Airspace Surveyor in Hackney

An airspace development creates new homes by building above an existing roof. In Hackney, the work concentrates on the borough’s extensive post-war and 1960s residential estates, with a smaller volume of mansion block schemes. Our role covers the existing residents below the development, the schedules of condition that record each flat before construction starts, and the day-to-day liaison through the build.

Rooftop Schemes and Upward Extensions for Hackney

Hackney has one of London's most concentrated stocks of post-war and 1960s residential estates, with extensive mid-rise blocks across Hackney Central, Hackney Wick, Homerton, Clapton, and the Stoke Newington fringes. The borough also carries Georgian and Victorian terraces and mansion blocks through De Beauvoir, parts of Shoreditch, and around Hackney Downs, though conservation area protection limits airspace work on many of these sites. Most of our Hackney work is rooftop addition on the post-war and 1960s blocks, with a smaller volume of mansion block schemes where the structure and planning context allow.

We specialise in chartered surveying on dense urban sites where rooftop and upward extension schemes are most common. The practice is RICS regulated with over 30 years of combined residential extension and rooftop experience. Party wall services are nearly always triggered given Hackney's dense building pattern.

Airspace Developments

As well as providing daylight, sunlight and rights of light advice, our role would be to make contact with the occupants of the existing building to establish any concerns regarding the development. We will work closely with the professional team to identify the initial questions and look at how these can be addressed.

It is our experience that maintaining the same point of contact for the duration of the project offers the existing occupants’ reassurance and continuity.

Services Provided

  • Make initial contact with existing occupants.

  • Attend meetings to discuss any concerns of the existing occupants.

  • Recording Schedules of Condition of the flats below the proposed units.

  • Act as a liaison between the developer and occupants throughout the project.

  • Assist in resolving any issues that may arise such as car parking, site setup etc.

What is involved in an airspace project in Hackney?

Airspace work in Hackney is dominated by rooftop additions on residential blocks, so the existing occupants liaison role drives most of the brief. We make initial contact with each leaseholder below the proposed units, attend meetings to discuss concerns, prepare Schedules of Condition for the flats directly below the new units, and act as the named point of contact through construction. Day-to-day issues, scaffolding placement on narrow streets, deliveries, parking restrictions, access, and noise, get handled as they arise.

Where airspace work involves a homeowner adding a storey to a smaller property in the borough, the focus shifts to the Party Wall etc. Act 1996, neighbour relations, and protection of the existing structure during construction. Rights of light assessments are common given the tight plot density and impact of new height on neighbouring residential windows.

Airspace work in Hackney typically sits alongside daylight and sunlight, rights of light, and party wall workstreams on the same scheme. The same surveyor stays on the project from instruction to handover.

Over the past four years, CHP have worked very successfully with us in their capacity as party wall surveyors. Through his calm, sensible approach and excellent communication skills James Crowley, in particular, gained the trust and confidence of the entire team and stakeholders. Looking forward to working with CHP again.”

- Clare Goggin, Jackson Coles

Why does occupant liaison matter on a Hackney airspace project?

Residents below an airspace development carry the most direct impact of the work: noise during working hours, disruption to access and parking, scaffolding obscuring windows, and concern about damage to their flats. Without a named surveyor handling that relationship through construction, those concerns escalate into complaints and claims that slip the programme and add cost.

Strong liaison and a thorough Schedule of Condition deal with most of this before it starts. Residents get one named contact, the developer gets a structured process for concerns raised, and the Schedule provides documented evidence if a damage claim arises later. Planning sits with the London Borough of Hackney, and a free initial assessment covers feasibility and the supporting workstreams on a specific site.

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Head Office
2-6 Boundary Row
London, SE1 8HP

Essex Office
2-6 Boundary Row
London, SE1 8HP


020 3714 4090

Get in touch.

Head Office
2-6 Boundary Row
London, SE1 8HP

Essex Office
2nd Floor, 10 High Street
Wickford, Essex
SS12 9AZ


020 3714 4090
enquiries@chpsurveyors.com