Chimney Breast Removal Clerkenwell

Clerkenwell's converted workshops throw up stacks in odd places, some serving old industrial flues rather than fireplaces. Before we quote, we open up and check what the breast is actually carrying. If it comes out, the load above goes onto a beam designed by the structural engineer we appoint, with building control involved from the start.

In Clerkenwell, removing a breast on one floor typically costs £2,200 to £3,250 on a steel beam, and £3,000 to £5,000 across two floors (indicative London ranges, MyBuilder and Checkatrade, 2026). GS Renovation Ltd, a building contractor based in Potters Bar, does the work in Clerkenwell.

How the job runs

1. Free site survey at your Clerkenwell address: which floors the breast runs through, a shared stack, any live flue.
2. The engineer we appoint designs the support, and the work is registered with Islington Council building control or an approved inspector. On a shared wall you serve the party wall notice as building owner; we supply the drawings.
3. The floor above is propped and the breast comes down in courses from the top; what remains sits on the support the engineer specified.
4. Building control inspects the support before it is covered. We make good, and the completion certificate follows.

Removing a chimney breast in Clerkenwell

Not every Clerkenwell flat has a chimney breast; the newer purpose-built apartments never did. But the converted Victorian workshops and warehouse buildings often retain original breasts and flues from their industrial days. Because the breast helps carry the brickwork above it, we begin every removal with a structural engineer confirming exactly what load the masonry is supporting before anything is taken down.

On lower floors we support the retained stack above on a steel beam bearing onto padstones, the usual route since LABC withdrew its standard gallows detail in 2024, or on gallows brackets only where the engineer and building control accept them. Where a stack runs the full height of the building, it is often cleaner to remove the whole thing and make the roof good. A retained stack is never left hanging unsupported, whatever the floor level.

Housing in Clerkenwell

Take the 7,790 or so homes the valuation list gives Clerkenwell: 96% flats, 4% houses, 26% from before 1919, 6% interwar and 65% post-war. Most homes here are flats, and post-war blocks in Clerkenwell rarely have breasts, so one in a flat is checked by the engineer first.

Chimney breasts in listed Clerkenwell buildings need a second consent

Chimney breasts in Clerkenwell are found in the older buildings, and 26% of homes here were built before 1919. Some of those buildings are listed. Islington Council states that the borough currently has around 4,500 listed buildings, and in a listed building, listed building consent is needed for internal work as well as external. A breast inside a flat is therefore not exempt because it cannot be seen from the street. That consent sits alongside building regulations approval and the freeholder's licence; it does not replace either of them, and none of the three can be skipped.

The check is made before anything is drawn. We look the building up on the list, and if it is listed the removal is designed with that consent in mind, which can mean keeping the breast and reworking the room around it. A locally listed building is different. Islington Council says it is not necessary to apply for Listed Building Consent for works to a locally listed building, though the usual planning controls apply. Removing a breast inside one is then a building control matter, with support for the masonry left above designed by the structural engineer we appoint.

Freeholder consent and party walls in EC1

In a leasehold Clerkenwell flat, removing a chimney breast needs the freeholder's licence to alter and the managing agent's sign-off, since it touches structure the building owner is responsible for. We prepare the engineer's support drawing for that consent and work to any building-management conditions, including protecting common parts and meeting sound-insulation standards between flats.

Where the stack sits within a wall shared with the adjoining flat or building, removal is notifiable under the Party Wall Act and you serve notice on that neighbour first as building owner, using the drawings we supply. The structural support is controlled under the Building Regulations, so Islington Council's building control signs it off. We also cap any redundant flue with ventilation to prevent damp, then replaster so the room is left clean.

Working inside a managed EC1 block

In a managed building the constraints are as much administrative as structural. Most blocks around Exmouth Market and Clerkenwell Green set working hours, want notice to the managing agent before a contractor starts, and ask for proof of public liability insurance and a method statement. Some restrict use of the lift for materials or require it to be protected, which changes how a tonne of brick rubble leaves the building.

We plan that route before the first day. Rubble goes out in bags carried down rather than dropped through a stairwell, communal carpet and lift interiors are protected, and the common parts are cleaned at the end of each day rather than the end of the job. Neighbours in a block live close to the work, so we tell them what is happening and which days are the noisy ones. Getting this right is usually what makes a freeholder comfortable.

• Support for the breasts in the flats above, to the engineer's design
• Flue capping with ventilation to keep the stack dry
• Loft inspection of the retained stack before work starts

VOA Council Tax stock of properties, March 2025, for Clerkenwell. Counts rounded by the VOA.

When comparing chimney breast removal in Clerkenwell with other work, it helps to read home renovation in Clerkenwell, chimney breast removal across Islington, how building control signs off a chimney breast removal, party walls and chimney breasts, our London chimney breast removal page and Cracks in Walls: When to Worry.

The GS Renovation Difference in Clerkenwell

Clerkenwell homeowners choose GS Renovation because we treat chimney breast removal as the structural job it is. You get an engineer-designed support, normally a steel beam, with gallows brackets only where the engineer and building control accept them, the freeholder's licence and building control all handled, tidy working in an occupied EC1 flat, and a certified result backed by our founder's 30+ years on the tools.

Checked by Abdelaaziz Saaid, founder and director of GS Renovation Ltd (Companies House no. 14611254). Structural design is by the consulting engineer appointed to your project.