Oct 22nd 2012. The Society is concerned about this conversion of a roofspace into a 1 bedroom flat.
Although the total floor area is not stated either on the drawings or in the Design and Access Statement and there is no scale bar on the drawing, it appears that the useable floor area of the flat (excluding areas with less than 1500mm headroom) is in the region of 39m2. This is significantly less than the minimum floor area stated in Bristol City Council Space Standards Practice Note July 2011 which is 45m2. The effects of this are evident on the layout where the Living/Dining/Kitchen is only 3.0 x 6.4 and the bedroom has such low headroom that it is not possible to get around both sides of the bed, no matter whether it is positioned against the rear or side wall. Furthermore, the dormer window to the bedroom is at the end of such a long narrow ‘tunnel’ that it has little effect in lighting the room.
The dormer window on the front elevation looks badly out of keeping with the existing gable bay and would be better (subject to adequate headroom) as rooflight/s which would not detract from the existing front elevation of the terrace.
We strongly recommend refusal.