Loft Conversion Case Study Dormer Conversion in Romford (Harold Wood)

The Property A 1930s semi-detached house in Harold Wood, in the RM3 postcode. Three bedrooms, a standard hipped-and-truss roof of the kind that fills the streets around Harold Wood and Gidea Park. The owners had a growing family and no room to move outwards, so the roof space was the only direction left.

The Challenge — a truss roof, not a cut roof This is the part that matters, and it's where a lot of Romford lofts get quoted wrong. The house had a modern trussed roof, not a traditional cut roof. Trusses are the pre-fabricated W-shaped timber frames you see in most post-war and later homes — they're structurally efficient, but every one of those diagonal webs sits exactly where you'd want head height and floor space to be. You cannot simply cut them out. The load they carry has to be transferred to new structural steel first, then the redundant timbers removed. Done properly it's completely sound; done cheaply it's dangerous. On this build we designed steel beams to take the roof and floor loads, installed them, and only then opened up the space.

The Build With the structure carried on steel, we built a full-width rear dormer to create the headroom for a master bedroom and en-suite. The staircase was set to rise cleanly off the existing landing rather than eating into the bedroom below. The existing solar panels were removed, stored, and reinstalled on the new flat dormer roof once it was weathertight — a detail that's easy to overlook at quoting stage and expensive to sort out late.

Planning The conversion was completed under Permitted Development — Harold Wood is not in one of Havering's conservation areas and no Article 4 direction applied to the property, so no full planning application was needed. We handled the Havering Building Control submission and sign-off.

The Build Process

• Structural steel first: Beams designed and installed to carry roof and floor loads before any trusses were touched.
• Truss removal: Redundant truss webs cut out only once the load was transferred to steel — the step that makes or breaks a truss-roof conversion.
• Full-width rear dormer: Built to maximise headroom across the whole width of the new room.
• Solar panel relocation: Panels removed, stored, and reinstalled on the finished flat roof.
• Fit-out: Custom staircase off the existing landing, bespoke en-suite, finished to a high standard.

The Result

A three-bedroom house became a four-bedroom home with an en-suite master suite, completed in six weeks with full Havering Building Control sign-off. The RM3 client had used us before for a garage conversion and came back for the loft — the review below is his.

Project Highlights:

• Location: Romford, Essex (RM)

• Type: Rear Dormer Loft Conversion

• Features: Master Bedroom, Bespoke Ensuite, Custom Staircase

• Compliance: Full Havering Building Control sign-off

• Turnaround: 6 Weeks from start to finish

Inspired by this Romford transformation? Read more about our loft conversions in Romford, see our full range across Essex, or contact Chris for a quote on a garage conversion.