North Cornwall · EX23
Shop loft conversions — a North Cornwall studio
A well-designed loft conversion adds a bedroom, an en-suite and useful storage to homes that were never built with the upper floor in mind — usually inside permitted development and almost always cheaper per square metre than extending sideways. On a Shop site, the brief always meets the place — Shop is a small rural hamlet in the EX23 area, with scattered homes, lanes and a deliberately quiet settlement pattern, with a building stock that leans toward farmhouses and converted barns.
Shop sits in North Cornwall — covering EX23 from Bude, Stratton, Poughill outward.
- Rural / open-countryside policy area
- ✓ Cornwall Council regulars across every sub-area
- ✓ Free first site visit, no obligation
- ✓ Fixed-fee planning packages, no surprise invoices
- ✓ Measured-survey accuracy from day one
Who this is for
Shop runs the full mix — owner-occupier, holiday-let, commercial and the occasional smallholding — so we scope every loft conversion enquiry from the use-class up.
Local watch-list
Local snags worth knowing before drawing a Shop loft conversion.
Watch #1
Tighter Local Plan tests on isolated rural dwellings
Local proof — Recent loft conversion enquiries from Shop have clustered around farmhouses — we know the route through Cornwall Council on these.
Get a free feasibility viewFAQs
Shop Loft Conversions — local questions answered.
- Do I need planning permission for a loft conversion?
- Often no — most loft conversions sit inside permitted development on a typical Cornish house. Conservation Areas, AONB and properties on principal elevations need full planning, and we'll confirm at first review. In Shop specifically, we'd start by checking the latest parish-level planning history before committing to a direction.
- Will I have enough headroom?
- We need a minimum 2.2 metres ridge-to-joist before alterations to make a usable conversion straightforward. Less than that and we'd consider raising the ridge, which is a planning conversation, not a permitted development one.
- Can I live downstairs while it's built?
- Yes — most loft conversions are built with the family staying in the house. There'll be a couple of disruptive days when the staircase comes through, but the bulk of the work is upstairs.
- Will it add value?
- An extra bedroom and bathroom typically adds noticeably more value than the build cost in most Cornish markets — but the value matters less than the daily use you'll get from the space.
- How much does a loft conversion cost?
- A simple Velux conversion starts around £30,000 in Cornwall; a rear dormer with en-suite typically runs £45,000 to £65,000; hip-to-gable and mansards more. Stair location and bathroom complexity drive most of the cost.
Local context
Why Shop is its own job.
The planning backdrop in North Cornwall is real, not abstract: the main planning test is usually whether the proposal remains subordinate, locally detailed and acceptable on access, drainage and neighbour amenity. For loft conversion specifically, Cornwall Council's Local Plan applies tighter tests to isolated rural dwellings here, so design rationale and policy fit need to be set out clearly from the outset. Treat the EX23 parish brief as the design brief and the Shop application has somewhere to land. Whether the project is on farmhouses in the centre or further out toward Bude, the loft conversion response is locally tuned.
Planning note
Most Cornish loft conversions are permitted development — but a Certificate of Lawfulness is worth the extra week and small fee for resale protection.
What we focus on
Loft Conversions considerations specific to Shop.
01
Stairs eat space — a loft conversion lives or dies by where the new staircase lands and what it costs you on the floor below.
02
Building regs require minimum 2.0 metre headroom over the stairs and 30-minute fire protection on the existing stair enclosure — both shape the design.
03
Cut-roof Cornish properties are easier to convert than modern trussed roofs; the structural strategy varies completely.
04
Cornish slate roofs come in a huge range of pitches — anything below a 30° pitch struggles to give usable headroom without raising the ridge.
Our process
How a Shop loft conversion project runs.
Step 1
Feasibility
Roof, headroom, stair landing and structural assessment.
Step 2
Design
Layout options that respect the staircase, headroom and bathroom positioning.
Step 3
Approvals
Planning or permitted development confirmation, plus building regs.
Step 4
Build
Sequenced to keep the family living downstairs throughout most of the work.
Step 5
Handover
Finish, snag, certify, hand over the keys.
Loft conversions typically run six to eighteen weeks on site depending on type, with four to eight weeks of design and approvals beforehand.
Local fabric
Why Shop homeowners pick a local studio for loft conversion.
Building stock
Across Shop (EX23) we work on cottages, farmhouses, converted barns, bungalows, small infill homes. Each stock type drives a different loft conversion response — farmhouses in particular needs careful detailing here.
Parish & policy
Shop sits in the parish of Shop, which matters for how parish-level consultation lands on a loft conversion application.
Coverage
We cover EX23 from our studio, with regular loft conversion jobs also running in Bude, Stratton, Poughill. Most Shop site visits get booked within the same week.
What does a first Shop consultation cost?
Nothing. We come to the property, walk the site, talk through what works on a EX23 plot and follow up with a written feasibility note inside a week — no obligation either way.
Request a free visitShop is part of Bude
Shop sits inside the Bude catchment — we cover both as one loft conversion territory.
See Loft Conversions in Bude →Other services in Shop
Nearby places we cover
From initial feasibility to final handover, we manage loft conversion projects across Shop with careful attention to what makes North Cornwall unique.