Terraces built for the shoe trade
From the 1850s Northampton put up streets of workers' houses right next to the boot and shoe factories, and a lot of the town's lofts sit on top of them. The grid runs north and east of the centre, out from Abington Square along Kettering Road and Wellingborough Road. Red brick, Welsh slate, two storeys, straight rows. Some still have an old outworkers' workshop in the back yard.
These roofs are cut timber, so there are no trusses to take out, and the back slope is usually where the space comes from. The catch is that since 2011 the core of this district has been the Boot and Shoe Quarter conservation area, and inside it any dormer needs planning permission, on the rear as much as the front. Outside the boundary, the same terrace one street over can often take a rear dormer under permitted development.
Further out the houses get bigger, round Abington Park and in the late Victorian villas of Billing Road. North of the centre, Barrack Road has narrow three-storey terraces from the mid 19th century, and Kingsley has red brick and stucco houses facing the Racecourse. All four are conservation areas with heritage Article 4 directions on top.
Ironstone villages the town swallowed
Duston, Kingsthorpe and Dallington were villages before Northampton grew round them, and each now has its own conservation area. The British Geological Survey names the Northampton Sand Formation after the town and takes its type section from the old stone pit at Duston, where industrial ironstone quarrying started in 1855.
Duston's appraisal records ironstone walls under Welsh slate, clay tiles, pantiles and, on several old cottages, thatch. It also remarks that half-eaves dormers are not part of the village's building tradition. On an old village house, rooflights or a small, well-placed dormer stand a better chance than a box across the back.
Northampton became a new town in 1968, and the 1970s eastern district estates were laid out on Radburn lines for London overspill. Upton and the Norwood Farm extension on the western edge are later again. Most houses from these phases have trussed roofs, which can be converted, but only once the trusses come out and steel goes in.
Which conversion suits which Northampton house
Each type below has a full guide if you want the detail.
Rear dormer. The usual choice for a two-storey shoe-trade terrace or an interwar semi. Outside a conservation area it normally counts as permitted development. Inside the Boot and Shoe Quarter, Barrack Road or Kingsley, budget for a planning application.
L-shaped dormer. Victorian terraces with a back addition can take a second dormer over the outrigger. That extra section is often the only place a shower room fits.
Rooflights only. The safest bet in an ironstone village core or a conservation area street, because the roofline stays as it is. If your street has a heritage Article 4 direction, read the notice first, because some directions cover roof alterations.
Hip to gable. Suits the interwar semis that sit between the Victorian grid and the post-war estates. On Upton or the eastern district estates, expect a steel frame as well, since the trusses have to go.
Read our full guide: Hip-to-Gable Loft Conversions: What It Involves and Which Houses It Suits →
En-suite. Find the soil stack before you settle the layout. On a terrace it is usually on the back wall, which pushes the bathroom to the rear of the new floor.
Extra bedroom. What most Northampton families are after. Planning to let the room instead? Read the HMO answer below first.
Home office. With Euston about 50 minutes away by the fastest train, plenty of people here work part of the week from home. A room at the top of a terrace is quieter than the box room at the front.
Read our full guide: Loft Home-Office Conversion: What Works Well Up There and What to Specify →
Mansard. Rare here and always a planning application. On the Regency and Victorian terraces in Derngate or St Giles, many of them listed, talk to the conservation officer before you pay for drawings.
Planning. Start by checking for a conservation area. Inside one, any roof enlargement needs permission. Outside, a rear dormer is normally permitted development, unless the estate's original consent took those rights away.
Cost. We won't print a figure. A cut-roof terrace and a trussed 1970s semi are different jobs, and a web page price would be wrong for one of them. Three site visits will tell you more.
Who decides, and where to look
Northampton Borough Council went in April 2021. Planning and building control now sit with West Northamptonshire Council, which also covers the old Daventry and South Northamptonshire districts and has 117 conservation areas between them. The planning office is at the Guildhall on St Giles Square. Search your street on the online planning register before you commission drawings. What the neighbours got through is the best guide.
Building control is the council's own service. Apply online with full plans or a building notice, and keep the completion certificate with the deeds. A buyer's solicitor will ask for it.
Where these facts come from
- West Northamptonshire Council: conservation areas
- West Northamptonshire Council: Article 4 directions (heritage and HMO)
- Northamptonshire HER: Boot and Shoe Quarter conservation area
- Northamptonshire HER: Abington Park conservation area
- Duston Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Plan, 2009
- British Geological Survey: Northampton Sand Formation
- TCPA: Northampton new town
- Environment Agency: 20 years after the Easter floods
- West Northamptonshire Council: building regulation applications
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Questions people in Northampton ask
Can I convert my loft and let the room to a lodger or sharers in Northampton?
A lodger in a family home is one thing. Turning a house into a small shared house is a change of use, and Northampton has removed that right by Article 4 direction area by area since 2011. The 2020 direction for the remaining parts of the town completed the set. So you need planning permission for that, and you should ask the council whether it needs an HMO licence as well.
My house is in Duston or Kingsthorpe village. Will the planners accept a dormer?
It depends where the dormer goes and how big it is. Both village cores are conservation areas, so any dormer needs permission, front or back. The Duston appraisal notes that half-eaves dormers are not part of the local tradition, so small, roof-height dormers or rooflights tend to sit better with officers than wide flat boxes.
I live in the Boot and Shoe Quarter. Is a rear dormer still possible?
Possible, but not without an application, because the quarter has been a conservation area since 2011. Look up approved schemes on your own street first, and keep the dormer below the ridge.
Does flooding on the Nene matter for a loft?
Not for the loft itself, which is the driest part of the house. Near the river in Far Cotton or St James, both of which had defence work after the Easter 1998 floods, it can be a reason to add bedrooms upstairs rather than extend at the back.