Renovations, extensions and structural work across Barnet. 30+ years' hands-on experience, fully insured, building control compliant.
GS Renovation covers Barnet across EN4 and EN5 in the north of the borough and the N2, N3, N12, NW4, NW7 and NW11 postcodes running south through Finchley, Hendon, Mill Hill and Golders Green. High Barnet and New Barnet sit minutes from our registered office in Potters Bar, which is why the north of the borough is regular working territory for us rather than an occasional trip.
The firm is run by Abdelaaziz Saaid, who has more than 30 years of hands-on experience on London properties. GS Renovation Ltd was incorporated in 2023 to formalise that trade. We are a building contractor with a structural specialism, which means we install the steel beams and take out the load-bearing walls ourselves rather than subcontracting the part of the job that carries the most risk. We are not structural engineers: on any structural work we appoint an independent engineer, build to their calculations and put the work in front of building control.
Barnet is London's suburban interwar heartland. The dominant house is the 1930s semi, built in quantity across Finchley, Hendon and Mill Hill, alongside Edwardian houses in Golders Green and substantial detached properties on the larger plots. Almost none of it was designed for how people live now, which is why so much of our Barnet work is reconfiguration rather than repair.
The standard Barnet project is the ground floor. A through lounge formed by removing the wall between the front and back reception rooms, a kitchen opened into the dining room, or a side return filled in to widen a narrow galley kitchen. All three normally involve a load-bearing wall, an engineer-designed steel beam and building control. Upstairs, chimney breast removal to square off a bedroom is the other regular request, and it needs the stack above properly supported on a steel beam, or on gallows brackets where the building inspector still accepts them. Since LABC withdrew its standard gallows detail in 2024 most inspectors want a beam.
The older housing brings its own list: original wiring well past its service life, single-glazed metal casements in interwar bays, and rear additions built cheaply in the 1970s and 1980s that are now the coldest part of the house. A full refurbishment in Barnet usually means a rewire, a replumb and replastering alongside the visible work.
Building control sits with Barnet Council, and notifiable work must be notified, inspected and certified. We manage that on your behalf as part of the project.
Barnet is more heavily controlled than its suburban character suggests. The borough has a long list of conservation areas, and Hampstead Garden Suburb is a special case: as well as conservation area status and Article 4 restrictions, properties there are subject to a private scheme of management administered by the Hampstead Garden Suburb Trust, which means separate consent is required for changes that elsewhere would be permitted development. If your property is in the Suburb, assume nothing is permitted development until it has been checked.
Outside the designated areas, many single storey rear extensions on Barnet semis do fall within permitted development, and the plots are often deep enough to make that worthwhile. As everywhere in London, the shared wall means the Party Wall Act applies to beams and chimney breast removals on semi-detached and terraced houses.
Parking is easier here than in inner London, and most streets outside the town centres are uncontrolled, so deliveries and skips are usually straightforward. Skip licences from the council are still needed where a skip stands on the highway.
Many Barnet semis have a side passage and a driveway, which makes access, muck away and materials storage far simpler than a terraced street. On the larger detached plots there is usually room to keep the site tidy and contained, which matters when you are living in the house through the work.
Barnet is priced at London rates, and the ranges below are the ones we publish across the site so you can check any quotation against them. Every project is priced properly from a site survey, itemised, and with no obligation.
| Type of work | What it covers | Typical London cost |
|---|---|---|
| Steel beam over one opening | Beam, padstones, engineer's calculations, building control | £1,500 to £4,000 |
| Full knock-through | Wall removal, beam, engineer's fee, propping and making good | £2,500 to £6,500+ |
| Chimney breast removal | One floor, stack supported, flue capped, wall made good | £1,500 to £2,500 |
| Kitchen renovation, mid-range | Quality units, stone worktops, integrated appliances, new layout | £20,000 to £40,000 |
| Bathroom renovation, mid-range | Quality suite, porcelain tiling, new layout, heated rail | £7,500 to £12,000 |
| Full refurbishment, mid-range | Strip out, rewire, replumb, heating, kitchen, bathrooms, decoration | £1,500 to £2,200 per m² |
| Single storey extension | Standard finish, per m² of new floor area | £2,000 to £2,800 per m² |
Every service we offer has its own Barnet page, with the detail specific to that trade and this borough.
FAQ
The whole borough: EN4 and EN5 in the north, and N2, N3, N12, NW4, NW7 and NW11 running south through Finchley, Hendon, Mill Hill, Golders Green and Edgware. High Barnet and New Barnet are only minutes from our registered office in Potters Bar.
Almost certainly. As well as conservation area status and Article 4 restrictions removing permitted development rights, properties in Hampstead Garden Suburb are subject to a private scheme of management administered by the Hampstead Garden Suburb Trust, so separate consent is needed for many changes. Treat nothing there as permitted development until it has been checked with both the council and the Trust.
Yes, it is one of the most common jobs we do in the borough. The wall between the front and rear reception rooms in a 1930s semi is usually load bearing, so an independent structural engineer sizes a steel beam and specifies the padstones, we prop and install to that design, and building control inspects and signs it off. A Party Wall Act notice is normally required because the house is semi-detached.
It depends on the scope, but a whole-house refurbishment involving a rewire, a replumb, new heating, replastering, a kitchen, bathrooms and structural changes is typically a matter of months rather than weeks. We issue a programme with the quotation, and the sequence matters as much as the duration: structure and first fix before plaster, kitchens and bathrooms before second fix, decoration last.
Barnet is priced at London rates. A steel beam over one opening runs £1,500 to £4,000, a full knock-through £2,500 to £6,500 or more, chimney breast removal on one floor £1,500 to £2,500, a mid-range kitchen £20,000 to £40,000 and a mid-range full refurbishment £1,500 to £2,200 per square metre. These are indicative London ranges from MyBuilder and Checkatrade, 2026.
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