TL;DR — Key Facts
- Dormer loft conversion: £40,000 – £60,000 (outer London borough)
- Mansard conversion: £60,000 – £95,000
- Velux conversion: £25,000 – £40,000
- Planning permission: Restricted by Article 4 in some areas
- Conservation areas: 30 in Ealing
What does an Ealing loft conversion cost, and is it permitted development?
Most of them never test it. Over the twelve quarters ending in March 2026 Ealing logged 2,048 lawful development certificates, third highest of the 33 boroughs, against 3,182 householder decisions — so a large share of Ealing roof work is confirmed as permitted development rather than applied for. Where the borough is unusual is the mansard. Its Datahub set carries 572 mansard applications at 67% approved, alongside 1,695 rear dormers at 70% and only 159 entries filed as loft conversions. A mansard is never permitted development, so every one of those 572 was a full application. If you are choosing between the two brackets below, that is the borough-specific evidence to weigh.
| Measure | Ealing | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| Mansard roof applications in the Datahub | 572 | 67% approved |
| Rear dormer applications in the Datahub | 1,695 | 70% approved |
| Loft conversion applications in the Datahub | 159 | 49% approved |
| Lawful development certificates recorded | 2,048 | third highest of the 33 boroughs |
| Householder decisions | 3,182 | 86.6% granted, against 83.0% for London |
| Listed building consents decided | 90 | 88.9% granted; 91.2% across London |
| Dwellings built 1900–1918 | 15.6% of 149,870 | 8.2% across London |
| Householder appeals decided by an inspector | 344 | 38.4% allowed, against 35.6% for England |
Sources: rows one to three from the Planning London Datahub, retrieved 15 August 2026 — phrase-matched descriptions, comparable within Ealing only, and a low count on one phrase usually means the borough describes that work differently rather than that it does not happen. Rows four to six from MHCLG PS1 and PS2, twelve quarters to March 2026. Build costs on this page are our own 2026 London range.
What does an Ealing loft cost by roof type?
Cost is the subject of this page. For the drawing package, the fee and the submission itself, see loft conversions in Ealing.
Ealing spans two different construction problems and the ranges below cover both. In the west — Northolt, Greenford, Hanwell — the stock is interwar and post-war semi-detached, hipped roofs on ordinary plots, and a conversion means building a gable before the dormer buys anything. In the centre and east, Edwardian and Victorian villas make up an unusually large share: 15.6% of the borough's 149,870 dwellings date from 1900 to 1918 against 8.2% across London, and 12.7% predate 1900. Those roofs are steeper, the head height is usually already there, and the constraint moves from structure to elevation.
Loft conversion build costs in Ealing
Build cost only. The drawings, the structural engineer, the Party Wall surveyor and the council's charge are separate lines, and the council's charge is the least of them: £274 for a certificate, £548 for a householder application, both set nationally. Within each bracket the movement is floor area, fit-out specification, how much roof framing needs rebuilding, and access to the rear of the property — which on a mid-terrace Ealing street can be through the house.
On the Northolt and Hanwell semis, where a dormer returns its usual 20-30 square metres against a mansard's 30-50, the dormer figure is the realistic one, after a hip-to-gable has made the ridge long enough to use. In Bedford Park neither is likely to be permitted in a form visible from the street, so the achievable area is smaller than the ranges suggest. And if you are weighing the mansard: it needs a full application, the Datahub records two thirds of Ealing's succeeding, and it turns on whether the terrace already reads as having an attic storey rather than on whether the drawings are competent.
Which loft type suits Ealing properties?
A Northolt or Hanwell semi is a hip-to-gable and rear dormer job. The Victorian and Edwardian villas around Ealing Broadway generally have roof depth for a rear dormer alone. Mansion blocks along the main roads have no available loft. In Bedford Park, expect the workable answer to be rooflights on a rear slope, and expect the conservation officer to be looking at the front elevation regardless.
Hip-to-gable and dormer combinations
Hipped roofs are everywhere on Ealing's semi-detached and detached stock, and a hip eats straight into the usable loft. Squaring that end off into a full gable, then hanging a rear dormer behind it, is the standard remedy; together the pair typically release 25-35 square metres. On a semi the work can stay inside Permitted Development, so long as the volume allowance holds and the gable stays behind the original front wall plane.
Velux (rooflight) conversions
The Velux or rooflight route is the cheapest and the least disruptive, and it works wherever the loft already has head height to spare. Because the glazing sits flush in the existing slope, the silhouette seen from the pavement is unchanged. That is why it keeps working inside Ealing's 30 conservation areas, where a raised or rebuilt roof rarely gets through. You pay in floor area: a rooflight scheme yields materially less usable space than a dormer or a mansard on the same roof.
Does an Ealing loft need planning permission?
The answer in Ealing turns entirely on whether the property is in Bedford Park. That Arts and Crafts garden suburb is dense with listed buildings and its value as a group depends on the roofline repeating along the street, so a visible dormer is very difficult to justify. Elsewhere — the Northolt and Hanwell semis, the Ealing central villas — the borough is comparatively straightforward, and issued 2,048 lawful development certificates in three years (MHCLG planning statistics, retrieved 1 September 2026).
Permitted Development for lofts
A rear dormer or a Velux scheme is normally Permitted Development: no application, no determination clock, no council fee. There is an Ealing reason to care about that which the cost guides never reach. Flood Zone 2 covers 5.8% of the borough and Zone 3 covers 4.45%, out of 55.5 square kilometres, concentrated along the Brent and the Grand Union corridor (Environment Agency flood map extents, retrieved September 2026). Their effect is procedural: inside them a scheme can be required to arrive with a Flood Risk Assessment attached. Nothing about a loft sits at ground level, so it commonly escapes the assessment that a rear extension on the identical plot would pull in. The PD conditions that do bite:
- The dormer must not exceed the highest part of the existing roof
- The dormer must be set back at least 200mm from the eaves
- Materials must be similar in appearance to the existing house
- No verandas, balconies, or raised platforms
- Side-facing windows must be obscure-glazed and non-opening below 1.7m
- Volume limit: 40 cubic metres for terraced houses, 50 cubic metres for others
Article 4 Directions
Ealing has Article 4 Directions in place. Article 4 for HMOs in specific streets in Acton, Ealing and Southall. While most Article 4 Directions in London target HMO conversions or commercial changes of use rather than loft conversions directly, it is important to check whether any specific restrictions apply to your property. We verify this as part of our initial assessment.
Conservation areas
Ealing has 30 conservation areas, Ealing Broadway, Pitshanger, Bedford Park, Acton Green and Hanwell among them. Inside a boundary, loft Permitted Development narrows sharply. Any dormer on a front slope, or on a side slope visible from the highway, needs a full application. A rear dormer can still qualify, though on materials and proportions the conservation officer will have opinions, and hearing them early is far cheaper than hearing them at consultation. Mansards get tested against the individual area's character appraisal and management plan, not a general design standard, which is how two conservation areas a mile apart reach opposite answers about the same roof form.
Mansard planning permission
Mansards always require an application because they alter the roof's height and profile. In Ealing the form belongs to the Victorian and Edwardian villas near the centre rather than to the Northolt and Hanwell semis. In Bedford Park a mansard is very unlikely to succeed: the suburb's designation rests on the repetition of its rooflines, and an addition that breaks the pattern undermines the reason for the designation.
Take the fee from Ealing's published pre-application scale. It is worth paying in Bedford Park and the other designated areas, where the assessment is a heritage judgement you cannot predict from the rules. Elsewhere the borough decides 98.6% of householder applications inside eight weeks (MHCLG planning statistics, retrieved 1 September 2026), so the ordinary route is quick enough not to need pre-empting.
Our drawing fees for loft conversions in Ealing
At Architectural Drawings London. Our MCIAT chartered architectural technologists prepare the planning submission on the schemes that need one, and the building regulations package on all of them — a habitable loft needs the second whether or not it needs the first.
Drawing fees for loft conversions
The set runs to a measured survey, floor plans and elevations as existing and as proposed, a roof plan, sections, and a site plan. A mansard adds two documents: a streetscene elevation putting the new roof beside its neighbours, and a design and access statement. We charge 30% less than a London architect practice for that identical list.
Ealing postcodes we work in: UB1, UB2, UB5, UB6 in the north, W5, W7, W13 through the centre, and W3 and NW10 along the eastern edge. The last two straddle a borough boundary, so we confirm the validating authority against the address first.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a loft conversion cost in Ealing?
Ealing loft costs divide by type. A rear dormer runs £40,000 to £60,000. A mansard runs £60,000 to £95,000. A Velux or rooflight-only conversion runs £25,000 to £40,000. Those are build figures; drawings, structural design and the £548 statutory householder fee sit outside them. For scale: the median Ealing sale in 2025 was £532,750, across 2,819 transactions logged in Land Registry Price Paid data and pulled in September 2026.
Do I need planning permission for a loft conversion in Ealing?
Outside the Article 4 Direction and the 30 conservation areas, usually yes — a rear dormer within the volume allowance, set back and away from the highway. Inside them, and specifically in Bedford Park, assume not. Mansards need an application everywhere. Ealing's high certificate count suggests most homeowners here take the confirmation rather than rely on an assumption, which on this split of a borough is sensible.
What is the minimum head height for a loft conversion in Ealing?
Ealing's Victorian and Edwardian villas near the centre generally have it with room over; the Northolt and Hanwell semis reach it at the ridge but need the hip removed to make the floor usable. In Bedford Park the height is rarely the obstacle — the elevation is.
Do I need a Party Wall Agreement for a loft conversion in Ealing?
On semi-detached and terraced Ealing stock, yes. The Party Wall etc. Act 1996 bites when a steel is cut into the shared wall or the wall is raised for a gable end, and notice runs two months. In a converted flat within one of the mansion blocks the Act may still apply between units, but the freeholder's licence to alter will be the first hurdle and often the decisive one.
Can I get a mansard loft conversion approved in Ealing?
No Ealing policy approves or refuses mansards as a class; each is judged alone. The council weighs the streetscene, whether the address falls inside a designated area, the quality of the design, and what has already been permitted on nearby roofs. Precedent counts for a great deal here. That is why our first question on a mansard is always what the rest of the terrace has been allowed to do.
