Rooflights and skylights fitted in Gowerton

Gowerton, called Tre-gŵyr in Welsh, is a large village and community on the road west out of Swansea. The road distance from the city is 6.48 miles. It is often known as the gateway to the Gower Peninsula.

The village has a station on the West Wales Line, on the stretch between Swansea and Llanelli. The village once had two railway stations, and only one remains today.

Local government has changed around it. The village falls within the Gowerton electoral ward of the City and County of Swansea Council, which elects one councillor. From 1974 to 1996, Gowerton was part of the district of Lliw Valley (Dyffryn Lliw) within West Glamorgan. In 1980 the Welsh National Eisteddfod, named after Dyffryn Lliw, was held at the Elba sports complex in the village.

Gowerton once had five church or chapel buildings: St John's Church, built in 1882, Tabernacl, opened in 1893, Temple United Reformed Church, opened in 1888, Bethel, opened in 1873, and Bethania, opened in 1891. Only two remain, St John's Church and Temple URC.

Nearby are Gorseinon, Loughor, Three Crosses and Penllergaer, and we cover every one of them.

None of that history says what is on a particular roof. General to the house types of a village like this, terraces and semis have pitched slopes, extensions at the back often have flat ones, and the shape of the roof is what steers the glass towards a roof window, a rooflight or a lantern.

The old Lliw Valley district no longer exists, and today planning applications from Gowerton go to City and County of Swansea Council. The village is known as the gateway to Gower, and the peninsula matters to planning because Gower is an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. In 1956 Gower became the earliest AONB anywhere in Wales or England. Inside its boundary, a new rooflight in the roof slope of a house needs planning permission, and the same is true of a house in a conservation area, in Bannau Brycheiniog National Park or in a World Heritage Site. The Welsh Government's boundary data places Gowerton itself outside the Gower AONB.

An address close to the peninsula deserves a call to the council before any plans are made. For houses on other land, the conditions that allow a rooflight without an application are set out in the planning rules for skylights in Wales.

Consent for a listed building is wide in scope. Inside work counts along with outside work, and so do old fixtures and fittings, which is why even a minor job can need it. Going ahead without consent risks a criminal charge. Cadw is the Welsh Government's historic environment service, and its records of listed buildings are published in Cof Cymru.

Permitted development can be lost. A council can take it away from houses across an area by an Article 4 direction, and a condition in the original planning permission can have the same effect. Householder rights do not reach flats or maisonettes at all. A listed house follows its own rule: a rooflight that affects the building's character needs listed building consent. Cadw says that replacing traditional windows with uPVC on a listed building will not normally be acceptable, and the council handles the application, as its consent guidance explains.

Building Regulations run alongside planning. In Wales there are two kinds of building control body, the council's own service and a private registered building control approver, and you are free to choose. Private firms must be registered with the Building Safety Regulator as registered building control approvers. Building control approval generally attaches to a new rooflight, since making the opening usually means changing the roof structure, which then has to carry the added weight. For notifiable work we handle the Building Regulations notification with whichever body you choose. A loft room turned into a bedroom brings in means-of-escape rules, which our Building Regulations guide for skylights covers.

A new or replacement roof window in Wales should reach 1.4 W/m²K, or Window Energy Rating Band B, under Approved Document L (Wales). A new or replacement rooflight should reach 2.2 W/m²K. Because the two kinds of unit take different figures, it pays to know which one your roof will have.

The rooflight figure has a catch that catches people out. A rooflight's U-value is based on the whole developed surface area of the unit, and that surface is frequently more than the opening you see from inside. Where the kerb is supplied as one assembly with the rooflight, the 2.2 limit covers the kerb as well, so the kerb is part of the performance and not an afterthought.

A roof lantern is not named in the document, so we do not quote its figure. A lantern planned with a new extension goes to the council, and we confirm the position with it.

For a rear extension, the choice is between a flat roof rooflight, which offers glass with a low profile, and a lantern, which brings a taller, pitched shape. An energy-efficient rooflight is the choice when heat loss is the main concern.

Fitting counts alongside the figures. Approved Document L (Wales) expects windows, roof windows and rooflights to be well fitted and reasonably draught-proof, and Approved Document F (Wales) expects a replacement to leave the home's ventilation no worse than before, so trickle vents in an old window mean vents no smaller in the new one.

Pitched roofs are simpler. A roof window sits within the slope itself and takes the 1.4 figure. A unit that has fogged inside points to a seal that has usually failed, and a misted rooflight replacement is the answer. Where a hall or landing has no window wall to borrow light from, a sun tunnel carries daylight down from a dome on the roof, which suits a passage that stays dim all day.

Each of these is fitted or replaced by us. The free survey is the first step, then a fixed written quote, and afterwards the work is backed by a workmanship guarantee that runs for ten years and is put in writing. To book, ring 01792 929062 or fill in the survey form.