Plans that turn wasted space into your favourite room. Dormers, rooflights and hip-to-gable designs — with the building regulation drawings that make stairs, structure and fire safety work. Drawn in Hawarden, for homes across Flintshire and the border. One fixed written fee, from £950.
⚡ Get an instant estimate 📋 Book a £60 Initial Site Appraisal Meeting ⓘ Why an Initial Site Appraisal Meeting?Not sure yet? Read Will my loft need planning permission? or Do I need a dormer or will rooflights do?
A loft conversion adds a bedroom or office without touching the garden — and some qualify as Permitted Development, so there’s sometimes no planning application at all. The real craft is in the technical drawings: stair positions that don’t wreck the landing, steel sizing, fire escape routes and insulation that passes building control first time. Mike has designed lofts across North Wales and the border for 25 years — established 2010, every application publicly checkable.
Once your fee is agreed, Mike returns and measures the house himself — no juniors, no outsourcing. This is the second visit; the earlier £60 Initial Site Appraisal Meeting comes off your fee.
Scaled drawings of your home as it is and as it will be — the documents your planning application stands on.
Prepared, submitted and handled for you — or confirmation you don't need one under Permitted Development, which saves you the council fee entirely.
The technical pack — structure, insulation, fire safety, drainage — that building control approves and your builder prices from.
Mike is based in Hawarden, so most of his loft work is on the housing Flintshire is actually made of: the 1930s and post-war semis of Connah's Quay, Shotton and Queensferry; the ex-council and estate houses of Hawarden, Ewloe and Buckley; the Victorian terraces of Flint, Holywell and Mold; and the newer trussed-roof estates around Broughton and Saltney. Each converts differently. A cut roof from the 1930s usually has the head height and the structure to take a rear dormer; a modern fink-truss roof can still be converted, but the drawings have to re-engineer the structure first and building control will want to see the steels. Mike tells you which you have at the £60 visit, before any fee is agreed.
Some lofts in Flintshire fall within Welsh Permitted Development — within the volume limits, with no dormer facing the road and outside conservation areas — so there is no planning application and no £585 fee — the work goes straight to building regulation drawings and Flintshire's building control. Homes in the county's conservation areas, including parts of Hawarden, Northop, Mold and Holywell, are the exception and are checked on the visit. For the planning side in detail, read planning permission in Flintshire and will my loft need planning permission?
Towns covered: Hawarden, Ewloe, Connah's Quay, Shotton, Queensferry, Broughton, Saltney, Buckley, Mold, Northop, Flint, Bagillt, Holywell and Mostyn — and over the border into Chester and down to Wrexham.
Mike works to a fixed written fee, agreed before any work begins. Council fees are separate and paid directly — never through Mike.
| Item | Typical cost | Paid to |
|---|---|---|
| Mike’s fee — loft conversion | £950 – £1,500 | Mike (fixed, written) |
| Planning application | Sometimes £0 — a loft can be Permitted Development | — |
| Planning application (if required) | £585 Wales / £548 Cheshire | Your council |
| Planning Portal service charge | £149 | Planning Portal |
| Building control (approx.) | £650 – £1,150 | Council / inspector |
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Mike's fee plus the council fees for planning and building control — the full professional stage, before a builder is involved. Two taps for a figure — no obligation.
Mike’s fee covers the complete design and approvals stage:
Why the range? Every home is different. The lower end covers a straightforward project — standard drawings, no planning application needed. The higher end covers larger or more complex work — a full planning application, more detailed drawings, or structural design to coordinate.
Before any work begins, Mike gives you a detailed written fee proposal — so you know exactly what you are paying and what it covers. The number you agree is the number you pay.
Only if planning permission is needed. Wales charges £585 for a householder application and Cheshire West & Chester £548 — the fee is set nationally, so it does not vary between Welsh councils. Paid directly to your council, never through Mike.
The service charge for submitting a planning application online. It also only applies if permission is needed, and it is charged per application submitted.
This one always applies, permission or not. It is calculated on floor area and subject to the final design — smaller projects sit toward the lower figure, larger ones toward the higher. Paid to the council's building control team or a private approved inspector, never through Mike, and he gets you an exact quote once the design is finalised.
Design and approvals only. This is what it costs to get your project drawn and approved — it does not include your builder’s costs for the actual building work.
If your project turns out to be Permitted Development, you will not need to pay the council planning fee or the Planning Portal charge, a saving of up to approximately £734. Mike checks this at the Initial Site Appraisal Meeting.
Read more about extension plans →
Already built it without approval? Regularisation →
Guide figures only. The £60 Initial Site Appraisal Meeting is not added to these figures — it comes off Mike's fee when you commission the work. Council fees correct at July 2026; building control charges vary by council and project — full details in the FAQs. Mike confirms everything in a written fee proposal before any work begins.
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£60, and it comes off your fee when you go ahead. Mike comes to the property to understand the scope of what you want to do and advise you accordingly — then sends a written fixed fee afterwards.
Every planning application Deeside Architectural Design submits goes onto the council's public register — under the practice name, with the decision attached, permanently. It's free to search and it isn't curated by us. What the register cannot show you is the other half of the work: the projects that qualified as Permitted Development, needed no application at all, and saved the client the council fee. Those leave no public trace. So the number below is the part you can check — not the whole of it. Before you decide whether the fee above is worth paying, go and read it.
Submitted to Flintshire County Council under Deeside Architectural Design since 2010 — every one searchable, with its decision attached.
Many projects qualify as Permitted Development, need no application, and never reach the register. The 165 is the work that required permission — not the count of jobs done.
Deeside Architectural Design Limited, incorporated January 2010, and 25 years of drawings behind it. Companies House no. 07128221.
Open Flintshire's planning register, put Deeside Architectural in the Agent field, and read every decision — including the ones that didn't go our way.
Search Flintshire's planning register →
Figures taken from Flintshire County Council's public planning register, August 2026.
Everything above is about work you are planning. There is a second situation Mike handles, and it catches people out years later: a loft conversion that was built without building regulations approval. It sits there causing nobody any trouble — until you come to sell. Then the buyer's solicitor asks for the certificate, there isn't one, and the sale stops dead.
It is fixable, and it is a different job from the one priced above. Mike acts as your consultant through regularisation: the Initial Site Appraisal Meeting, the drawings and statements building control need, the meeting with the building control officer at the property, and the coordination on any work required before the certificate can be issued. From £997 to £1,500, depending on what was built and what it takes to satisfy the council.
If there is any chance the loft conversion at your property was never signed off, deal with it now rather than at the point of sale, when you have no time and no bargaining power.
Mike’s fixed written fee for the plans and building regulation drawings is £950 – £1,500 depending on the design. Building control is roughly £650 – £1,150, paid to the council or inspector. Some lofts are Permitted Development, so there is sometimes no £585 planning fee at all. The £60 Initial Site Appraisal Meeting comes off the fee if you go ahead, and the number you agree is the number you pay.
All of them. Mike is in Hawarden and covers Connah’s Quay, Shotton, Queensferry, Ewloe, Broughton, Saltney, Buckley, Mold, Northop, Flint and Holywell, plus Chester, Wrexham, Denbighshire, the Wirral and Conwy.
Sometimes you may not need it — a loft can fall within Permitted Development, provided the new roof space stays within volume limits (40m³ for terraced, 50m³ for detached and semi-detached homes) and dormers don’t face the road beyond permitted limits. Mike confirms your position at the Initial Site Appraisal Meeting, and if you’re covered, you skip the council fee entirely.
The quick test is head height: around 2.2m from the top of the ceiling joists to the ridge usually works. Roof structure matters too — older cut roofs convert more easily than modern trussed ones, though trusses can be re-engineered. Mike tells you honestly at the £60 Initial Site Appraisal Meeting whether yours works and which design gets the most from it.
Everything building control inspects: floor structure and steels, the new staircase, fire doors and escape routes, insulation and ventilation. This is the pack your builder prices from — and the reason loft quotes without drawings so often go wrong.
Rooflight conversions are cheapest and almost always permitted; dormers buy you full head height where you need it; hip-to-gable suits semis with hipped roofs and often pairs with a rear dormer for the biggest gain. Mike sketches the options at the Initial Site Appraisal Meeting with honest costs for each.
Two taps on the estimator gives you a realistic figure. When you're ready, the £60 Initial Site Appraisal Meeting comes off your fee if you go ahead.
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