ground, and neither of them stands in the way of a loft conversion. They just tend to be settled in a different order here than they would be elsewhere in our area.
The first is straightforwardly good news. The ground is flat and the streets are regular, so the build side of a Wick project is about as uncomplicated as it gets across our coverage area. Scaffold goes up off level ground rather than off stepped or sloping plots, deliveries can usually get close to the house, and there is normally somewhere sensible for a skip. On the downland villages we work in, those three things routinely add days to a programme. Here they generally do not, which is worth factoring in when you compare quotes.
The second is the one worth raising early. A loft conversion nearly always brings a new bathroom or shower room with it, and that means a waste run has to get from the top of the house down to the existing drainage. On low, flat ground with a shallow fall to work with, where that connection is made deserves settling at drawing stage rather than being worked out on site once the floor is in. It is not difficult and it is not unusual, but it is the detail that causes rework on this kind of plot when it is left late. Wick also has no conservation area over it, which the older parts of Littlehampton nearer the front do have, so the planning position is usually simpler than the town name might lead you to expect. Applications go to Arun District Council. Our trusted architectural partners can prepare drawings and submit any application or Lawful Development Certificate on your behalf, and we build to current Building Regulations throughout. Contact us for a free quote on your Wick loft conversion.
Which of the five suits your Wick home comes down to the roof you have and how much space you are after. With no conservation area over the neighbourhood, external appearance is less of a limiting factor here than it is in the older parts of the town, so the decision is usually driven by the roof itself and by where the new bathroom can drain to. We will go through both at the first visit.
A dormer projects out from the existing roof slope to create standing headroom and usable floor area where the roof used to close in. It is the most common conversion we build on the Wick housing stock, usually at the rear. With no conservation area over the neighbourhood a rear dormer will often fall within permitted development, subject to the usual national limits. A dormer also gives the most flexibility on where a shower room sits, which on this ground is worth having, since it lets the waste run be planned rather than forced.
Applies where the side of the roof slopes inwards rather than rising to a vertical wall. Rebuilding it up to a full gable recovers the volume the hip takes out and opens up the width of the new floor, and it is generally paired with a rear dormer to make the space square and usable. On the level plots here there is normally room to get scaffold up the flank of the house without difficulty, which keeps this one simpler to programme than it is on tighter or steeper sites.
The simplest of the five, leaving the roof shape completely untouched. We strengthen the structure, insulate, board the floor and fit rooflights into the existing slope for daylight. It suits a Wick home where head height is already sufficient and you want the least disruption and the shortest time on site. It is also the option that asks least of the drainage, since a rooflight conversion is more often taken as a bedroom or a study without a bathroom attached.
The biggest change and the biggest gain, rebuilding a roof slope to near vertical for maximum floor area and headroom. Full planning permission is required. It is the least common of the five on the housing here, partly because a dormer usually delivers what is needed at lower cost and less upheaval. Where a Wick property genuinely needs the extra volume we will look at it properly, but we would want you clear on the trade-off first.
Suits houses with a two-storey wing running back from the main body. Dormers go on both roofs and are joined into a single L-shaped floor, giving room to separate a bathroom or a study from the bedroom rather than partitioning one long space. Where a Wick property has that shape, it also tends to bring the new bathroom closer to the existing soil stack, which simplifies the drainage question this ground raises.
We design around the house you have rather than dropping a standard layout onto it. The survey covers ridge height, head height at the wall plates, how the roof is framed, where the chimney breast runs and where a staircase can land without ruining the floor below. On a Wick property we add one more item to that list and look at where the existing soil stack and drainage run, because on level ground with limited fall that decides where a new bathroom can sensibly go, and it is far cheaper to design around than to discover. You will finish the visit knowing what the roof can deliver and roughly where things will sit.
We are based in Worthing and work the length of this coast, so Wick and the wider BN17 area are regular territory rather than an outlying job. We know how Arun District Council handles conversions, and we know the ground conditions on this part of the coastal plain and what they mean for drainage and for ground level works. On a practical level the level plots and regular streets here make our job easier too, which shows up in a cleaner programme and less time lost to access. The same team runs the project from survey through to handover.
We would rather be judged on the parts you look at every day than on the parts hidden behind plasterboard, so both get the same attention: level floors, flat plaster, tidy junctions where the new dormer meets the old roof, and joinery that closes properly a year later. Insulation and airtightness are detailed rather than crammed in. All work meets current Building Regulations and we coordinate with your Building Control inspector at each stage requiring sign-off. Recent projects are shown in the gallery below and we can put you in touch with previous customers.
A Wick project runs through six stages, from the first survey to the day you get the room. We cover the survey, the construction and the coordination in between; our trusted architectural partners handle design and any application. A handful of duties stay with you by law and cannot be passed to the builder, namely Party Wall notices, listed building consent where a property is listed, and the Building Control submission.
We come out, measure up and look at the roof structure, the head height and the ridge clearance. On a Wick property we also trace where the existing drainage runs, because it shapes where a new bathroom can go. There is no charge for the visit and nothing to commit to afterwards.
Existing drawings can be priced as they stand. Where there are none, our trusted architectural partners can produce the layout and technical drawings so that design and construction are considered together. You get a detailed quote and an indicative programme alongside them.
Applications for Wick are dealt with by Arun District Council. With no conservation area over the neighbourhood, a good number of conversions here proceed under permitted development, subject to the national limits on volume, position and materials and to any Article 4 Direction, and a Lawful Development Certificate is worth obtaining for your records. Where a full application is required our architectural partners can prepare and submit it on your behalf. We would always suggest confirming your own position with the council directly. Party Wall notices are your legal responsibility and cannot be served by us.
Work starts once drawings, consents and structural calculations are all in place. The length of the build depends on the conversion type and the property, and we set out an indicative programme when we quote. The opened roof is kept weatherproof throughout. Level ground and regular streets make the site side of a Wick job comparatively simple, and we will still agree scaffold, delivery and skip positions with you before anything turns up.
You appoint and book the inspections, through the local authority building control service or an approved inspector of your choice. We build to the current Building Regulations and work around their visits so that each stage gets seen before it is closed up.
With the final inspection signed off on your side, the room is handed over. Keep the completion certificate and the approved drawings with the property paperwork, since they will be requested if you ever sell.
Loft conversions completed around Wick, across Littlehampton and along the West Sussex coast, spanning a range of property types and conversion styles. If there is a particular type of house or conversion you want to see, tell us and we will send the nearest comparable projects.
The notes below are general context for Wick homeowners considering a loft conversion and do not constitute legal advice. Always confirm the position for your property with Arun District Council, and where relevant with an architect, planning consultant or party wall surveyor, before any work starts.
Planning authority. Wick falls under Arun District Council for planning, and sits outside the South Downs National Park.
Conservation area. No conservation area covers Wick, though the older parts of Littlehampton nearer the seafront and the river do, so the position here is usually simpler.
Permitted development. Many conversions proceed under permitted development, subject to the usual limits and to any Article 4 Direction, with a Lawful Development Certificate worth obtaining.
Watercourses. The land is drained by inland ditches running to the river rather than by the tidal water affecting the harbour end of town, and the Environment Agency names Wick in its flood areas for them, which bears on ground level works, drainage and insurance rather than on the loft.
Listed buildings. Where a property is itself listed, listed building consent is separate from planning permission and both may be needed.
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 covers the whole of this coast from Worthing, and Wick is a regular destination rather than an outlying one. For the wider town, including the older stock near the seafront and the harbour, see our page on loft conversions across Littlehampton, which covers a rather different set of conditions from the ones here. Nearby we also work in Rustington, Angmering and East Preston, and homeowners in Lyminster and Toddington are welcome to get in touch on the same basis.
Every project opens with a free site visit. We measure the roof, check head height, look at where the drainage runs and tell you plainly what your property will support. From there our trusted architectural partners can take on the drawings and any application, and you will want to confirm the planning position for your own address with Arun District Council before work 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 Wick homeowners ask us before starting a loft conversion. If something is missing, put it through the contact form and we will get back to you.
It varies with the conversion type and the property, with rooflight schemes the quickest and mansards the longest, and with whether a full planning application is needed on top of the build. Wick does have one modest advantage over much of our area on timing: the level ground and regular streets mean less time is lost to access, scaffold and deliveries than on the sloping downland sites we often work. The thing that can add time in the other direction is drainage, if the route for the new bathroom waste has to be reworked mid-build, which is exactly why we look at it during the survey. We give you a realistic build programme when we quote.
Frequently not. There is no conservation area over Wick, unlike the older parts of Littlehampton nearer the front, so most properties fall under the standard national permitted development rules covering volume, position and materials, subject to any Article 4 Direction and to a property not being listed. That said, permitted development is not a guarantee and it is worth obtaining a Lawful Development Certificate so the position is on record. Where a full application is needed it goes to Arun District Council, and our trusted architectural partners can prepare and submit it on your behalf. Building Regulations apply to every loft conversion whether or not planning permission does.
Almost always. The roof is kept weatherproof from the point it is opened and most of the work happens above your existing ceilings. There will be loud days when the steels go in and when the stair opening is cut, and we tell you when those are due. One Wick-specific point: if the new bathroom needs a new waste run down through the house, there is usually a short period of work on the floors below, and we will have flagged where that falls at drawing stage so it is not a surprise partway through.
Loft conversions are consistently rated among the better returning home improvements, though what any individual property gains depends on the house, the local market and the standard of the work. Wick is a residential part of Littlehampton where family houses change hands to people wanting a settled home rather than a short stay, so an additional bedroom, particularly one with its own shower room, tends to be exactly what the next buyer is looking for. For a lot of owners here the more immediate value is avoiding a move altogether when the family outgrows the house, given how much a larger property in the same area would cost to buy into.
The usual guide is around 2.2 to 2.3 metres, measured from the top of the existing ceiling joists to the underside of the ridge. That is enough for a conventional conversion once the new floor and the insulation have taken their share. Below it, a dormer or a mansard can create the height you need, whereas a rooflight conversion depends on the height already being there. It is one of the first measurements we take on the free visit, and we check head height at the wall plates as well as at the ridge, because that figure decides how much of the floor you can actually stand up in.
For most Wick houses a rear dormer is the sensible starting point, because it delivers real floor area, will often sit within permitted development here, and gives the most freedom over where a shower room goes. If the roof slopes inwards at the side, adding a hip-to-gable widens the usable space considerably. A rooflight conversion is the option where head height is already generous and you want minimum disruption, and an L-shape suits properties with a two-storey rear wing. A mansard is rarely the right call on this housing. We will confirm which fits after seeing the roof.
Yes, every one, and separately from planning. The regulations cover structural stability, which normally means steel beams and strengthened joists; fire safety, including a protected escape route, fire doors and interlinked alarms; the staircase and its headroom; insulation; and sound separation from the rooms below. Drainage for a new bathroom is covered too, which on the low, flat ground here is worth designing properly rather than resolving on site. Making the submission and arranging inspections is the homeowner’s responsibility, through the local authority building control service or an approved inspector you appoint. We build to the standards and work with whoever you appoint.
