Daylight and Sunlight Assessments in Hammersmith and Fulham

Hammersmith and Fulham is a borough of additional storeys. The three- and four-storey terraces of Fulham, Parsons Green and Sands End have been extended upwards and backwards for decades, so a new roof extension, a rear mansard or an extra floor on a mews building is usually judged against neighbours that have already lost some of their light. North of the river's bend, the mews and coach houses behind Shepherd's Bush, Brook Green and Ravenscourt Park raise the same issue on a smaller scale, with rooflights and small side windows a few metres from the proposed wall.

The council's officers, and the planning consultants who work the borough, expect a BRE 209 assessment to be in the submission from the start on anything that adds height close to a boundary. Our daylight and sunlight assessments are regularly instructed by Hammersmith and Fulham planning consultants for exactly that reason, and three recent examples are below.

Recent daylight and sunlight assessments in Hammersmith and Fulham

Marlin and Solon House, 40 Peterborough Road, SW6: two new flats at roof level

Two additional floors at roof level creating two duplex flats, whose open-plan living, kitchen and dining rooms were served by relatively small windows. The planning consultant wanted the daylight question settled before submission. On the BRE 209 (2022) internal method, those rooms in both duplexes fell short of the target. We set out taller windows that brought both rooms within the guideline, and these were adopted. A second assessment of the ground, first and second floors found every room met the guidelines.

The application, reference 2024/02809/FUL, was approved by Hammersmith and Fulham Council on 4 December 2025.

The Old Coach House, 103A Devonport Road, W12 8PB: an extra floor on a mews building

An additional floor on a coach house behind Devonport Road, where the side neighbour's room is lit by small windows and rooflights close to the boundary. Daylight to every neighbouring window met the BRE guidelines. Taken one at a time, two windows fell marginally short on winter sunlight and one on annual sunlight, but all of them, with the rooflights, serve a single room. BRE 209 (2022) allows sunlight to be assessed for the room as a whole, and on that basis the room retained its sunlight within the guidelines.

The householder application, reference P/2026/01121/HH, was approved on 10 September 2026.

Harwood Road, SW6: additional floor and rear mansard beside a block of flats

An additional floor with a rear mansard on a two-storey terraced house on Harwood Road, Fulham. The planning consultant's concern was a three-storey block of flats on New King's Road whose rear windows sit at right angles to the site. No drawings existed for that building, so we established its window layout and likely room uses from public sources, then tested VSC, NSL and APSH to those windows and overshadowing of the gardens. The report was issued in October 2026 and the application is being prepared.

What Hammersmith and Fulham planning officers look for

The Hammersmith and Fulham Local Plan, adopted February 2018, is the basis for decisions, read with the London Plan. Its design and amenity policies require development to protect the amenity of neighbouring occupiers, including their daylight and sunlight, and to avoid an undue sense of enclosure. The council applies BRE 209: Site layout planning for daylight and sunlight (2022 edition) when assessing light, and for new homes it follows the London Plan in expecting internal daylight to be demonstrated as well.

The council's single Planning Guidance SPD supports the Local Plan and contains the detailed guidance for extensions, roof additions, basements and conversions; it is the document officers will cite when an additional storey or a rear extension is close to a neighbour's windows. Hammersmith and Fulham moved its public planning register to a new system in early 2026, so older links to the previous public-access site no longer work; current applications are on the new register at property.lbhf.gov.uk. The Local Plan is at lbhf.gov.uk/planning/planning-policy/local-plan and the Planning Guidance SPD at lbhf.gov.uk/planning/planning-policy/local-plan/planning-guidance-spd.

When you need an assessment in Hammersmith and Fulham

• An additional storey or roof extension to a terrace in Fulham, Parsons Green, Sands End or Hurlingham, where flats behind or at right angles to the site have rear windows close to the new wall
• An extra floor on a mews house or coach house in Shepherd's Bush, Brook Green or Ravenscourt Park, where the neighbour's room is lit by rooflights and small side windows
• New flats created at roof level over a commercial building, where the council expects the new rooms to meet the internal daylight targets as well as the neighbours keeping theirs
• A Class MA office-to-residential conversion on North End Road, Fulham Road or Goldhawk Road, where adequate natural light is a prior approval test
• A basement under a period house in Fulham or Hammersmith, where lightwells must light new habitable rooms
• Any scheme where a planning consultant wants the daylight position settled before submission rather than argued afterwards

How we work

Nick Maslen scopes the job, agrees a fixed fee up front and confirms which neighbouring windows and which tests matter. Milica or Ana builds the 3D model, including neighbouring buildings for which no drawings exist, and runs the BRE 209 tests, usually within 4–5 working days of receiving the information we need. If a room or window sits below a guideline we tell you what change would remove the shortfall before the report is written. The four neighbour tests are:

• VSC (Vertical Sky Component): the sky still visible from each neighbouring window
• NSL (No-Sky Line): daylight distribution within each neighbouring room
• APSH (Annual Probable Sunlight Hours): annual and winter sunlight to windows within 90 degrees of south
• Sun on ground: the share of a garden receiving two hours of sun on 21 March

New homes are tested for Spatial Daylight Autonomy and Sunlight Exposure. The tests are explained on our VSC, NSL and APSH page and the thresholds on our BRE guidelines page.

Frequently asked questions in Hammersmith and Fulham

Do new roof-level flats in Fulham need an internal daylight report?

Yes, in practice. Officers expect the new homes to meet the daylight provision targets in BRE 209 (2022), and large open-plan rooms with modest windows are where shortfalls occur; we test before the drawings are finalised so window sizes can be adjusted.

The neighbour's room has several small windows and rooflights. Are they tested one by one?

Daylight is tested window by window, but BRE 209 (2022) allows sunlight to be assessed for the room as a whole where several openings serve it. We apply that where the facts support it and explain the method in the report, as we did at Devonport Road.

Can a report be submitted while the application is live?

Yes. The Devonport Road report was issued during determination, and officers can take it into account at any point before the decision.

Get a fixed-fee quote

Send drawings and the address through our contact page or get an instant figure from the price calculator; Nick is on 01962 809155 and nick@sunlightassessments.co.uk. For sites east of the borough boundary, our Kensington and Chelsea page covers that council's approach.