Areas we cover for garage conversions

Why these areas?

A garage conversion needs a garage, and that rules out a lot of the inner city, where most homes are terraces with no garage at all. The places we list are the parts of the Liverpool City Region with the most owner-occupied semi-detached and detached houses that have one: suburban south and east Liverpool, the towns and suburbs of Sefton, newer estates in Knowsley and St Helens, Widnes, and the west side of the Wirral. Each area page explains the housing we usually find there and which council handles planning and building control.

South Liverpool

In L25, Woolton mixes older village properties with inter-war and post-war semis and detached homes, many with side or rear garages; part of the village is a conservation area, so changes to the front of a house are worth checking first. Neighbouring Gateacre has a lot of post-war and 1960s–70s housing with attached or linked garages, and Gateacre village is a conservation area too. Hunts Cross has later estate housing where attached and integral garages are common.

Closer to the city, Childwall (L16) and Allerton (L18) are full of inter-war semis, with larger detached homes in Allerton. Side garages and detached garages at the end of a drive are typical, and the choice between converting all or just the front part of the garage often comes up here. All five areas fall under Liverpool City Council for planning and building control.

East Liverpool

West Derby (L12) has inter-war and post-war semis and detached houses with garages. Next door, Croxteth Park is a large private estate built in the 1980s and 1990s with many integral and linked garages. On estates of that age, planning conditions sometimes remove permitted development rights, so we always suggest checking the property's planning history with Liverpool City Council before anything is designed.

Knowsley

Halewood (L26) has post-war estate housing alongside newer estates with integral garages. Huyton (L36) has a mix of post-war homes and newer private estates with attached and integral garages, and Prescot has older terraces in the centre with post-war and newer estates around them. Knowsley Council is the planning authority for all three.

St Helens and Halton

In Rainhill (L35), under St Helens Council, semis and detached houses from the inter-war period onwards often have a garage to the side. Across the borough boundary, Widnes (WA8) has post-war and newer estates with plenty of integral and attached garages; Halton Borough Council deals with planning and building control there.

Sefton

Sefton runs from the edge of the city up the coast. Aintree (L10) and Maghull (L31) have post-war and 1960s–80s semis and detached houses, with linked and integral garages common in Maghull. Along the coast, Crosby (L23) has inter-war semis and larger Edwardian and Victorian houses, Formby (L37) is mostly post-war and later detached and semi-detached housing with attached or integral garages, and Southport (PR8, PR9) combines large period houses with extensive post-war suburbs such as Ainsdale and Birkdale. In these coastal towns, wind-driven rain is something we think about when detailing a new infill wall and window.

Wirral

Heswall (CH60, CH61) has many large detached houses and bungalows, often with double or detached garages that can suit an annexe. West Kirby (CH48) has inter-war and later semis and detached houses on an exposed stretch of coast, and Bebington (CH63) has inter-war and post-war semis and detached homes with side garages. Wirral Council handles planning and building control.

Does your area change how a conversion is done?

The building work follows the same Building Regulations wherever you live, but the house and the council can change what has to be checked first:

• Age of the estate. Newer estates are where permitted development rights are most often removed by a planning condition. Ask your council or look up the original permission.
• Conservation areas. If you live in one, check with the council before changing the front elevation, such as replacing the garage door with a wall and window.
• Linked garages. Where a garage wall is shared with a neighbour, sound insulation and the Party Wall etc. Act 1996 may come into it.
• Coastal exposure. In Crosby, Formby, Southport and West Kirby, weather-tightness of the new wall and window details matters even more.

Our planning and permitted development page explains how to check your own property. You can read more about garage conversions in Liverpool on our homepage, or see the garage conversion cost guide for what affects the price.

Not on the list?

The twenty area pages are not the only places we work. If you live elsewhere in Liverpool, Sefton, Knowsley, St Helens, the Wirral or Widnes and have a garage you would like to convert, call and tell us where the property is.