Dormer, hip-to-gable and mansard loft conversion drawings for Send & Lovelace homes — prepared to Guildford Borough Council's design guidance, delivered in days and revised free until your decision lands, with a free approval-odds score first.
Guildford Borough Council granted 86% of the householder planning decisions it made in its latest published year — 1 point below the 87% England-wide householder average. Send & Lovelace contains Ockham, Ockham Mill, Ripley conservation areas (Ockham designated 1981), so materials, fenestration and roof form are assessed against the appraisal, which is where a policy-literate drawing pack earns its keep. Its dominant Victorian (1837–1901), interwar (1918–1939) and postwar (1945–1970) housing stock sets the design brief on most streets.
Under Class B, a rear dormer stays permitted development up to 40m³ of added roof volume on a terrace or 50m³ on a semi-detached or detached house, while Class A allows a single-storey rear extension of 3m beyond the original rear wall on a terrace and 4m on a detached house before a full application is needed. In conservation areas such as Ockham, Ockham Mill and Ripley those rights are removed, so we confirm your exact address before a line is drawn. A validated householder application in Send & Lovelace is determined against an 8-week statutory target.
Ockham (conservation area designated in 1981), Ockham Mill (conservation area designated in 1993), Ripley (conservation area designated in 1971), Wey and Godalming Navigations (conservation area designated in 2002), Wey and Godalming Navigations (conservation area designated in 2002), Wisley (conservation area designated in 1989), Wisley (civil parish within Send & Lovelace), Ockham (civil parish within Send & Lovelace), Ripley (civil parish within Send & Lovelace) and Send (civil parish within Send & Lovelace) — these are the Send & Lovelace pockets our drawings cover most. Heritage designations here include Ockham, Ockham Mill, Ripley, Wey and Godalming Navigations, Wey and Godalming Navigations and Wisley. Guildford Borough Council weighs each proposal against Guildford Borough Council's development plan and the design policies it applies to householder applications, where the 3,150 homes here are 16% pre-1900, 14% 1955-1964, 11% 1930-1939, which is what sets the realistic roof and rear-projection options. On roofs the borough is steeply pitched slate roofs, valley gutters and party parapets typical of pre-1900 building and shallow gabled roofs typical of that period's building, over Victorian and earlier houses (16% of 3,150 homes), late-1950s and early-1960s houses (14%) and 1930s semi-detached and detached houses (11%).
Send & Lovelace's designated heritage is specific, and it is the first thing we check against your address: Ockham (conservation area designated in 1981), Ockham Mill (conservation area designated in 1993), Ripley (conservation area designated in 1971), Wey and Godalming Navigations (conservation area designated in 2002), Wey and Godalming Navigations (conservation area designated in 2002) and Wisley (conservation area designated in 1989). Inside those boundaries permitted development is curtailed and Guildford 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.
Beyond the designated areas, Send & Lovelace takes in Wisley, Ockham, Ripley and Send. No Article 4 direction is recorded for Guildford Borough Council, but Send & Lovelace's 6 conservation areas still limit permitted development on those streets.
On stock, Send & Lovelace is Victorian and earlier houses (16% of 3,150 homes), late-1950s and early-1960s houses (14%) and 1930s semi-detached and detached houses (11%) — which is why steeply pitched slate roofs, valley gutters and party parapets typical of pre-1900 building and shallow gabled roofs typical of that period's building govern what a loft or rear projection can realistically be. Guildford Borough Council decided 828 householder applications in the latest published year and granted 86%, with 31% issued inside the eight-week target. Those are the numbers our drawings are prepared against.
The full build-period split for Send & Lovelace runs pre-1900 16% (500 homes), 1900-1918 5% (150 homes), 1919-1929 4% (130 homes), 1930-1939 11% (350 homes), 1945-1954 9% (280 homes), 1955-1964 14% (440 homes), 1965-1972 9% (290 homes), 1973-1982 6% (200 homes), 1983-1992 2% (50 homes), 1993-1999 5% (170 homes) and 2000-2008 4% (130 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.
Guildford Borough Council also decides for Ash Vale, Castle, Clandon & Horsley, Normandy & Pirbright, Pilgrims, Shalford, Stoke and Tillingbourne, so a decision in Send & Lovelace 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.
Published figures for Send & Lovelace and Guildford 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 | Send & Lovelace |
|---|---|
| Dwellings recorded | 3,150 |
| Built pre-1900 | 500 (16%) |
| Built 1900-1918 | 150 (5%) |
| Built 1919-1929 | 130 (4%) |
| Built 1930-1939 | 350 (11%) |
| Built 1945-1954 | 280 (9%) |
| Built 1955-1964 | 440 (14%) |
| Built 1965-1972 | 290 (9%) |
| Built 1973-1982 | 200 (6%) |
| Built 1983-1992 | 50 (2%) |
| Built 1993-1999 | 170 (5%) |
| Built 2000-2008 | 130 (4%) |
| Built before 1919 | 21% |
| Built 1919–1939 | 15% |
| Built 1945–2008 | 50% |
| Conservation areas in Send & Lovelace | 6 (Ockham, Ockham Mill…) |
| Conservation areas district-wide | 41 |
| Article 4 directions recorded | 0 |
| Householder applications decided | 828 |
| Householder applications granted | 86% |
| Decided within 8 weeks | 31% |
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 Guildford Borough Council's own, from MHCLG live table PS2 for the year to 31 March 2026.
Send & Lovelace's roofs set the brief. The borough is built largely from Victorian and earlier houses (16% of 3,150 homes), late-1950s and early-1960s houses (14%) and 1930s semi-detached and detached houses (11%), and its lofts sit under steeply pitched slate roofs, valley gutters and party parapets typical of pre-1900 building and shallow gabled roofs typical of that period's building — the geometry that decides whether a rear dormer, a hip-to-gable or a mansard gives you the headroom you want. Guildford Borough Council assesses loft proposals against Guildford Borough Council's development plan and the design policies it applies to householder applications, 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 Guildford Borough Council can verify them. Send & Lovelace contains Ockham, Ockham Mill, Ripley conservation areas (Ockham designated 1981), 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.
Send & Lovelace also carries protected streets — Ockham, Ockham Mill, Ripley, Wey and Godalming Navigations, Wey and Godalming Navigations and Wisley among them. No Article 4 direction is recorded for Guildford Borough Council, but Send & Lovelace's 6 conservation areas still limit permitted development on those streets. We check your address against those designations before a line is drawn.
Many Send & Lovelace 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 Guildford 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 Guildford 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 Guildford Borough Council's real householder decision record, pulled from official planning statistics and updated as new data lands. Guildford Borough Council granted 86% of its householder applications in the year to 31 March 2026, and Ockham 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 Ockham, Ockham Mill and Ripley, 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 steeply pitched slate roofs, valley gutters and party parapets typical of pre-1900 building, that is usually the most efficient use of the roof; where the stock is shallow gabled roofs typical of that period's 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 16% pre-1900, 14% 1955-1964, 11% 1930-1939, 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 Guildford 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 Send & Lovelace roofs come up most often:
Loft conversion drawings for Ockham's conservation area designated in 1981 — measured, volume-checked and drawn to Guildford Borough Council's guidance.
Loft conversion drawings for Ockham Mill's conservation area designated in 1993 — measured, volume-checked and drawn to Guildford Borough Council's guidance.
Loft conversion drawings for Ripley's conservation area designated in 1971 — measured, volume-checked and drawn to Guildford Borough Council's guidance.
Loft conversion drawings for Wey and Godalming Navigations's conservation area designated in 2002 — measured, volume-checked and drawn to Guildford Borough Council's guidance.
Loft conversion drawings for Wey and Godalming Navigations's conservation area designated in 2002 — measured, volume-checked and drawn to Guildford Borough Council's guidance.
Loft conversion drawings for Wisley's conservation area designated in 1989 — measured, volume-checked and drawn to Guildford Borough Council's guidance.
The right loft in Send & Lovelace 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 Guildford 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 Ockham and Ockham Mill and Article 4 directions can remove permitted-development rights.
A fixed process built around how Guildford Borough Council validates and decides householder loft applications — most drawings are submission-ready within seven days of survey.
Tell us your Send & Lovelace 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 Guildford 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 Guildford Borough Council's roof-alteration guidance.
We submit the certificate or application, manage validation and case-officer queries, and revise the drawings free until Guildford 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 Send & Lovelace the main exceptions are hip-to-gable conversions, dormers visible from the highway, and homes in conservation areas such as Ockham and Ockham Mill or on streets with an Article 4 direction. Guildford Borough Council is the decision-maker.
Generally no. In conservation areas including Ockham and Ockham Mill, Class B permitted-development rights for lofts are removed, so a rear dormer that would be lawful elsewhere needs a full application to Guildford Borough Council. No Article 4 direction is recorded for Guildford Borough Council, but Send & Lovelace's 6 conservation areas still limit permitted development on those streets. We check your exact address before drawing.
On steeply pitched slate roofs, valley gutters and party parapets typical of pre-1900 building, common across Send & Lovelace, a rear dormer is usually the most efficient conversion and often permitted development. Where the roof is shallow gabled roofs typical of that period's 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. Guildford Borough Council is the decision-maker.
A householder planning application in Send & Lovelace 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. Guildford Borough Council is the decision-maker.
If your dormer is permitted development, a lawful development certificate from Guildford 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 Send & Lovelace address specifically.
Every roof is different, so we quote each Send & Lovelace project individually — a fixed, no-obligation price back within one working day. The quote covers the full drawing pack with free revisions until Guildford 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.