Letchworth Garden City planned streets under skylights and rooflights
The first garden city, planned around green space, with conservation areas across large parts of the town. Which Letchworth roof suits which skylight or rooflight is set out here.
Garden-city cottages and the homes that came after
Out to the east, 28.4 road miles from Milton Keynes, Letchworth Garden City sits in the North Hertfordshire district. It is known as the first garden city, an idea that Ebenezer Howard set out in print in 1898: a town with jobs, services and good housing, wrapped in open countryside. The garden city was planned, which is why its roofs repay a closer look. A planned town has streets that were drawn together, and a roof change that would pass unnoticed elsewhere can stand out here.
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Planned cottage streets in the conservation areas
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Later houses, extensions and converted lofts
Large parts of Letchworth are included in conservation areas in recognition of their quality, and the cottage-style housing that the garden city is known for sits within them. These are roofs that were designed as part of a street, with a shared look from one house to the next. Where a slope is visible from the road, a conservation rooflight suits it: slim, low and fitted with a central bar, it keeps the line of the roof while bringing daylight into a loft room that the original design left dim. On the rear slope, where less of the street can see it, a standard roof window can be considered.
Beyond the early streets, Letchworth has later housing that has been changed to suit modern life. Rear extensions have been added, garages have become rooms and lofts have become bedrooms or workspaces. Plots here are generous in places and tight in others, and a side window can face a boundary wall a few feet away while the sky overhead stays wide open. For a loft slope, choose a roof window. The flat roof of an extension suits a roof lantern where the ceiling has height, or a flat rooflight where it does not.
Three Letchworth rooms that deserve a better ceiling of glass
A cottage loft with a fence at the gable
A garden-city bedroom, still waiting for its window.
Sideways
A cottage-style house in the garden city has a steep, well-proportioned roof, and under it a room that was meant for storage or a maid, or never meant for much at all. Now it is a child's bedroom or a study. The gable has one small window and, a pace or two beyond the glass, the neighbour's fence.
The window is clean. The view is a run of timber panels, and the light that gets into the room is whatever bounces off the boards.
Straight up
A rooflight in the slope looks over the fence and over the neighbour's eaves too. Straight up is clear, and in a street of close plots that is the one place the daylight can still arrive in full. On a slope that faces the road, a conservation pattern with a slim frame keeps the roof's character. A rear slope can take a standard roof window.
A fence is only one of the things a gable window can face. A garage wall, a shed or a neighbour's extension does the same job of blocking the view, and the answer is the same each time: go up through the slope, where nothing stands in the way.
We choose the position for the room: over the desk, above the bed or along the ridge where the headroom is best.
A garden-city roof was built to a design, but its rafters and battens still decide where the opening can go. The survey is done in person, up in the roof space, so the position is set from what carries the load and not from a drawing.
What the rules say about glass in a roof like this
- 1.4 W/m²K
- the figure a new roof window must meet in a current home, or WER band B
- 2.2 W/m²K
- the figure a new flat rooflight must meet when fitted to a current home
A rear extension facing a high wall
New glazing, still no sky.
Sideways
An extension that reaches into the back garden brings the room close to the boundary. On one side is a brick wall, taller than a person, that belongs to the next house or to a garage. The long window beside the table looks directly at it.
A wall does not move and does not let light through. The back of the room, away from the glass door, is the darkest part, and the lamp is on by mid-afternoon in winter.
Straight up
A flat rooflight over the room reaches over the wall. It sits on an upstand with the glass at a slight fall, so rain leaves the surface and the daylight is not cut off by anything beside the house. On a larger room, a roof lantern adds height to the ceiling as well as light.
The rooflight goes where the dark part of the room is, and not simply in the middle of the roof. We work from the plan: the doors, the units, the table and the way the sun moves round the garden.
The inside is finished as part of the job. The lining to the opening is neat, the paint is touched in and the room is left clean, so the only thing that has changed is the light.
A loft room boxed in by a boundary wall
Every roof has a rooflight that suits it.
Sideways
In a street of semi-detached houses the loft can be turned into a bedroom with a bathroom beside it. Any gable window faces the neighbouring house across a narrow gap. The wall of that house is a few metres away and it keeps the sun off the glass from midday.
The room is bright for an hour in the morning, and after that it relies on a bulb. On a hot day it can be stuffy as well, since a gable window does little for air movement.
Straight up
Set in the slope, a roof window takes daylight from over the neighbour's wall, and an opening one releases warm air from the head of the room. A pair of smaller windows side by side can serve a longer room better than a single large one. The choice depends on the slope, the headroom and the use.
The table sets out which option suits which roof in Letchworth.
When the loft is turning into a bedroom, the stair and its escape route are a separate question from the roof window, and we cover that at the survey so the room is planned properly from the start.
Heat matters in a loft. A room under the slope takes the sun on the tiles through the afternoon, so an opening roof window, or a blind fitted at the outset, keeps the room comfortable in summer. In winter the glazing figure on the label is what keeps the warmth in, and we help you choose between the options for the room.
| Roof | Suits | Best at | Know |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pitched loft slope | Roof window | Light and air in a bedroom | Needs headroom beneath |
| Slope seen from the road | Conservation rooflight | Keeping the roof line | Slim frame, central bar |
| Flat extension roof | Flat rooflight | Light over a kitchen | Built up on a kerb, with a fall |
| Large extension roof | Roof lantern | Height and light together | Needs enough ceiling height |
Planning with North Hertfordshire District Council
Planning in Letchworth sits with North Hertfordshire District Council, which lists a Letchworth Conservation Area. Large parts of the town are included in conservation areas, so ask the planning team whether your street is one of them. A house in a conservation area keeps its right to a rooflight unless an Article 4 direction says otherwise, so put both questions to the council in one email.
The garden city's roofs were drawn as part of a whole street, and a change on one house is read against its neighbours. That is a good reason to talk to the council before you fall in love with a particular design.
The estate is owned and managed by the Letchworth Garden City Heritage Foundation, a charity, so check your lease or title for any estate conditions as well. The permitted development route is worked through in our planning guide; for the local side, see the council's planning page and building control page.
Where the work needs notifying, we do the Building Control paperwork, and the fitting meets today's Building Regulations. A short call to the planning team before the survey saves time later, and we are glad to work from whatever they tell you in writing.
Twenty-eight miles east, forty minutes on the road
Allow about 40 minutes to drive the 28.4 road miles from Milton Keynes to Letchworth, which lies to the east. The town lies on the line between London and Cambridge and beside the A1, which suits commuters, and that same road makes it simple to reach for a survey visit.
We book Letchworth visits as a planned trip, so the survey, the measuring and the conversation about the room are done in one go. WhatsApp 07880 284133 or email info@vertexskylightsmiltonkeynes.co.uk with the room photographed, and the roof above it too.
Letchworth, Baldock, Ickleford and Stotfold
If you are near Letchworth you may be in Baldock, Ickleford or Stotfold, and the same survey and the same written quote apply in each. Planning differs by council, so we check the authority for your address before we advise, and the answer from one town is never applied to the next without that check.
For a house in the garden-city streets, the sensible first step is to find out the status of the street, then pick the rooflight to suit. For a house with a flat extension roof, the rooflight can be chosen straight away.
The survey, the quote and the guarantee
Living in a planned town has a quiet advantage: the streets are laid out with care, so the roof you are changing is usually part of a pleasing whole, and a well-chosen rooflight can sit within it without drawing the eye. The survey is free. We come to the house, go up into the roof space, check the structure and the slope, and talk through the room. The fixed written quote you are given states the figure that stands on the day. The work carries a 10-year workmanship guarantee in writing.
Fitting a single rooflight usually takes a day or two. The weather is kept out from the first hour, the lining is finished inside and the site is cleared. For a small commercial building, such as a shop or a studio, the process is the same.
To start, ask for a quote and include a photo.
Letchworth questions, answered plainly
My Letchworth street is in a conservation area. Can I still have a skylight?
Possibly, and being in a conservation area is not a ban. A conservation area does not by itself remove permitted development, but an Article 4 direction can. Ask North Hertfordshire District Council about your address. On a slope that can be seen from the road, a slim conservation rooflight is the better fit.
What is the difference between a skylight and a rooflight?
Homeowners say skylight where the trade says rooflight. Both mean glazing set into a roof. The terms used for particular types, roof window, flat rooflight, roof lantern or sun tunnel, say which kind of roof it suits.
Can a loft room be fitted with a roof window on a two-storey house?
A roof window can bring light and air into the loft, yes, but it is not the same as an escape route. The stair for a new bedroom has its own rules, and we go through them at the survey.
How far in advance should I ask for a survey in Letchworth?
As soon as you know which room you want to change. The survey is free and takes no commitment, and it gives you a fixed written quote to decide from. Send a photo of the room and the roof, and we will suggest a visit that fits your week.
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