Dormer, hip-to-gable and mansard loft conversion drawings for Marine homes — prepared to Worthing Borough Council's design guidance, delivered in days and revised free until your decision lands, with a free approval-odds score first.
Worthing Borough Council granted 94% of the householder planning decisions it made in its latest published year — 7 points above the 87% England-wide householder average. Marine contains Marine Gardens, Mill Road, Robson Road conservation areas (Marine Gardens designated 2024), so materials, fenestration and roof form are assessed against the appraisal, which is where a policy-literate drawing pack earns its keep. Its dominant interwar (1918–1939) and 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. Marine carries at least one Article 4 direction, and conservation areas including Marine Gardens, Mill Road and Robson Road remove those rights outright, so we confirm your exact address before a line is drawn. A validated householder application in Marine is determined against an 8-week statutory target.
Marine Gardens (conservation area designated in 2024), Mill Road (conservation area designated in 2000), Robson Road (conservation area designated in 1997) and Shaftesbury Avenue (conservation area designated in 1985) — these are the Marine pockets our drawings cover most. Heritage designations here include Marine Gardens, Mill Road, Robson Road and Shaftesbury Avenue. Worthing Borough Council weighs each proposal against Worthing Borough Council's adopted local plan and its householder design guidance, where the 4,250 homes here are 42% 1930-1939, 10% 1919-1929, 9% 1955-1964, which is what sets the realistic roof and rear-projection options. On roofs the borough is hipped roofs with shallow pitches typical of 1930s building and hipped tiled roofs typical of early interwar building, over 1930s semi-detached and detached houses (42% of 4,250 homes), early interwar houses (10%) and late-1950s and early-1960s houses (9%).
What is permitted in Marine turns on designation first, so that is where we start: Marine Gardens (conservation area designated in 2024), Mill Road (conservation area designated in 2000), Robson Road (conservation area designated in 1997) and Shaftesbury Avenue (conservation area designated in 1985). Inside those boundaries permitted development is curtailed and Worthing Borough 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.
Worthing Borough Council has 8 recorded Article 4 directions, removing permitted development for rear and side extensions and roof enlargements such as dormers — check the address before assuming PD applies in Marine.
On stock, Marine is 1930s semi-detached and detached houses (42% of 4,250 homes), early interwar houses (10%) and late-1950s and early-1960s houses (9%) — which is why hipped roofs with shallow pitches typical of 1930s building and hipped tiled roofs typical of early interwar building govern what a loft or rear projection can realistically be. Worthing Borough Council decided 302 householder applications in the latest published year and granted 94%, with 53% issued inside the eight-week target. We draw to that record rather than to a national average.
The full build-period split for Marine runs pre-1900 4% (150 homes), 1900-1918 6% (270 homes), 1919-1929 10% (410 homes), 1930-1939 42% (1,790 homes), 1945-1954 3% (110 homes), 1955-1964 9% (390 homes), 1965-1972 8% (330 homes), 1973-1982 7% (290 homes), 1983-1992 4% (180 homes), 1993-1999 1% (50 homes) and 2000-2008 2% (80 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.
Worthing Borough Council also decides for Central, Goring, Heene and Salvington, so a decision in Marine 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 Ambrose Place, Church Road, Tarring, Cowper Road and Land West of The Plantation. 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 Marine and Worthing Borough Council. These are the numbers that decide what is realistic on your street, so we work from them rather than from national averages.
| Measure | Marine |
|---|---|
| Dwellings recorded | 4,250 |
| Built pre-1900 | 150 (4%) |
| Built 1900-1918 | 270 (6%) |
| Built 1919-1929 | 410 (10%) |
| Built 1930-1939 | 1,790 (42%) |
| Built 1945-1954 | 110 (3%) |
| Built 1955-1964 | 390 (9%) |
| Built 1965-1972 | 330 (8%) |
| Built 1973-1982 | 290 (7%) |
| Built 1983-1992 | 180 (4%) |
| Built 1993-1999 | 50 (1%) |
| Built 2000-2008 | 80 (2%) |
| Built before 1919 | 10% |
| Built 1919–1939 | 52% |
| Built 1945–2008 | 34% |
| Conservation areas in Marine | 4 (Marine Gardens, Mill Road…) |
| Conservation areas district-wide | 26 |
| Article 4 directions recorded | 8 |
| Householder applications decided | 302 |
| Householder applications granted | 94% |
| Decided within 8 weeks | 53% |
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 Worthing Borough Council's own, from MHCLG live table PS2 for the year to 31 March 2026.
Marine's roofs set the brief. The borough is built largely from 1930s semi-detached and detached houses (42% of 4,250 homes), early interwar houses (10%) and late-1950s and early-1960s houses (9%), and its lofts sit under hipped roofs with shallow pitches typical of 1930s building and hipped tiled roofs typical of early interwar building — the geometry that decides whether a rear dormer, a hip-to-gable or a mansard gives you the headroom you want. Worthing Borough Council assesses loft proposals against Worthing Borough 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 Worthing Borough Council can verify them. Marine contains Marine Gardens, Mill Road, Robson Road conservation areas (Marine Gardens designated 2024), 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.
Marine also carries protected streets — Marine Gardens, Mill Road, Robson Road and Shaftesbury Avenue among them. Worthing Borough Council has 8 recorded Article 4 directions, removing permitted development for rear and side extensions and roof enlargements such as dormers — check the address before assuming PD applies in Marine. We check your address against those designations before a line is drawn.
Many Marine 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 Worthing Borough Council if any of these apply:
We draw the roof line, the ridge height and the neighbour's daylight on the page — the relationships Worthing Borough 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 Worthing Borough Council's real householder decision record, pulled from official planning statistics and updated as new data lands. Worthing Borough Council granted 94% of its householder applications in the year to 31 March 2026, and Marine Gardens 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 Marine Gardens, Mill Road and Robson Road, 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 hipped roofs with shallow pitches typical of 1930s building, that is usually the most efficient use of the roof; where the stock is hipped tiled roofs typical of early interwar building, a hip-to-gable followed by a rear dormer unlocks far more space, though it needs a full application.
The 4,250 homes here are 42% 1930-1939, 10% 1919-1929, 9% 1955-1964, 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 Worthing Borough 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 Marine roofs come up most often:
Loft conversion drawings for Marine Gardens's conservation area designated in 2024 — measured, volume-checked and drawn to Worthing Borough Council's guidance.
Loft conversion drawings for Mill Road's conservation area designated in 2000 — measured, volume-checked and drawn to Worthing Borough Council's guidance.
Loft conversion drawings for Robson Road's conservation area designated in 1997 — measured, volume-checked and drawn to Worthing Borough Council's guidance.
Loft conversion drawings for Shaftesbury Avenue's conservation area designated in 1985 — measured, volume-checked and drawn to Worthing Borough Council's guidance.
The right loft in Marine 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 Worthing Borough 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 Marine Gardens and Mill Road and Article 4 directions can remove permitted-development rights.
A fixed process built around how Worthing Borough Council validates and decides householder loft applications — most drawings are submission-ready within seven days of survey.
Tell us your Marine 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 Worthing Borough 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 Worthing Borough Council's roof-alteration guidance.
We submit the certificate or application, manage validation and case-officer queries, and revise the drawings free until Worthing Borough 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 Marine the main exceptions are hip-to-gable conversions, dormers visible from the highway, and homes in conservation areas such as Marine Gardens and Mill Road or on streets with an Article 4 direction. Worthing Borough Council is the decision-maker.
Generally no. In conservation areas including Marine Gardens and Mill Road, Class B permitted-development rights for lofts are removed, so a rear dormer that would be lawful elsewhere needs a full application to Worthing Borough Council. Worthing Borough Council has 8 recorded Article 4 directions, removing permitted development for rear and side extensions and roof enlargements such as dormers — check the address before assuming PD applies in Marine. We check your exact address before drawing.
On hipped roofs with shallow pitches typical of 1930s building, common across Marine, a rear dormer is usually the most efficient conversion and often permitted development. Where the roof is hipped tiled roofs typical of early interwar 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. Worthing Borough Council is the decision-maker.
A householder planning application in Marine 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. Worthing Borough Council is the decision-maker.
If your dormer is permitted development, a lawful development certificate from Worthing Borough 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 Marine address specifically.
Every roof is different, so we quote each Marine project individually — a fixed, no-obligation price back within one working day. The quote covers the full drawing pack with free revisions until Worthing Borough Council approves, and we tell you upfront whether your loft qualifies as permitted development. Call 020 7864 7245 to start.
Answer five quick questions and get a free planning score for your exact address — instantly. Then, if you want the full picture, unlock the detailed analysis: your council's live approval rates, local precedents, constraints on your street and a step-by-step route to permission.
Same fixed quotes, same fast drawings — wherever your project is.