15.9 road miles, due south out of Nottingham
Skylights & rooflights in Loughborough
A market town with a long lace and engineering past, a dense run of protected streets at its core and estates of a later age around it. Its roofs are as varied as its history.
One patent in 1809 changed the town
John Heathcoat, an inventor from Derbyshire, patented an improvement to the warp loom in 1809. His twisted lace machine made lace-like mitts and began the town's industrial age.
Loughborough, listed streets and later estates
Loughborough is a market town in the Charnwood borough of Leicestershire, the second largest settlement in the county after Leicester, and 64,850 people are recorded there. It lies close to the Nottinghamshire border, within reach of Leicester, Nottingham and Derby alike. A settlement of that size has a long list of building ages, and its roofs reflect it. For a rooflight installer the thing that matters most is how much of the centre is protected, so that is where this page begins. If you want the general picture of our work, see skylight installation in Nottingham.
01
A town with an unusual number of protected areas
Planning here is the business of Charnwood Borough Council, and the town is counted into the council's Loughborough-Garendon ward. Before anything else, you should know that the planning data records a cluster of conservation areas around the town centre.
The table sets out the areas on record close to the centre point, with the number of listed buildings each holds. Church Gate, over the centre itself, holds the most listed buildings. Shelthorpe, a suburb of the town about 1.15 km out, also has a conservation area, with no listed buildings recorded inside it.
Why it matters for a roof
Consent is required before a listed building gets a new opening in its roof, while a house that is simply inside a conservation area keeps the right to a flush rooflight unless Charnwood has issued an Article 4 direction. We put both questions to Charnwood before an order goes in, since a wrong guess costs far more than a short wait.
A rooflight on a house is usually permitted development, and the planning permission for rooflights guide covers the limits once for every town. Our part on a Loughborough job is the local layer: which slope, which area and which listing.
Taken as a whole, the Historic England record lists 59 buildings in a 1.5 km ring around the middle. One is Grade I, three are Grade II* and the other 55 are Grade II. That is a heavy concentration of protected stock, and it explains why we check each address and not just the town. Two houses on neighbouring streets can have very different answers.
| Area | Distance | Listed inside |
|---|---|---|
| Church Gate | covers the centre | 23 |
| Queens Park | 0.12 km | 3 |
| Leicester Road | 0.41 km | 2 |
| Ashby Road | 0.44 km | 6 |
| Emmanuel Church | 0.44 km | 2 |
| Victoria Street | 0.45 km | 7 |
02
Mills, terraces and later estates
What an industrial town leaves on its roofs.
Industry came early to Loughborough. Heathcoat's 1809 patent for an improved warp loom, the twisted lace machine, was the first sign of industrialisation in the district. Brush Traction, a maker of railway locomotives, still stands beside the Midland railway station.
Loughborough streets change character from one to the next, so we read the roof in front of us rather than assume a type. What a town like this reliably offers is variety. Roofs may be slate or clay, original or replaced, and extensions from different decades often meet at awkward angles. The conservation areas hold listed buildings, and ordinary houses sit around them.
Estates of a later age
In the 1960s and early 1970s, Thorpe Acre gained a new estate that took in the old village. Thorpe Acre is recorded as a suburb about 2 km from the centre, with Shelthorpe at 1.5 km and Dishley at 2.1 km. Whatever the layout, a landing or inner hall with no outside wall is usually the darkest place in a house and the natural target for a rooflight.
Older streets bring other surprises: chimney breasts that cut through the loft, party walls between terraces, and slopes that were re-covered in a different material from the original. Each one limits where a window can go, and a fixed written price only works when these things have been seen.
How we read an unfamiliar roof
Before we put a size on paper, we look for rafter spacing, previous repairs and the way an extension joins the main roof. A cut that looks easy from the garden can run straight into a hidden timber. We would rather find it in the loft on a survey than on the day.
A January survey shows what a summer one hides: a cold, damp batten, a dark stain on the felt, a bead of condensation under the slate. We note each one, because a new opening should not be cut into a roof that is already struggling. Slate comes off only around the opening and goes back over the new flashings; concrete tile is treated the same way, with the flashing kit chosen to suit its profile.
- Rafter
- A sloping timber under the covering. Spacing decides which sizes of roof window fit.
- Valley
- The internal angle where two roof slopes meet, and the place water gathers fastest.
- Landing light
- A rooflight, or a sun tunnel, placed above a stairwell to brighten the upper floor.
03
Six classified roads and two stations
Loughborough lies 15.9 miles by road from the middle of Nottingham, bearing south, and a drive takes about 28 minutes when traffic is kind. Six classified roads reach in to a kilometre or less from the centre point: the A512, A6, A60, A6004, B5350 and B589. The A512 starts in the town and heads west towards the M1, Shepshed and Ashby-de-la-Zouch. The A6004 was first proposed as a bypass, and it curves around the western and northern suburbs to end near the railway station at the A60.
Two stations are close. Loughborough Central is 0.9 km from the centre and Loughborough is 1.1 km, and both are open. We come by van, but if you would like to meet us on the doorstep after a day away, trains make that easy.
Before the van arrives
The survey carries no charge. We stand in the room and watch where the light gives out, then climb up to examine the pitch, the covering, the timbers and the drainage. One written quote follows, and that figure is also the final bill.
Streets close to the centre and the conservation areas can have tight parking, so we ask in advance about the van and about a side route to the back.
15.9miles
by road to the centre of Nottingham
28minutes
usual drive, traffic permitting
6roads
A and B roads within about 1 km
Further out
The rest of the circle of 30 road miles is covered too, and the areas we cover page shows where.
04
Queen's Park, the canal and the weather overhead
Green space is never far from the middle of Loughborough. Queen's Park is 0.3 km away, Loughborough Parish Green 0.4 km, the Corner Garden 0.5 km, Southfields Park 0.6 km and Radmoor Park 0.7 km. The Great Central Road play area is at 1.1 km, and Butler Court Nature Reserve at 1.2 km. The Grand Union Canal runs close by.
A derelict canal also belongs to the town's history. The Charnwood Forest Canal once linked Nanpantan, on the west side of Loughborough, with Thringstone, and a horse-drawn wagonway carried goods the last stretch into town.
Trees and moss
Parks and avenues bring trees, and trees bring litter onto roofs. Leaves and seed collect at the foot of a roof window and in the valleys between slopes. If they sit through a wet winter, moss starts in the damp and the flashing stays wet. We leave enough clear space around a new window to sweep it by hand from a ladder, and the flashing kit is chosen to suit your tile or slate, so leaves slide over it and do not lodge.
Glare and winter light
On a flat roof, a rooflight under a tree sees less sun than one in the open. It does not need much. The glass is picked for the light you get from a cloudy sky, and that matters more here than any rating from a sunny day. An opening sash is worth adding in a kitchen or bathroom, so steam leaves before it settles on the cold glass.
05
What we usually propose for Loughborough homes
A town with this range of housing needs more than one answer. These three are the products we propose most often, and the survey decides between them.
Above a stair or inside a bathroom
In an estate house from the 1960s or 1970s, the landing can be the darkest room. A sun tunnel sends light down a mirrored tube from a small dome, and it needs only a short run through the loft. For a bathroom without an outer wall, it is a modest change with a clear effect.
In a room under the slope
An attic bedroom or study, such as you might find in an older terrace, suits a roof window. On an older roof, in a conservation area or out of one, we would suggest a slim, flat unit that sits close to the tiles.
At the back of a deep extension
Where a kitchen has been extended into the garden, a roof lantern brings in light from several sides at once. Because it takes in more of the sky than a flat pane does, it reads bright even under thick cloud.
Replacement and the written guarantee
Where an old rooflight has fogged inside or its frame has tired, a new unit can frequently go straight onto the opening that exists. Whatever we fit carries a ten-year workmanship guarantee, written down. We say at the survey whether a replacement or a new cut makes more sense.
Questions from Loughborough homeowners
Is my Loughborough house in a conservation area?
There are several near the centre, including Church Gate, Queens Park, Ashby Road and Victoria Street. Whether your own road falls inside one depends on the exact boundary, which is why we check the address with Charnwood Borough Council before anything is ordered. If it is inside, Class C still applies unless Charnwood has an Article 4 direction there.
We live in a Thorpe Acre estate house. What suits its landing?
A landing with no window is a common case in later estates. Look up from the landing. A loft overhead points to a sun tunnel, while a sloping ceiling points to a small roof window. We inspect the loft first, then give one price for whichever we recommend.
Do you work in Leicestershire as well as Nottinghamshire?
Yes. Loughborough is 15.9 road miles out, so it sits comfortably inside our 30-mile reach, and the county line changes nothing. Charnwood Borough Council is the local authority. You are not charged for a survey, and we come to the house.
How do you handle the Building Control side?
A new opening in a roof normally falls under the Building Regulations. When the job is notifiable, we file the notification, either with Charnwood's own building control team or with a registered approver on the register, and the fit meets current standards. The paperwork does not land on your doorstep to chase.