Skylights and rooflights for Gateshead's windowless landings
Gateshead is a town on the Tyne's south bank, 1.2 road miles south-east of Newcastle. Tell us whether you own a house or a flat, and which room stays dim, and we will match the rooflight to it.
The landing that never got a window
Gateshead grew out of older settlements the town spread over and took in, and out of estates laid out as housing from day one. So its homes differ from one street to the next. What they can have in common is a room with no window of its own: a boxed-in landing, an inner bathroom, a loft bedroom. Light can reach it through the roof, and the rules depend on whether you own a house or a flat.
Rooflights we fit across Gateshead
Each goes in only after a free survey, chosen for the roof over your room. Roof lanterns, Flat roof rooflights, Roof windows, VELUX windows, Electric rooflights, Energy efficient rooflights, Misted rooflight replacement, Walk-on rooflights, Conservation rooflights, Sun tunnels.
Gateshead, room by room
From the dim room to the finished ceiling
Four questions in the order a Gateshead job runs: which room needs the daylight, which product suits the roof over it, whether Gateshead Council or permitted development decides, and what the survey and the fitting day involve.
Which room in my Gateshead home is the one a skylight should go over?
Short answer
The room with no window of its own: a boxed-in landing, an inner bathroom, a loft bedroom or a back kitchen. Gateshead's homes range from absorbed older settlements to planned estates, so we look at what sits above that room before suggesting anything.
Pick the room you switch the light on in at noon. In any Gateshead house or flat, look for the spaces the builder never gave an outside window: a landing shut in at the head of the stair, a bathroom in the middle of the plan, a loft turned into a bedroom, or a kitchen pushed to the back when the house was extended. Each of those has a roof somewhere above it, and the roof is the one surface that faces the sky all day.
Old settlements and newer estates
Gateshead sits on the southern bank of the Tyne, and it did not grow outward from a single centre. Some of its districts were places in their own right before the town reached them and folded them in. Others were planned from the start as estates for housing, shops or industry. So a home on one street can have a different roof, build and dark room from one a few streets away. We never guess a house type from a postcode. We ask what you have, then come and look at it.
Rooms a rooflight can reach
A landing with a loft or a sloping roof directly over it can take a roof window in the slope, or a sun tunnel if the loft is kept for storage. A bathroom without an outside wall is a good case for a sun tunnel or a small fixed rooflight, since daylight comes in and nobody can see in. A loft bedroom needs a roof window large enough to light the whole floor. A back kitchen under a flat roof has the widest choice, from a single flat rooflight to a full lantern.
So the question to settle is what lies directly over the ceiling. Rafters, an empty loft, a flat roof deck or another storey each lead somewhere different, and so does whether the room is in a house or in a flat.
When the room is part of a flat
If you live in one half of a Tyneside flat, or in any other flat, the room may be yours while the roof over it is shared or belongs to someone else. Ownership of the roof and of the space under it is written into your title or lease, along with any need for the neighbour's consent before work starts. Read it and talk to that owner before any order is placed. It spares you a cancelled order and an awkward talk on the stair.
Before you choose the room to light
- Stand in the room around midday and notice which corners stay dim
- Find out what sits over the ceiling: a loft, a flat roof or another floor
- See whether the roof above that room is pitched or flat
- Decide if the room needs fresh air as well as daylight
- In a flat, read your title or lease on who owns the roof
Once I know the room, what should go in the roof above it?
Short answer
It follows the roof. A pitched slope suits a roof window, a storage loft in the way suits a sun tunnel, and a flat-roofed back extension can take a flat rooflight or a lantern. Every option has to meet the Part L limits for an existing home.
The roof over the room decides the product. Four kinds of rooflight can between them light almost any room in a Gateshead home, and each needs a particular kind of roof to work well.
Under a pitched slope
Where slate or tile runs directly over the room, a roof window is the natural choice. It lies in the plane of the slope, opens for air and can be cleaned from inside. VELUX is one make among several. Its size codes are simple: in MK04, say, the two letters stand for the width and the two digits for the height. A loft bedroom may want a larger window or a pair, while a landing may need only one small unit. Our roof windows page explains the opening styles and the sizes.
When a loft is in the way
A landing or bathroom with a storage loft between it and the slope can still have daylight. A sun tunnel gathers light through a small dome up top and sends it along a mirrored tube to a diffuser set into the ceiling. It suits a tight space where a full rooflight would mean building a light well through the loft. Read how we fit sun tunnels for the rooms they suit and how far a tube can run.
Under a flat roof
A back extension with a flat roof has the most freedom. A flat rooflight gives a clean, level panel of sky. A roof lantern lifts the glass into a pitched frame and spreads light wider across the floor. Both stand on an upstand above the roof finish, at a height the manufacturer sets. Opening or electric versions let a steamy kitchen breathe, and a rain sensor closes them when the weather turns.
Warmth and the glass
Every new rooflight has to meet Part L for an existing home. The limiting U-value is 2.2 W/m²K for a rooflight, and 1.4 W/m²K or WER Band B for a roof window. Over a room you sit or sleep in, laminated inner panes are the norm. Double or triple glazing, solar control coatings and fitted blinds are choices we set out in the quote, once we know which way the slope faces and how the room is used.
None of this needs deciding before the survey. Knowing the room and the roof over it is enough to start.
Does Gateshead Council have to approve it, or is it permitted development?
Short answer
On a house, a rooflight normally needs no application, within limits our planning guide sets out. On a flat, either half of a Tyneside flat included, Gateshead Council must grant planning permission. A listed house needs listed building consent, also from Gateshead Council.
For a house in Gateshead you may not need to apply to anyone. A rooflight on a house generally falls under permitted development within set national limits, so no planning application is needed if it stays inside them. We do not repeat those limits here. Our guide to rooflight planning rules sets them out, with the cases that change them.
Flats go to Gateshead Council
A flat has no householder permitted development at all. That covers the upstairs or the downstairs half of a Tyneside flat, a house converted into flats and a flat in a block. A new rooflight on any of these needs planning permission, and the authority that decides is Gateshead Council. Newcastle has its own planning authority across the river, which is why the borough boundary counts even though Gateshead lies only 1.2 road miles south-east of Newcastle.
An application is an ordinary step, not a warning sign. The drawings show where the rooflight sits and how it looks from outside. Your fixed quote names the product and its size, which is the detail those drawings need.
When a house loses the allowance
Two things can take permitted development away from a house: an Article 4 direction, or a condition on an earlier planning permission for the property. If your house was built or extended under a permission with conditions, the decision notice will say so. Gateshead Council can tell you whether an Article 4 direction covers your address. A conservation area on its own does not remove permitted development for a rooflight on a house.
Listed houses
If the house is listed, almost any rooflight needs listed building consent from Gateshead Council, and that consent decides what can be fitted. Our planning permission page explains how consent sits alongside the planning side.
Building Control in every case
Planning and Building Regulations are separate. Cutting a new opening in a roof is building work whatever the house type, and it is notified to Building Control, either the local authority or a registered building control approver. We deal with that notification wherever the work is notifiable, so it is one less form on your list.
| Your home | Route | Who to speak to first |
|---|---|---|
| A house | Permitted development within set limits | No one, unless an Article 4 direction or old condition applies |
| Either half of a Tyneside flat | Planning permission | The other owner, then Gateshead Council |
| Any other flat | Planning permission | Whoever your lease names, then Gateshead Council |
| A listed house | Listed building consent | Gateshead Council |
What happens between the free survey and the finished ceiling?
Short answer
We survey the house and the roof for free, then send a fixed written quote. Fitting day opens the roof, fixes and seals the frame, and lines the opening inside. We notify Building Control and give you a 10-year workmanship guarantee in writing.
Nothing gets a price before the survey, and the survey costs you nothing. We come to the house, go into the loft where there is one, and look at the roof from outside and from inside the room you want lit.
What the survey covers
- The roof covering, its pitch and the direction the slope faces
- The rafters or joists around the opening, and whether they are trussed
- Whatever fills the gap above the ceiling: a loft, a void or nothing
- Access for fitting day, from the room and from the ground
- House or flat, and which permission route that brings
Trussed rafters are engineered as one frame, so cutting into them needs an engineer's design for the opening. Traditional cut rafters can be trimmed around a new opening with care. The survey tells us which kind your roof has.
The written quote
After the survey you get a fixed quote in writing. It names the product, the size, the glazing and what the fitting involves. The price stays put for as long as the work stays the same; choosing a bigger rooflight, or adding a second, would be a change. Where the home is a flat, it makes sense to hold the order until Gateshead Council has decided the application.
On fitting day
The covering is lifted around the opening, the rafters or deck are trimmed, and the frame is fixed in place. On a pitched roof the flashing kit sheds water around the window; on a flat roof the upstand is sealed into the roof finish. Inside, the reveal around the opening is formed and lined. For a sun tunnel, the dome goes on the roof and the tube runs down to the ceiling diffuser.
After the work
We notify Building Control where the work is notifiable, and you receive a 10-year workmanship guarantee in writing. Gateshead is one of several places in the borough we cover; over at Whickham, merged into the same borough in 1974, the same steps apply. When you are ready, ask for your free survey and tell us which room is dim.
Loose ends for Gateshead householders
Does Newcastle's council decide planning for my Gateshead home?
No. Gateshead has its own planning authority, Gateshead Council, even though the two places share the Tyne Bridge, the Millennium Bridge and several other crossings. The national rules on rooflights are the same on both banks of the river, but any application for a Gateshead flat or listed house goes to Gateshead Council.
Do you work in Felling, Blaydon and Ryton as well?
Yes. Felling, Whickham, Blaydon and Ryton all became part of the Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead in 1974, and every one of them sits well within our working area. The survey and the planning route work the same way there, with Gateshead Council as the authority.
Can a roof window in my loft room serve as the fire escape?
Only if the room is within 4.5 metres of the ground. A loft room on a two-storey house sits higher than that, so Approved Document B asks for a protected stair instead of relying on the window. We size roof windows for light and air, and the survey tells you which escape rule your loft falls under.
Is a sun tunnel bright enough for a bathroom with no window?
For an inner bathroom it is often a good match. The dome on the roof catches daylight, and the mirrored tube carries it down to a ceiling diffuser, so the room gets daytime light with no view in. A short, straight run delivers the most light, which is one of the things the survey measures.
How do I arrange a survey for a Gateshead address?
Send a WhatsApp message to 07880 284133 or email info@quaysideskylightsnewcastle.co.uk with your address, the kind of home (house or flat) and the room you want lit. A couple of photos of the room and the roof help us prepare. The survey is free, and the fixed written quote follows it.