South-west of Nottingham, 10.7 road miles away
Skylights & rooflights in Sawley
A Derbyshire village at the meeting of two rivers, with a conservation area at its core. Water makes the light here soft, and the winters long and damp.
A cut dug to dodge the shallows
Around 1796 the Sawley Cut and its locks were built to bypass shallow stretches of the Trent. Two centuries on, the village is still defined by water. Roofs here stand under wide, wet skies, and they are expected to cope.
Sawley, taken from the water upwards
Sawley, a civil parish in Erewash borough, Derbyshire, has 6,462 residents on the latest record and still counts as a village. Rivers, a canal and a reservoir sit within walking distance of its centre. We begin with that water, because it explains a lot about what a roof endures here, and then move to the council, the road, the age of the place and the choice of product. The overview of our work is on the page about skylight installation in Nottingham.
01
Where the Derwent meets the Trent
Rivers, a canal and a reservoir close by, and what they ask of a rooflight.
Between Sawley and its neighbours at Church Wilne and Great Wilne, the River Derwent runs into the Trent. That single fact shapes the surroundings. Sawley Cut, the Erewash Canal, Sheet Stores Basin and Church Wilne Reservoir also lie within roughly 1.5 km.
Wet land gives off a lot of moisture, and on still, cool mornings it hangs in the air. For a roof, that means more days when slates, tiles and flashings stay damp, and more days when the sky is a pale, even grey. It also means more moisture inside the house, because warm rooms pull in damp air from outside and give it back as condensation on cold surfaces.
Choosing glass for a damp place
The inner pane of a rooflight is often the coldest surface in a room. We look at the glazing build-up with that in mind: a well-made sealed unit, a spacer that does not conduct cold to the edge, and a frame that does not bridge the thermal break. If the room is a bathroom or a kitchen, an opening window gives steam somewhere to go.
| Place | Kind | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Sawley Park | Park | 0.2 km |
| Peveril Meadows | Meadow | 0.7 km |
| Sawley Lakeside Park | Park | 0.9 km |
Flashings and moss
Where the roof is pitched, the flashing is shaped to your slate or tile and rain finds no gap. Roofs in damp air also grow moss. It does no good around an upstand or at the head of a window, so we show you what to look for once a year.
For a flat roof, the flat roof rooflights we fit are set on an upstand high enough to stand clear of ponding, with the roof finish falling away from the frame.
02
A conservation area right in the middle
1978designated
Sawley conservation area, 0.23 km from the centre
6listed
entries inside that conservation area
10listed
entries on the national list around the village
Your planning authority is Erewash Borough Council, and Sawley sits in Derbyshire, which matters because the city council has no say here. Planning questions run through Erewash, and the Building Control notice is lodged with Erewash Borough Council or, if you prefer, a registered approver.
The Sawley conservation area
A conservation area named Sawley was designated on 12 September 1978 and lies only 0.23 km from the village centre. Inside it are six listed buildings: one Grade I and five Grade II. Historic England lists ten in the wider 1.5 km around the centre, one Grade I and nine Grade II.
That is a lot of protection for a place of this size, and it changes how we work. A rooflight in a conservation area is not forbidden. The permitted development right still applies unless the council has removed it, but an Article 4 direction can remove it, so we ask Erewash whether one applies before we price anything. A listed building is another matter: cutting into its roof calls for listed building consent, which is a separate application to Erewash.
Rules that apply everywhere
The conditions on size, projection and side-facing slopes, and the energy figures for replacement and new units, are national. They are laid out in full under planning permission for rooflights, and this page sticks to the local picture.
Should the work need notifying, we file the Building Control notice ourselves, and the finished rooflight is built to current Building Regulations. You receive a copy of the paperwork at handover.
03
An old village, and what that means for a roof
For a long time Sawley was the most important village in this part of the valley. Until the 19th century it controlled the first river crossing above Nottingham. Travellers heading for Birmingham had to cross the Trent by ferry or ford, until Harrington Bridge opened in 1790.
On the survey we read the roof in front of us: how it is framed, what covers it and how much headroom sits under the slope. Where the aim is fresh air, that points us to an opening sash; where the room comes into its own after dark, it points us to the glass and a blind. Every roof is measured before it is priced, and the same house type can need a different answer from one street to the next.
Older roofs
Where a roof is old, the timbers can sit unevenly and the covering can be a mix of materials patched over the years. We find the real positions of the rafters inside the roof space, then choose a size that sits between them. That keeps the opening tidy and the structural work small. In a conservation area we also look at whether a slim-framed conservation-style rooflight will sit flush with the covering. Our page on conservation rooflights goes into that.
A note on the people who live here
At the 2011 Census, the civil parish had a slightly higher than average share of people over 65. For anyone spending more hours at home in winter, a bright room is not a luxury. Opening rooflights with a simple control, and blinds that reach without a stretch, are easy to specify at the same visit.
- Thermal break
- An insulating strip inside a frame that stops cold passing straight from outside to in.
- Flush fit
- A rooflight whose outer glass sits level with the roof covering instead of standing proud.
- Rafter
- A sloping roof timber, set at intervals, that carries the covering.
04
Reaching Sawley by road, and by rail
From the middle of Nottingham, Sawley is 10.7 miles by road to the south-west, about 21 minutes in a van with the traffic behaving. Harrington Bridge, built in 1790, is a reminder that this crossing has always mattered. Today the B6540 passes within a kilometre of the village centre, and so does the M1.
Long Eaton station is 0.9 km away, which tells you how close the village sits to the neighbouring town. We travel in the van with our tools and ladders, so the station does not change how we visit, but it does show how connected the place is.
What happens at a survey
The survey costs nothing. Inside the room we ask where the light fails and where you spend your time. If you know the make and size on the frame plate of an existing rooflight, tell us, though we can read it ourselves once the sash is open. After that we climb up to the roof itself and read the slope, the covering, the structure and the route water takes off it. A written price comes after that, and it stays the same on the day we fit.
If the house is inside the conservation area, we give the council a call before ordering. If it is outside, we still look the address up, because a single street can be treated differently from the next.
10.7miles
miles by road into Nottingham
21minutes
by van, traffic permitting
0.9km
to Long Eaton station
Neighbouring places
Our work covers Sawley, the villages around it and every place inside a thirty-mile road radius of Nottingham. You can find the full list on the areas we cover page.
05
Three products and the rooms they suit
A product is only a way to get light where it is missing. We start from the room and work back.
The dark kitchen or extension
A flat rooflight or lantern above the far end of a deep room is the strongest answer. The roof lanterns page covers how they are glazed and framed. A lantern draws light from several faces at once, which helps under a low grey sky.
The room in the roof
A roof window turns a loft bedroom or study into a place you want to be in November. It faces the sky and gives you ventilation too.
Replacing what is there
Your house may already have a rooflight that has gone cloudy or leaks at the frame. Fitting the new unit into the old opening is often the tidier route. A misted pane in a dry, square frame needs only a new sealed unit, while a stained lining means the flashing is lifted as well. Sometimes the upstand or flashing has also reached the end of its life, and we say so after the survey, not after the old unit is out.
Whatever goes in, we put the price in writing before work starts and keep to it. Our workmanship guarantee runs for ten years and is given in writing.
In a conservation area, we favour slim frames and a flush fit where the roof allows it, since those sit quietly in the covering and draw less attention from the road.
A landing with no window of its own can be lit by a sun tunnel, and the page on sun tunnels explains how it works.
Asked in Sawley before the roof is surveyed
Our house is inside the Sawley conservation area. Can we still have a rooflight?
Often yes. The national permitted development right for rooflights usually still applies unless the council has withdrawn it, on the front slope as well as the back, so the thing we ask Erewash is whether a direction covers your road. A listed home must have listed building consent before any rooflight goes in. We confirm which applies to your address before anything is ordered.
Is Erewash or Nottingham City Council my planning authority?
Erewash Borough Council. Sawley is in Derbyshire, and Erewash decides planning there; building control can sit with Erewash or with a registered approver. Where the work has to be notified, we file the Building Control notice, and the paperwork reaches you when the job is finished.
Our rooflight leaks around the frame. Is that a replacement job?
Sometimes it is only the flashing or sealing, and sometimes the whole unit has aged. We check on the survey and tell you which, before giving a fixed written price. If a new unit is needed, it can often go on the existing opening, which keeps the work tidy.
Can you reach Long Eaton and Church Wilne as well?
Yes. Both are close to Sawley, and we work anywhere within thirty miles of Nottingham by road. The survey happens at your house and costs nothing anywhere in that area.