REFUSED: Replacement of Existing Glass Roof Tiles with a Conservation Rooflight on a Listed Building

2022/1551 Wymondham, Broadland District Council

See full details here.

The main reason for refusal here is The proposal will result in less than substantial harm to the special architectural and historical interest of the building by virtue of the proposal being an unsympathetic design.

It appears that this applicant had converted the roof-space of his Grade II listed home into living accommodation and as part of these works, he changed some historic glass roof tiles, which were letting natural light into the roof-space for a conservation rooflight.

The issue here is if the roof is to be used for living accommodation then it needs to be insulated and it is not possible to insulate glass roof tiles. If they were left as original, they would be streaming with condensation as soon as the internal room is heated. This is quite a common problem with historic buildings, which often include glass roof tiles which do not comply with any modern standards.

Clearly the problem is that the inclusion of a Velux Rooflight, albeit conservation style, does change the visual appearance of the building frontage, and it looks from the photos that the property to the left retains the original glass tiles. The Conservation Officer has suggested that the option would be to put the rooflight on the rear of the roof, which would be less visually obtrusive, but the applicant has already carried out the work.

PAPA SAYS - We are sure that the applicant will go to appeal, but not really confident on this one, Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas are very sensitive, and so works that are carried out without full agreement and permission are always going to be in danger of not being agreed

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