Slate roofs from the boom years
Most of Leicester's loft work happens under Welsh slate. The city grew fast in the late 1800s. Highfields had about 15,000 people by 1881, the Clarendon Park estate was being laid out from the 1870s, and the streets of the West End filled up through the 1890s. The houses that went up then were built with cut timber roofs, and that is good news for anyone wanting a room in the roof.
Those suburbs weren't all one thing, though. Off Fosse Road you'll find big three-storey villas on Daneshill Road a few minutes' walk from the artisan terraces of Dulverton Road, built in the late 1890s for the Leicester House and Land Society. Round Spinney Hill Park, Arthur Wakerley and others put up Arts and Crafts terraces with steep gables, and many of those houses came with dormers from new. A loft surveyor sees the whole spread in a single morning.
Twentieth-century Leicester is a different job. On the Saffron Lane estate the concrete Boot houses of the 1920s started cracking, and all of them were pulled down and rebuilt between 1983 and 1997, so the roofs there are far younger than the street plan. Up at Ashton Green, on the northern edge of the city, up to 3,000 homes are planned and the first went up in 2020. Newer houses like these usually have trussed roofs, and converting one means taking the trusses out and putting a steel frame in.
Rules that change from street to street
The national register lists more than 20 conservation areas in the city. Some are in the centre, but several cover streets of family houses, among them Stoneygate, South Highfields, Spinney Hill Park, Knighton Village and the West End. Inside any of them a dormer or a hip to gable needs planning permission, on the back of the roof as well as the front.
A few go further. Spinney Hill Park has had an Article 4 direction since 1983 that brings re-roofing and changes to chimneys and ridge tiles under control, and the council's guidance there asks for original slates to be reused rather than swapped for artificial ones. The Knighton Village direction of 2024 includes Class C, which is the class that covers rooflights. The 1991 direction in the old Daneshill and Westcotes Drive areas is aimed at front elevations.
Then there are the HMO directions, which confuse a lot of people in Clarendon Park and Westcotes. They stop a family house being turned into a small shared house without permission. They don't touch your right to convert the loft for your own use.
Choosing the type for a Leicester house
How each conversion tends to suit the city's houses, with a link to the full guide.
Rear dormer. The standard choice on a terrace or semi outside the conservation areas. The West End appraisal notes that most modern dormers there sit at the back, out of sight of the street.
L-shaped dormer. For a Victorian terrace with a two-storey back addition. The second dormer over the outrigger is the usual home for a shower room.
Rooflights only. Often the gentlest route in a conservation area, and the steep Arts and Crafts roofs can have the height for it. Check first in Knighton Village, where the Article 4 direction takes in rooflights.
Hip to gable. Suits a semi or end terrace with a hipped roof. In a conservation area it needs an application, and on a slate street the new gable should be finished to match.
Read our full guide: Hip-to-Gable Loft Conversions: What It Involves and Which Houses It Suits →
Mansard. Nearly always a planning application in Leicester. On the big villas of Daneshill or Stoneygate, talk to an architect before you talk to a builder.
Extra bedroom. What most families here are after. Fire doors and linked smoke alarms are checked before sign-off, so make sure they appear on every quote.
En-suite. In a terrace the soil stack is usually at the back, so the bathroom goes in the rear dormer. Decide this before the drawings are done, not after.
Home office. Smaller artisan terraces may not give you a full bedroom with a proper staircase, but they will often give you a quiet workroom. Run power and data up while the walls are open.
Read our full guide: Loft Home-Office Conversion: What Works Well Up There and What to Specify →
Planning. Outside the conservation areas most rear dormers are permitted development. Inside them, or on a listed house, you need an application. Newer estates can also have rights removed by the original consent.
Cost. We don't give a Leicester price. A Victorian slate roof and a trussed roof from the 1990s are different jobs, and only a site visit will tell you which one you've got.
Who checks the work
Planning applications go to Leicester City Council, and its online planning register will show what was allowed on your street. Building control is the council's own team, Leicester City Building Control, based at Phoenix House on King Street. Your builder can use a private approved inspector instead. Either way, get the completion certificate at the end and keep it with the deeds.
Where these facts come from
- Leicester City Council: building control
- Leicester City Council: search planning applications
- West End Conservation Area character appraisal
- Spinney Hill Park Conservation Area character statement
- Knighton Village Article 4 direction (2024)
- HMO Article 4 direction addendum (2021)
- Story of Leicester: 100 years of council housing
- Leicester City Council: Ashton Green
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Questions people in Leicester ask
I live in Oadby, Wigston or Braunstone Town. Is the city council my planning authority?
No. Leicester City Council covers the city only. Oadby and Wigston have their own borough council, and Braunstone Town is in Blaby district. Each has its own planning team and its own conservation areas, so check which council you're in before you read any guidance.
My street in Clarendon Park has an Article 4 direction. Does that stop a loft conversion?
Not on its own. The direction in Clarendon Park controls turning a family house into a small HMO. If you're converting the loft for your own household, the usual permitted development rules apply, and Clarendon Park is not one of the city's conservation areas.
Our Spinney Hill Park house already has an old dormer. Can we replace it with a bigger one?
Only with planning permission. The area is a conservation area and has had an Article 4 direction since 1983 covering re-roofing and chimneys. The council wants original slate reused, so put the slate work in the quote.
We're on the Saffron Lane estate. Is our roof old enough to convert easily?
Probably not as old as the street. The original concrete houses were all replaced between 1983 and 1997, and a house of that age is likely to have a trussed roof. It can still be converted, but expect a steel frame.