Dormer, hip-to-gable and mansard loft conversion drawings for Four Marks & Medstead homes — prepared to East Hampshire District Council's design guidance, delivered in days and revised free until your decision lands, with a free approval-odds score first.
East Hampshire District Council granted 91% of the householder planning decisions it made in its latest published year — 4 points above the 87% England-wide householder average. Four Marks & Medstead contains the Chawton conservation area (Chawton designated 1977), so materials, fenestration and roof form are assessed against the appraisal, which is where a policy-literate drawing pack earns its keep. Its dominant postwar (1945–1970) housing stock sets the design brief on most streets.
Before permission is required, Class B allows 40m³ of added loft volume on a terrace and 50m³ on a semi or detached house, and Class A allows a 3m single-storey rear extension on a terrace or 4m on a detached house. Four Marks & Medstead carries at least one Article 4 direction, and conservation areas including Chawton remove those rights outright, so we confirm your exact address before a line is drawn. A validated householder application in Four Marks & Medstead is determined against an 8-week statutory target.
Chawton (conservation area designated in 1977), Four Marks (civil parish within Four Marks & Medstead), Chawton (civil parish within Four Marks & Medstead) and Medstead (civil parish within Four Marks & Medstead) — these are the Four Marks & Medstead pockets our drawings cover most. Heritage designations here include Chawton. East Hampshire District Council weighs each proposal against East Hampshire District Council's adopted local plan and its householder design guidance, where the 3,150 homes here are 13% 1955-1964, 12% 2000-2008, 9% 1983-1992, which is what sets the realistic roof and rear-projection options. On roofs the borough is shallow gabled roofs typical of that period's building and trussed-rafter roofs typical of 2000s building, over late-1950s and early-1960s houses (13% of 3,150 homes), 2000s houses and apartments (12%) and 1980s estate houses (9%).
What is permitted in Four Marks & Medstead turns on designation first, so that is where we start: Chawton (conservation area designated in 1977). Inside those boundaries permitted development is curtailed and East Hampshire District Council assesses materials, window detail and roof form against the area's own appraisal, so a scheme that would be waved through two streets away can need a full application here.
Beyond the designated areas, Four Marks & Medstead takes in Four Marks, Chawton and Medstead. East Hampshire District Council has 50 recorded Article 4 directions — check the address before assuming PD applies in Four Marks & Medstead.
On stock, Four Marks & Medstead is late-1950s and early-1960s houses (13% of 3,150 homes), 2000s houses and apartments (12%) and 1980s estate houses (9%) — which is why shallow gabled roofs typical of that period's building and trussed-rafter roofs typical of 2000s building govern what a loft or rear projection can realistically be. East Hampshire District Council decided 327 householder applications in the latest published year and granted 91%, with 24% issued inside the eight-week target. We draw to that record rather than to a national average.
The full build-period split for Four Marks & Medstead runs pre-1900 3% (90 homes), 1900-1918 2% (70 homes), 1919-1929 2% (70 homes), 1930-1939 5% (170 homes), 1945-1954 4% (120 homes), 1955-1964 13% (400 homes), 1965-1972 9% (270 homes), 1973-1982 7% (210 homes), 1983-1992 9% (290 homes), 1993-1999 5% (170 homes) and 2000-2008 12% (370 homes). That distribution is why pre-1900 detailing dominates the drawings here, and it is measured from council-tax records rather than assumed from the street name.
East Hampshire District Council also decides for Alton Holybourne, Alton Whitedown, Bentworth & Froyle, Bramshott & Liphook, Buriton & East Meon, Headley, Horndean Catherington and Liss, so a decision in Four Marks & Medstead sits inside a wider pattern of decisions we track across the same authority — useful when an officer cites a precedent from the next area over.
The Article 4 directions recorded for this council include Ajax House/Plowden House, Liphook, Bedford Road, Petersfield, Bellhanger Enterprises, Bentworth and Bentley Business Park, Bentley. Each removes a specific permitted-development right inside its own boundary, which is why the check is done on the address rather than on the town.
Published figures for Four Marks & Medstead and East Hampshire District Council. These are the numbers that decide what is realistic on your street, so we work from them rather than from national averages.
| Measure | Four Marks & Medstead |
|---|---|
| Dwellings recorded | 3,150 |
| Built pre-1900 | 90 (3%) |
| Built 1900-1918 | 70 (2%) |
| Built 1919-1929 | 70 (2%) |
| Built 1930-1939 | 170 (5%) |
| Built 1945-1954 | 120 (4%) |
| Built 1955-1964 | 400 (13%) |
| Built 1965-1972 | 270 (9%) |
| Built 1973-1982 | 210 (7%) |
| Built 1983-1992 | 290 (9%) |
| Built 1993-1999 | 170 (5%) |
| Built 2000-2008 | 370 (12%) |
| Built before 1919 | 5% |
| Built 1919–1939 | 8% |
| Built 1945–2008 | 58% |
| Conservation areas in Four Marks & Medstead | 1 (Chawton) |
| Conservation areas district-wide | 50 |
| Article 4 directions recorded | 50 |
| Householder applications decided | 327 |
| Householder applications granted | 91% |
| Decided within 8 weeks | 24% |
Dwelling stock from VOA council-tax data at 31 March 2025; conservation-area and Article 4 counts from planning.data.gov.uk (MHCLG); decision figures are East Hampshire District Council's own, from MHCLG live table PS2 for the year to 31 March 2026.
Four Marks & Medstead's roofs set the brief. The borough is built largely from late-1950s and early-1960s houses (13% of 3,150 homes), 2000s houses and apartments (12%) and 1980s estate houses (9%), and its lofts sit under shallow gabled roofs typical of that period's building and trussed-rafter roofs typical of 2000s building — the geometry that decides whether a rear dormer, a hip-to-gable or a mansard gives you the headroom you want. East Hampshire District Council assesses loft proposals against East Hampshire District Council's adopted local plan and its householder design guidance, and its case officers read each roof against the pair next door and the wider street before they read the plans.
That makes drawing quality decisive. We measure ridge and eaves heights, roof pitch and the existing stair, calculate the added volume against the permitted-development limits exactly, and show the workings on the drawings so East Hampshire District Council can verify them. Four Marks & Medstead contains the Chawton conservation area (Chawton designated 1977), so materials, fenestration and roof form are assessed against the appraisal, so we resolve it on the page rather than leave it for the case officer to raise.
Four Marks & Medstead also carries protected streets — Chawton among them. East Hampshire District Council has 50 recorded Article 4 directions — check the address before assuming PD applies in Four Marks & Medstead. We check your address against those designations before a line is drawn.
Many Four Marks & Medstead loft conversions proceed without planning permission — a rear dormer within the permitted-development volume limits (40 cubic metres on a terrace, 50 on a semi or detached house) is usually lawful. You will normally need a full application to East Hampshire District Council if any of these apply:
We draw the roof line, the ridge height and the neighbour's daylight on the page — the relationships East Hampshire District Council's officers check first — and submit a validation-complete pack, whether that is a lawful development certificate or a full householder application.
Below is East Hampshire District Council's real householder decision record, pulled from official planning statistics and updated as new data lands. East Hampshire District Council granted 91% of its householder applications in the year to 31 March 2026, and Chawton shapes what is approved here. Professionally prepared loft drawings anticipate those pressure points before submission, which is why complete, policy-literate packs are decided faster and refused less often than DIY applications.
Source: MHCLG planning application statistics (householder decisions, England, 1 April 2025 - 31 March 2026). Compare every borough on our London approval-rate league table.
Tell us about your project and get a fixed, no-obligation quote back within one working day. If you don't need planning permission at all, we'll tell you that too — for free.
Across Chawton, Four Marks and Chawton, the recurring loft is the rear dormer — a box across the back roof slope that turns a cramped attic into a full-height double bedroom and en-suite. On shallow gabled roofs typical of that period's building, that is usually the most efficient use of the roof; where the stock is trussed-rafter roofs typical of 2000s building, a hip-to-gable followed by a rear dormer unlocks far more space, though it needs a full application.
The 3,150 homes here are 13% 1955-1964, 12% 2000-2008, 9% 1983-1992, which is what sets the realistic roof and rear-projection options. We draw the dormer inside the volume allowance, keep the flat-roof build-up below the ridge, and set the face back from the eaves as the rules require — so the pack answers East Hampshire District Council's questions before they are asked. Where permitted-development rights are exhausted or removed, we prepare a householder application composed to the borough's roof-alteration guidance instead.
We draw loft conversions on every street in the borough. A few of the neighbourhoods where Four Marks & Medstead roofs come up most often:
Loft conversion drawings for Chawton's conservation area designated in 1977 — measured, volume-checked and drawn to East Hampshire District Council's guidance.
Loft conversion drawings for Four Marks's civil parish within Four Marks & Medstead — measured, volume-checked and drawn to East Hampshire District Council's guidance.
Loft conversion drawings for Chawton's civil parish within Four Marks & Medstead — measured, volume-checked and drawn to East Hampshire District Council's guidance.
Loft conversion drawings for Medstead's civil parish within Four Marks & Medstead — measured, volume-checked and drawn to East Hampshire District Council's guidance.
The right loft in Four Marks & Medstead depends on your roof. This is how the main types compare on planning route and the space they add.
| Loft type | Permitted development? | Space & headroom | What East Hampshire District Council checks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rear dormer | Usually yes, within volume limits | Full-height double room at the back | Volume, set-back from eaves, ridge height |
| Hip-to-gable | No — full application | Extends the whole side of the roof | Roof bulk and the symmetry of the pair |
| Mansard | No — full application | Maximum floor area across the roof | Street character, especially in conservation areas |
| Rooflights only | Usually yes (Class C) | Light and headroom, no extra footprint | Whether rooflights sit within the existing slope |
Route depends on your street — conservation areas such as Chawton and Article 4 directions can remove permitted-development rights.
A fixed process built around how East Hampshire District Council validates and decides householder loft applications — most drawings are submission-ready within seven days of survey.
Tell us your Four Marks & Medstead postcode and roof type. We confirm your conservation and Article 4 status, how much permitted-development volume you have left, and score your odds against live East Hampshire District Council decisions.
We measure ridge and eaves heights, roof pitch, joist levels and the existing stair — the numbers the volume calculation and head heights depend on.
Chartered designers develop the dormer, hip-to-gable or mansard to your brief, drawn inside the Class B limits or to East Hampshire District Council's roof-alteration guidance.
We submit the certificate or application, manage validation and case-officer queries, and revise the drawings free until East Hampshire District Council issues its decision.
Often not. A rear dormer within 40 cubic metres on a terrace, or 50 on a semi-detached or detached house, set back from the eaves and no higher than the ridge, is usually permitted development. In Four Marks & Medstead the main exceptions are hip-to-gable conversions, dormers visible from the highway, and homes in conservation areas such as Chawton or on streets with an Article 4 direction. East Hampshire District Council is the decision-maker.
Generally no. In conservation areas including Chawton, Class B permitted-development rights for lofts are removed, so a rear dormer that would be lawful elsewhere needs a full application to East Hampshire District Council. East Hampshire District Council has 50 recorded Article 4 directions — check the address before assuming PD applies in Four Marks & Medstead. We check your exact address before drawing.
On shallow gabled roofs typical of that period's building, common across Four Marks & Medstead, a rear dormer is usually the most efficient conversion and often permitted development. Where the roof is trussed-rafter roofs typical of 2000s building, a hip-to-gable followed by a rear dormer gains far more usable space but needs planning permission. Our survey confirms which your roof supports before we draw. East Hampshire District Council is the decision-maker.
A householder planning application in Four Marks & Medstead runs to a statutory eight-week target, and a lawful development certificate to eight weeks as well, though validation can add time if the pack is incomplete. We submit validation-complete drawings and manage case-officer queries to keep the decision on track. East Hampshire District Council is the decision-maker.
If your dormer is permitted development, a lawful development certificate from East Hampshire District Council is council-stamped proof of that — worth having, because every buyer's solicitor will ask for it when you sell. We prepare and submit the certificate application with the same drawing pack. This applies to your Four Marks & Medstead address specifically.
Every roof is different, so we quote each Four Marks & Medstead project individually — a fixed, no-obligation price back within one working day. The quote covers the full drawing pack with free revisions until East Hampshire District Council approves, and we tell you upfront whether your loft qualifies as permitted development. Call 020 7864 7245 to start.
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