Daylight & Sunlight Assessments in Islington

Islington is the borough where we are most often asked for a report mid-application. The pattern is familiar: a side-return infill, a raised rear outrigger or a mansard on a Victorian terrace in Highbury, Barnsbury, Canonbury or Finsbury Park; a neighbour raises concerns about loss of light; and the planning officer asks the applicant to show the effect on the next-door windows before the decision is written. We also do a steady amount of work on shop-to-flat conversions along Holloway Road and Hornsey Road, where the question is daylight inside the new home rather than outside it.

Islington's streets are tight and its outriggers mirror one another, so the result often turns on the geometry of one or two windows. Our reports are built from measured drawings and photographs of the actual neighbouring elevations, and they are written in the language Islington officers use, so the conclusion can be lifted straight into the officer's report. Several of them are public on the Islington planning portal, which is how a number of our clients find us.

Recent daylight and sunlight assessments in Islington

16 Wyatt Road, N5 – side infill, raised rear outrigger and mansard

A raised first floor rear outrigger, a ground floor side infill and a mansard to a terraced house in Highbury. The officer indicated it was likely to be acceptable if it met the daylight and sunlight tests. Every window at the neighbour met the BRE guidelines, and when the officer asked about the infill's effect on the other neighbour's courtyard kitchen window, that also met the guidelines.

Islington approved the application with conditions on 5 August 2025 (P2025/1108/FUL); our daylight and sunlight assessment is listed among the approved documents.

"Happy to see as expected that the proposed works will have a negligible impact on the neighbour." (homeowner)

64 Plimsoll Road, N4 – rear and side extensions with a mansard

Single storey rear and side extensions, a first floor rear extension and a mansard to a terraced house in Finsbury Park, already submitted when the planning officer asked for a daylight assessment. We modelled the scheme from the drawings and a measured survey, including the raised boundary wall, garden walls, a shed and a tree, and used the BRE area-weighted method for a neighbouring kitchen lit by several windows. Every relevant neighbouring window and garden met the BRE guidelines.

Islington approved the application with conditions on 17 September 2026 (P2026/1389/FUL).

Hornsey Road, N7 – shop to flat under Class MA, with a rear extension

A ground floor shop being converted to a flat under Class MA, alongside a separate application for a two-storey rear extension. An earlier prior approval application had been refused, with the daylight to the habitable rooms one of the matters the council wanted set out more clearly. The first and second floor rooms met the BRE internal daylight guidelines; the ground floor living, kitchen and dining room fell short as drawn, and a layout and glazing change brought it within the guideline. The reports have been issued, one per application, and the applications are being prepared for submission.

What Islington planning officers look for

Islington's Local Plan (adopted 2023) carries the borough's amenity and housing-quality policies, and the council's local validation list goes further than most: a daylight and sunlight assessment is expected on applications for 10 or more homes, to show the new homes themselves are adequately lit, and on any development that could reduce daylight or sunlight to neighbouring homes, gardens or amenity spaces. That second limb is what catches householder schemes.

Islington expects assessments to follow BRE BR 209, Site layout planning for daylight and sunlight (2022 edition), and its officers are used to reading VSC, NSL and APSH tables. The council accepts that the BRE figures need to be read with some flexibility in a dense inner-London borough, but it expects any shortfall to be identified and explained rather than glossed over, and for mirrored-outrigger terraces it will often ask specifically about the window nearest the new wall. The Local Plan and its supporting documents are at islington.gov.uk/planning/planning-policy/islington-local-plan.

When you need an assessment in Islington

• A side-return infill or raised rear outrigger on a Victorian terrace in Highbury, Canonbury, Barnsbury or Tufnell Park, where the neighbour's rear window sits a metre or two from the new wall.
• A mansard or full-width roof extension in the Mildmay, Arundel Square or Hillrise conservation areas, where the first floor windows opposite may be affected.
• Any application where the officer has asked for daylight evidence after a neighbour has raised concerns, with the decision date close.
• Class MA or full-planning conversion of a shop or office to flats on Holloway Road, Hornsey Road, Essex Road or Caledonian Road, where the council needs to see that the new rooms are adequately daylit.
• Small new-build and infill schemes around Archway, Finsbury Park and King's Cross that overlook neighbouring gardens or courtyards.
• Schemes of 10 or more homes, where Islington's validation list requires an internal daylight and sunlight assessment from the outset.

How we work

Send us the drawings and the address and we build a 3D model of the site and its neighbours, run the BRE tests and return a report with results, marked-up plans and a plain conclusion. The fee is fixed and agreed up front, the report usually takes 4–5 working days, and when an officer asks for more we add it to the same job rather than start again. The tests are:

• Vertical Sky Component (VSC) – the sky a neighbouring window can see, before and after.
• No-Sky Line / daylight distribution (NSL) – how far daylight reaches into the neighbour's room.
• Annual Probable Sunlight Hours (APSH) – direct sun to windows within 90 degrees of south, annually and in winter.
• Sun on ground – the share of a garden that gets two hours of sun on 21 March.

Each test is explained on our VSC, NSL and APSH page and in our guide to the BRE guidelines; our daylight and sunlight assessment page covers the service as a whole.

Frequently asked questions in Islington

The Islington officer has asked for a daylight report and the decision is next week. Can you do it?

Usually, yes. At 64 Plimsoll Road the report was with the officer within a week of the first phone call. Tell us the deadline when you enquire and we will say straight away whether we can meet it.

My neighbour's outrigger mirrors mine. Does that mean I will be fine?

Often it helps, because the neighbour's own outrigger already blocks much of the sky from their rear window, so the additional effect of yours is smaller. It is not a guarantee, and Islington officers will still ask to see the numbers for the nearest window.

Do you assess internal daylight for a Class MA shop conversion in Islington?

Yes. For Class MA the council looks at daylight to the habitable rooms of the new flat, and ground floor rooms behind a shopfront are the ones most likely to need a layout or glazing change, which we will suggest if the first run falls short.

If your site is on the other side of the borough boundary, our Camden page covers the same kind of work there.

Get a fixed-fee quote

Use our contact page to send the drawings and address, or try the price calculator for an instant figure. Nick is on 01962 809155 and nick@sunlightassessments.co.uk.