Blaenau Gwent, at the top of the Ebbw Fawr: a 23-mile road journey north-west from Newport
New rooflights and skylights in Ebbw Vale
- 10-year workmanship guarantee
- We handle the Building Control notification where notifiable
A valley head that built two prototype eco-homes
Ebbw Vale, Glynebwy in Welsh, is a town at the head of the valley formed by the Ebbw Fawr tributary of the Ebbw River. It has direct access to the dualled A465 Heads of the Valleys trunk road. Rails for the Stockton and Darlington Railway were manufactured here in 1829, and the Ebbw Vale Steelworks site known as 'The Works' has been redeveloped through a regeneration project run by Blaenau Gwent Council and the Welsh Government with EU redevelopment funding. On the Hotmill Plateau, the first building completed in that redevelopment was designed by Cardiff University's Design Research Unit. Above the town, Y Domen Fawr is a Bronze Age burial cairn.
In 2010 Blaenau Gwent council and the United Welsh Housing Association built two eco-friendly prototype buildings. The Larch House and the Lime House, designed by Bere Architects, were both highly energy-efficient houses, meeting both Passivhaus and Code for Sustainable Homes Level 6 and Level 5 respectively. Where a home is built to a standard like that, the figures matter as much as the view when glass goes into a roof.
| Home | Roof over the room | Glass for the job |
|---|---|---|
| New build designed to a tight energy target | Pitched or flat, built up to a high standard | A rooflight chosen by its U-value |
| Older house with a loft bedroom in the roof | Pitched, with a sloping ceiling above the bed | Roof windows with a blackout blind, opening for air |
| Single-storey kitchen extension | Flat, with a gentle fall | A flat rooflight over the worktops |
Three ways glass can help an Ebbw Vale roof
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Blaenau Gwent and the Welsh rules
Planning decisions in Ebbw Vale come from Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council. For a house in Wales, a rooflight can be within permitted development, subject to limits that the Welsh planning guide spells out. A flat or a maisonette has none of the householder rights.
Rights can disappear. An Article 4 direction can take them away, and so can a condition on the original planning permission of a house, which makes a newer home worth a second look at its paperwork.
On a listed building, work that affects its character as a building of special architectural or historic interest needs listed building consent, and the council is where the application goes.
A rooflight in a house built to a tight energy target
What the Welsh energy guidance says, and what it leaves open.
The Larch House and the Lime House were both highly energy-efficient houses. A home built to a similar standard puts one question to any roof opening: does it undo the work done to the rest of the fabric?
The place to start is the guidance. Approved Document L (Wales) says a new or replacement rooflight in an existing home should have a U-value no worse than 2.2 W/m²K, and that a new or replacement roof window should be no worse than 1.4 W/m²K or reach Window Energy Rating band B. It is guidance, so the verb is should, and the figures are the same for new work as for replacements.
Read the number with care. For a rooflight, the U-value is based on the unit's entire developed surface, which can be more than the hole cut in the roof; where kerb and rooflight arrive together as one supplied assembly, the 2.2 limit takes the kerb in too. Ask which basis a quoted figure uses before you compare two products.
Glazing is the other lever. In the VELUX flat and curved glass range, double or triple glazing is available, and VELUX credits it with better energy efficiency and sound reduction. You can compare double and triple glazing on the page about double or triple glazed rooflights, which does not promise numbers that belong to one product.
Fit counts too. The same document expects installed windows, roof windows and rooflights to be well fitted and reasonably draughtproof, so neat detailing around the opening counts for as much as the glass does.
One more line in the document concerns area. Approved Document L (Wales) says that when an opening for a window or door is made or enlarged in an existing home, the total area of windows and doors should not exceed 25% of the home's floor area. It is guidance, and it is worth knowing before a design grows glass.
A new edition of Approved Document L (Wales) takes effect on 4 March 2027, and the window, roof window and rooflight figures in it are unchanged. Our page on the Part L figures for Welsh rooflights follows the detail.
| Fitting | Should meet |
|---|---|
| Roof window | 1.4 W/m²K, or WER band B |
| Rooflight | 2.2 W/m²K |
Swapping an old rooflight for a new one
The like-for-like case, and what counts as building work.
Start with what is up there now. Some houses carry a rooflight that is older than the current owner, with glass that is worn or clouded.
The paperwork turns on what is being swapped. Repairing a window or roof window is not building work, but replacing one like for like is. The exception sits on the energy side: a job that exchanges only the glazing and leaves the old frame in place is not building work for energy purposes. A new opening is different again: approval will generally be needed, because cutting it in usually calls for changes to the roof's framing, the roof has to carry the unit, and near a boundary the fire performance of the rooflight comes into it.
Where the job is notifiable, we handle the Building Regulations notification through local authority building control or a registered building control approver. The choice between a council building control service and a private registered approver is yours.
On the energy side, a replacement rooflight in an existing home should be no worse than 2.2 W/m²K, whatever the old one managed. The answer on Part L for replacement units is set out on a page of its own, do replacement rooflights have to meet Part L.
Size and fit follow from the opening, not the other way round. A like-for-like swap is simplest when the new unit matches the old opening. A tape measure at the survey settles the dimensions. If a new glazing unit is wanted, VELUX lists an easy-to-clean coating among the glazing options for its roof windows, and what is available depends on the window. A photograph of the existing unit, its frame and any maker's label saves a step beforehand.
If you want the sequence laid out, how to replace an old skylight runs through it, including what to have to hand when you get in touch.
A loft room at the end of a short afternoon
Roof windows, blackout and air in the middle of winter.
By half past four on a January afternoon the lights are on across the street, and a loft bedroom is one of the first rooms to go dark. The roof window above the bed turns from a patch of grey sky into a black pane, and the room shows in it.
That is the time to think about the blind. Blackout is for sleeping, and a window can take a lighter fabric as well for the hours the room is used by day. Which blinds suit which windows is a matter of the maker's range, so it is settled alongside the window and not afterwards.
Air is the other concern in winter. A bedroom breathes out moisture overnight, and the cold pane is where it can gather. A sash that opens a little, or a window with a vent that the occupant can control, gives the moist air a way out. Approved Document F (Wales) sets a test for this: when the outgoing window had trickle vents, its successor's vents should match or exceed them in size, with control left to whoever lives there or to an automatic setting.
Electric operation helps when the handle sits high. VELUX fits a rain sensor to its solar and electric roof window range and says the window closes by itself when it rains. The page on getting a skylight that opens lays out the choices.
Position deserves a minute of thought. A roof window set above the foot of the bed gives a different view from one set over the pillow, and a window over a desk lights the work in a different way again. The survey is the time to stand in the room and point.
Airing a room quickly is a matter of how far the sash swings. Approved Document F (Wales) counts a hinged or pivot window for that purpose when it opens by 15 degrees or more: from 30 degrees up, the opening area should reach one-twentieth of the floor area, and between 15 and 30 degrees it should reach one-tenth. A window that opens by less than 15 degrees does not count.
Because roof windows are controlled fittings, putting one in is building work, and where it is notifiable the notification is ours to make.
On a clear evening the pane gives a patch of sky above the room before the blind comes down. That is a pleasant thing to have under a roof, and it is a reason to choose the position of the window with care. It is also a reason to ask how the blind will be reached, since a blind that cannot be reached will stay up all night.
Loft room, January
- Light by half past four
- Little left; the pane reads dark
- Blind
- Blackout for nights, lighter fabric by day
- Air
- A sash that opens, or a vent the occupant controls
- Out of reach
- An electric opening window worked by a switch
Ebbw Vale and your questions
Do you survey in Ebbw Vale?
We do. The run out of Newport to Ebbw Vale heads north-west for 23 road miles, and the survey is free. Tredegar is another page in the same county borough.
What U-value should I ask for on a new rooflight?
A U-value of 2.2 W/m²K or better is what Approved Document L (Wales) sets for a rooflight put into an existing home, new or replacement. For a roof window the guide figure is 1.4 W/m²K, or band B on the Window Energy Rating scale.
Is a replacement rooflight building work?
Yes, if the whole unit is swapped like for like; repairing one is not, and neither is changing only the glazing in a frame that stays. A new opening is a larger job again. Details are in our replacement guide.
Who deals with listed building consent in Blaenau Gwent?
Applications go to Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council, and consent is needed for work that would affect a listed building's character. Cadw recommends which buildings are listed, and the Welsh Ministers compile the list.
Could a rooflight on a new build need planning permission?
It can, if a condition on the original permission removed permitted development. Read the paperwork, or ask the council, and see the Welsh planning guide for the general position.
Where do I start a booking?
Fill in the form for a survey to get started. If you prefer, WhatsApp 07880 284133 or use the email address info@supremeskylightsnewport.co.uk instead; say which room, and where it is.
Book your free survey
10-year workmanship guarantee.
Building Control notification handled where notifiable.