Garage Conversions in Towcester
New estate garages south of the bypass, and village garages that were built with whatever was to hand.
Five star
Google reviews
£5m
Public liability
10+
Years’ trade experience
Family run
Milton Keynes based
Towcester has grown fast in the last decade, and the new estates at Towcester Vale, Wood Burcote and along the bypass are full of integral garages used as stores. Converting one is the cleanest version of the job: a good slab and a cavity wall to start with, the developer’s brick still available for the new front wall, and two to three weeks on site. The main question is whether the estate’s planning conditions removed the right to convert, which they often did, and we check before anything is drawn.
In the villages, Greens Norton, Silverstone, Abthorpe and the rest, the garages are older, more varied and sometimes stone, and converting one is closer to a small renovation: the roof looked at, the walls lined, the floor damp proofed and insulated, and services run from the house. West Northamptonshire Council handles the building control throughout, and Towcester is twenty minutes up the A5 from us.
Typical works can include
Every project in Towcester is different. Depending on the agreed scope, works may include:
- Garage door removed and opening built up in matched brickwork
- New window or French doors fitted to match the house
- Continuous damp proof membrane lapped to the wall DPC
- Insulated floor build up brought level with the house
- Wall insulation, lining and plasterboard
- Roof or ceiling insulation as required
The full list, and how we run the job, is on the main garage conversions page.
Estates south of the bypass, garages in the villages
On the new estates the work is predictable and the result is a room indistinguishable from the rest of the house: floor built up and insulated, front wall in matched brick with a window, walls and ceiling insulated to current standards, electrics and heating extended, and a completion certificate at the end. Where the planning conditions removed permitted development, an application goes to West Northamptonshire Council first and is usually approved where other parking exists.
Village garages are another matter. A single skin blockwork garage with a thin slab and a corrugated roof needs more work than a modern integral one, and a stone outbuilding needs lime, a matched roof and a breathable wall build up. In the conservation area villages and on listed properties the consents can reach the outbuildings. We look first and price honestly. All of that is the local pattern rather than advice on your property, and we check it on the first visit.
Attentive and professional. The final work was exactly as imagined and the attention to detail and finishing touches has made all the difference. Couldn’t recommend Charlie highly enough.
Garage conversions we have built
Our own photographs, some mid build, because that is where you can see how a job was put together. More on the projects page.
Questions from Towcester
Do the new estates in Towcester allow garage conversions?
Often only with an application. Many of the recent developments have a planning condition keeping the garage as parking, so a conversion needs approval from West Northamptonshire Council before it starts. Where there is a drive with room for the cars it is normally granted. Building Regulations approval is needed either way, and we will check the conditions before drawings are commissioned.
Can a stone garage or outbuilding in a village near Towcester be converted?
Yes, with the care stone needs: lime pointing, a matched roof, a breathable wall lining and a damp proofed and insulated floor. It is closer to a small renovation than a standard garage conversion and is priced as such. If the property is listed, consent is needed first.
What is the difference between planning permission and Building Regulations?
Planning is about whether you are allowed to build the thing at all: size, appearance, effect on neighbours. Building Regulations are about whether it is safe and properly built: structure, insulation, fire, drainage, ventilation, electrics.
They are separate approvals. An extension can need no planning permission whatsoever and still require Building Control approval. For structural work we generally prefer the Full Plans route, so drawings and calculations are checked before we start rather than problems surfacing halfway through.
We work alongside Building Control and structural engineers regularly and can manage that liaison where it forms part of the agreed scope. Their fees and appointments are not automatically included unless the quotation says so.
How long will the work take?
It depends on the job, and anyone who gives you a number without seeing the house is guessing. As a rough guide: a bathroom is two to three weeks, a kitchen refit two to four, a single storey rear extension is usually ten to fourteen weeks from breaking ground, and a full house renovation runs three to six months depending on scale.
Weather, Building Control inspections and lead times on windows, doors and kitchens all move those numbers. We build realistic float into the programme rather than promising a date we cannot hold.
Other work we do in Towcester
Garage conversions nearby
Also covering Wood Burcote Greens Norton Silverstone Deanshanger Cosgrove Roade
Planning garage conversions in Towcester?
Send a few photographs and tell us what you have in mind. We will come and look, and the written quotation costs nothing.