Loft Conversions in Greenford

City/Town Name: Greenford

Borough Name: Ealing

Area: 3.4 Sq Miles

Population: 62,126

City Information

Greenford sits in the west of the London Borough of Ealing, about 11 miles from Charing Cross. It grew up around a crossing point on the River Brent, and its name comes from an Old English phrase meaning green ford, first recorded in a Saxon charter from 845 CE. For centuries it stayed a small rural parish. That changed fast in the twentieth century. When the railway arrived and the Central Line extension opened in 1947, builders moved in and covered the fields with new housing estates. The population jumped from about 14,000 in 1931 to nearly 33,000 by 1951.

Today Greenford is a busy, well connected suburb rather than a village. Greenford station puts residents on the Central Line and the Great Western mainline into Paddington, and the A40 runs along the edge of the town giving quick access to the M40 and the M25. Families are drawn here by the mix of parks, decent schools and homes that are still more affordable than much of inner Ealing. Horsenden Hill and the Grand Union Canal towpath give the area a green edge that a lot of outer London suburbs lack, and Westway Cross Shopping Park has become the main shopping destination for the town.

Planning Notes

Planning applications for Greenford are decided by Ealing Council through its Planning and Building Control service. For a standard loft conversion, most homes can rely on permitted development rights rather than needing a full planning application. Under the national rules, a semi detached or detached house can add up to 50 cubic metres of extra roof space, and a terraced house up to 40 cubic metres. The new roof cannot go higher than the existing ridge, cannot extend past the front slope facing the road, and materials need to match the rest of the house. Side facing windows normally need to be obscure glazed and non opening below 1.7 metres, to protect neighbours’ privacy.

Ealing Council has 29 conservation areas across the borough, and permitted development rights are reduced inside them. Greenford’s wards fall partly within the Canalside Conservation Area, which follows the Grand Union Canal through this part of Ealing. However, the council’s own appraisal documents confirm that Canalside does not currently have an Article 4 Direction in place. That means the usual national permitted development rules still apply here in most cases. Homeowners on tighter plots, or close to the canal corridor, should still check their specific address, since conservation area status can still affect design and materials even without an Article 4 Direction.

Article Notes

Based on Ealing Council's published conservation area documents, no Article 4 Direction currently covers Greenford for the kind of works involved in a loft conversion. The Canalside Conservation Area, which runs through several Greenford wards including Greenford Broadway, Greenford Green, North Greenford and Perivale, is explicitly listed by the council as having no existing Article 4 Direction. Ealing does use Article 4 Directions elsewhere in the borough, mainly around houses in multiple occupation and in a small number of heritage rich conservation areas such as Bedford Park, but these do not extend to Greenford. This means most homeowners in Greenford can still make use of permitted development rights for a loft conversion, provided the project stays within the volume, height and design limits. As always, it is worth getting written confirmation from Ealing Council, or a Lawful Development Certificate, before work starts, since conservation area boundaries can be tightened over time.

Types of Houses

Most homes in Greenford date from the 1920s and 1930s building boom that followed the arrival of the railway. Semi detached houses are the most common style, alongside terraces, maisonettes and bungalows built on estates such as those off Cow Lane and Windmill Lane. A smaller number of older properties survive from the area's days as a rural parish, including Greenford Hall near Holy Cross Church, though the grand houses that once stood around Oldfield Lane are long gone. Post war infill added further housing as London expanded outward. The result is a town with a fairly uniform interwar character, plenty of pitched roofs with good loft space, and gardens that are generous by inner London standards.

Highlights

• Greenford station, Central Line and Great Western mainline services to Paddington
• South Greenford station, on the Greenford branch line
• A40 Western Avenue, with access to the M40 and M25
• Westway Cross Shopping Park, including Lidl, Next, TK Maxx, Boots, Superdrug, Pets at Home and Sports Direct
• Greenford Broadway local shops and high street
• GP surgeries including Mansell Road Surgery, Greenford Road Medical Centre, Allendale Road Surgery and Elmtrees Surgery
• The Cardinal Wiseman Catholic School and a range of local primary schools
• Horsenden Hill, the highest point in the borough, with woodland and nature trails
• Perivale Park, with football and cricket pitches and an athletics track
• Litten Nature Reserve
• Grand Union Canal towpath, part of the Capital Ring walking route
• Regular bus routes connecting Greenford to Ealing, Harrow, Wembley and Uxbridge