Two spaces per house, and the integral one never counted
Solihull adopted its Vehicle Parking Standards in June 2006. For new houses it set an average of two spaces per home, and next to that figure it wrote "excluding integral garages". When people queried it at consultation, the council's answer was short. Many domestic garages are not used for parking a car.
Those figures were written as a ceiling for new development, not a test for your conversion. Still, they show how the planners see the room behind an integral door.
The line in the same document that matters more to an owner is about the drive. It asks for a strip 2.5m wide and 6m long in front of garage doors. Get the tape measure out. With that much hardstanding the car moves outside and stays off the pavement. With a lot less, it was probably on the road already.
One local quirk. Solihull's planning team won't give informal opinions on permitted development. If you want something in writing before the builder starts, apply for a certificate of lawful proposed development through the Planning Portal.
Choosing what the room becomes
How each type fits Solihull, with a link to the full guide.
Integral garage. On a newer estate such as Dickens Heath, where building began in 1997, start with the paperwork. The Planning Portal singles out new housing developments as places where the right to convert has sometimes been removed, so pull the permission for your house and estate before booking anyone.
Single garage. Check the 6m of drive first. If it's there, losing the garage costs you very little parking. If it isn't, think about where the second car will sit on a busy road.
Read our full guide: Single Garage Conversion: What Is Involved and What to Budget For →
Home office. The easiest planning case, since the room stays part of the house. Building control still treats it as living space, so the inspector will want it warm and ventilated, on a floor that stays dry.
Bedroom. Means of escape is covered by Approved Document B, Volume 1, so the window design matters. Near the River Cole I'd look at the flood map before anything else.
Double garage. Usually part of a larger detached house. The width lets you fit a proper room with a front window and still leave a store or bike space behind a narrower door.
Utility or playroom. Simple if the garage backs onto the kitchen. A playroom still counts as a living room to the inspector.
Gym or studio. The Planning Portal reckons an existing garage slab is usually strong enough for ordinary domestic use but may need upgrading. A rack of heavy plates isn't ordinary, so get the floor checked.
Detached garage. Kept as a workshop or hobby room for the household, it typically needs no planning permission. Fitted out as a home for a relative or a tenant, it is treated as a new dwelling and may need permission however little building work is involved.
Planning and building control. Away from conservation areas and Article 4 streets, alterations inside usually need no application. Inside any of the borough's 20 conservation areas the council's advice is to seek permission. Approval under the building regulations comes from the council's in-house team or a private inspector.
Cost. No Solihull price here. The footing under the old door opening, the floor build-up and any change to the drive are what pull quotes apart, so ask each firm what it has allowed.
White House Way, Station Road and the green streets
On the White House Way estate an Article 4 direction brings windows and doors under planning control, along with new hard surfaces for parking. So taking out a garage door and building a wall with a window in it needs permission there, and so does paving extra front garden for the car you've just moved outside.
Knowle has its own directions. They control building details on Kixley Lane and Wilson's Road, and front gardens on the north side of Station Road. Widening a drive on that side of Station Road is a planning matter.
Across Knowle, Dorridge and Bentley Heath, the neighbourhood plan made in 2019 protects what it calls Green Streets, where houses sit behind mature front gardens with hedges and trees. Station Road, Tilehouse Green Road, Widney Road and Warwick Road are its examples, but the policy reaches any road with that character. Where an application is needed and the hedge has to go, the plan expects you to show replacement planting.
What goes under the new floor
The existing concrete can stay as a base, but the Planning Portal expects a fresh damp barrier over it with insulation, finished with a reinforced screed in the order of 75mm. The garage floor may well sit lower than the house, and bringing it up to match is usually worth doing.
Flooding is localised here. The council's 2017 flood study puts the River Cole ahead of the Blythe for homes at risk, mainly in Kingshurst, Chelmsley Wood and the Solihull wards, and sewer flooding turns up most often in Solihull town, Dorridge and Hampton-in-Arden. A conversion without a planning application gets no flood check from anyone, so do your own. The Environment Agency's advice for small extensions is floors 600mm above the estimated flood level. That advice is written for applications, but it makes a fair yardstick. Inside Flood Zone 3 I'd make the old garage a study, not a bedroom.
Radon is quick to rule in or out. Put your address into the UKradon map. If it comes back raised, the Planning Portal points to the BRE's BR 211 guidance on protective measures for the floor.
Where these facts come from
- Solihull MBC: Vehicle Parking Standards and Green Travel Plans SPD (2006)
- Solihull MBC: permitted development rights for homeowners
- Solihull MBC: do I need building regulations approval
- Solihull MBC: Knowle, Dorridge and Bentley Heath Neighbourhood Plan (2019)
- Solihull MBC: White House Way conservation area appraisal
- Solihull MBC: Knowle conservation area appraisal
- Solihull MBC: Strategic Flood Risk Assessment (JBA, 2017)
- Environment Agency: flood risk assessment standing advice
- Planning Portal: garage conversion planning permission
- Planning Portal: garage conversion building regulations
- Planning Portal: garage conversion flooring
- Planning Portal: converting a garage into a workshop
- GOV.UK: Approved Document B (fire safety)
- UKradon: radon maps
How FirQuote works in Solihull: We connect you with local specialists who visit your property before giving you a price. You get up to 3 written quotes — no call centres, no estimates from photos, no obligation to accept any quote.
Questions people in Solihull ask
We live in Dickens Heath. Can we convert the integral garage without applying?
Often, but check the planning history first. Rights to convert are sometimes removed on newer developments. Solihull won't give an informal view, so for certainty ask for a certificate of lawful proposed development.
Does Solihull still see my garage as a parking space?
Its 2006 standards left integral garages out of the two-space average for new houses. The drive matters more. The same document wants 2.5m by 6m in front of a garage door.
I'm on the north side of Station Road in Knowle. Can I widen the drive after converting?
Not without asking. An Article 4 direction covers front gardens on that side of the road, and the neighbourhood plan names Station Road as a Green Street, so lost hedging would need replacing.
Our detached garage is becoming a studio. Does it need building control?
Probably. Detached garages are on the council's list of buildings that often need no approval, but once one becomes heated living space the Planning Portal says approval will normally be needed.