First floor conservatory

AdrianC

Cakeguts said:

I really like the aspect of the downstairs loo being off the dining room.  Unless it is very soundproofed you are going to here all the food served in the dining room making a second appearance.

I'm trying not to think what this says about your culinary skills...

Section62

Marjrie said:

I already asked about no windows in the bathroom, I’ve checked the planning for what they are calling a bedroom at the back.
when planning was given it was for a first floor conservatory, is it right that they can advertise this as a bedroom? 

The online planning application details only has the decision notice, not any plans or elevations (not surprising for an application that old) so I would be concerned whether the structure which is there now is the same one the original planning consent was for.

The application also implies the 'conservatory' was built on top of a pre-existing ground floor extension. I would be checking the planning and building control history of the property very carefully to make sure the extant structure was properly constructed with all necessary consents. E.g. a 'conservatory' wouldn't necessarily need the same building regulations compliance/approvals that a bedroom would.

It is also very unusual to build a conservatory on the first floor of a 2-bed end of terrace.....

Stubod

..a somewhat "unusual" layout?....

Section62

user1977 said:

Why not? A room's a room. I can't see what difference it would make from a planning point of view.

It could be relevant where other things (e.g. parking spaces, area of outdoor space, financial contributions) are determined by the number of bedrooms the proposed(/extended) dwelling has.

Building a first floor 'conservatory' rather than a 'bedroom' in order to avoid the need to provide an extra parking space is not going to fool many planning officers... although in this case off-street parking isn't an option.

macman

I can quite understand why there is no pic of the rear elevation from the garden: the whole terrace width is effectively one wall of glass across the first floor. It overlooks the neighbouring gardens to an intrusive degree: how did that ever get PP?

Section62

macman said:

I can quite understand why there is no pic of the rear elevation from the garden: the whole terrace width is effectively one wall of glass across the first floor. It overlooks the neighbouring gardens to an intrusive degree: how did that ever get PP?

...partly what makes me wonder whether what is there now is what the planning consent was for.

Marjrie

I’ve now been told there is no heating in the “conservatory” it seems that this was built across the back of the house, blocking all the original rear windows, and then fitting mirrors to hide where the windows were. I can find nothing for when the ground floor extension was built 

Philomel

It is also very unusual to build a conservatory on the first floor of a 2-bed end of terrace.....

When I was a kid my family moved into my parents' current house (a Victorian detached, not a terrace) and there was a first-floor conservatory ('verandah') that stuck out over the back patio. Huge concrete pillars supporting it, a plastic roof on it, got absolutely baking hot in summer (it was like an oven, as soon as you stepped into it you started sweating). They ended up demolishing it completely. This thread just made me think about it and what a weird decision it was to put it in in the first place (and also wonder how it got planning, it was so out of keeping with the house).

Marjrie

Section62 said:

Marjrie said:

I already asked about no windows in the bathroom, I’ve checked the planning for what they are calling a bedroom at the back.
when planning was given it was for a first floor conservatory, is it right that they can advertise this as a bedroom? 

The online planning application details only has the decision notice, not any plans or elevations (not surprising for an application that old) so I would be concerned whether the structure which is there now is the same one the original planning consent was for.

The application also implies the 'conservatory' was built on top of a pre-existing ground floor extension. I would be checking the planning and building control history of the property very carefully to make sure the extant structure was properly constructed with all necessary consents. E.g. a 'conservatory' wouldn't necessarily need the same building regulations compliance/approvals that a bedroom would.

It is also very unusual to build a conservatory on the first floor of a 2-bed end of terrace.....

I can’t find anything about the planning for the ground floor extension, all very strange

MarjrieForumite17 POSTS

I’ve now been told there is no heating in the “conservatory” it seems that this was built across the back of the house, blocking all the original rear windows, and then fitting mirrors to hide where the windows were. I can find nothing for when the ground floor extension was built 

Section62

Marjrie said:

I can’t find anything about the planning for the ground floor extension, all very strange

It could pre-date the earliest records the council has uploaded onto their online system.

There isn't anything especially unusual about that, but having a partially brick-built structure added on top of an extension of unknown provenance would be a personal red flag to me.