Chimney Breast Removal Hammersmith
Chimney breast removal with steel beam support in Hammersmith, the beam sized by the engineer we appoint and the work signed off by building control.
- Rated 4.9 from 31 reviews on MyBuilder
- London guide: £2,200 to £3,250
- Free site survey, itemised quote
In the terraced streets around Ravenscourt Park the chimney is built into the wall you share, which brings the Party Wall Act in from day one. You serve the notice as building owner, the adjoining owner responds or surveyors are appointed, and only then do we prop and cut. What stays above lands on steel to the engineer's calculation.
In Hammersmith, 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 Hammersmith.
Price guide
| Work | Indicative London range |
|---|---|
| One floor, steel beam (the usual route) | £2,200 to £3,250 |
| One floor, gallows brackets where the engineer and building control accept them | £1,500 to £2,500 |
| Two floors | £3,000 to £5,000 |
Indicative London ranges (MyBuilder and Checkatrade, 2026), not a quotation. Prices checked September 2026. Full breakdown: Chimney Breast Removal Guide.
How the job runs
- Free site survey at your Hammersmith address: which floors the breast runs through, a shared stack, any live flue.
- The engineer we appoint designs the support, and the work is registered with Hammersmith and Fulham Council building control or an approved inspector. On a shared wall you serve the party wall notice as building owner; we supply the drawings.
- The floor above is propped and the breast comes down in courses from the top; what remains sits on the support the engineer specified.
- Building control inspects the support before it is covered. We make good, and the completion certificate follows.
Removing a chimney breast in a Hammersmith terrace
Most Hammersmith terraces still carry their original breasts, projecting into the reception rooms and bedrooms and eating into the floor plan. Because the breast helps support the masonry stack rising above it, we never simply knock it out. A structural engineer first confirms what is being carried, then specifies how the retained brickwork above will be supported once the breast at that level is gone.
Where a breast is removed on a lower floor with stack remaining above, that stack goes onto a steel beam bearing on padstones, sized by the engineer we appoint; gallows brackets are used only where the engineer and building control both accept them. On homes where the stack is fully redundant and runs to the roof, it is often cleaner to take the whole stack down and make the roof good. A stack is never left unsupported.
Housing in Hammersmith
Around 15,040 homes make up Hammersmith on the valuation list; 77% are flats and 23% houses, and 56% date from before 1919, 9% from between the wars and 34% from after 1945. A chimney breast in a flat in Hammersmith often supports the breasts in the flats above, so removal needs the freeholder's licence and designed support, which matters here because most homes are flats.
Consent for a chimney breast in a Hammersmith conversion flat
With 77% of Hammersmith homes being flats, a chimney breast you want removed is often the lowest part of a stack that runs up through someone else's home to a roof the freeholder owns. That puts the freeholder at the front of the queue. The lease usually keeps the structure with them, so a licence to alter comes before the engineer's design is final. The owners of the flats above need to know that the breast in their rooms is about to be carried on steel in yours. Asking them early also gets the engineer into the rooms above to see what the stack is doing.
The building control route follows from that. Hammersmith and Fulham Council recommends a Building Notice only for very small works and says it should be avoided for complex building work. A breast carrying stack through two or three other flats is not very small. The council also states that a Full Plans application and a Building Notice cost exactly the same, so there is no fee reason to choose the lighter route. Full Plans gives the freeholder and the upstairs owners an approved design to read before any brick is cut.
Party wall and damp control in W6
In these terraces the chimney stack sits within the party wall shared with the house next door, so cutting a beam bearing or any bracket into that wall is notifiable under the Party Wall Act. You serve notice on the neighbour before work starts, which is routine for the tightly built streets between Fulham and Shepherd's Bush and keeps everyone informed.
The structural support is inspected under the Building Regulations by Hammersmith and Fulham building control, not planning. We also deal with the practical details that matter in a period home: capping any redundant flue with ventilation so the stack breathes and damp cannot build up, then replastering the wall flush. The finished room reads as if the breast was never there.
Your neighbour's flue and their fireplace
In a W6 terrace the stack you are working on is usually shared, with your flues and your neighbour's rising side by side in the same brickwork. That has two consequences. Their flues have to stay intact and working, so we do not cut into or block a flue that is not yours, and where the stack comes down above the roof only your half is taken off and their side is rebuilt and weathered.
If your neighbour still uses an open fire or a stove, it is worth telling them before work starts, because scaffold, sheeting and a partly rebuilt stack can affect the draught for a few days. Their sweep may want to check it afterwards. This is separate from the party wall notice, though it usually forms part of the same conversation. Keeping a neighbour informed in a terrace near Ravenscourt Park is what keeps the job straightforward.
- Building control notification and inspection sign-off
- Fireplace opening infill and new plasterboard finish
- Loft inspection of the retained stack before work starts
VOA Council Tax stock of properties, March 2025, for Hammersmith Broadway, Brook Green, Ravenscourt Park North and Ravenscourt Park South. Counts rounded by the VOA.
Why Choose GS Renovation in Hammersmith
Hammersmith homeowners choose GS Renovation because we treat chimney breast removal as the structural job it is. You get a steel beam on padstones designed by the engineer we appoint (gallows brackets only where the engineer and building control accept them), building control handled from application to sign-off, and tidy working in an occupied W6 home. Our founder's 30+ years on the tools stand behind the result.
We loved working with George and Ibrahim and would highly recommend them. They have done splendid job on our new kitchen refurb which including new…
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It's the second time I have hired George and he has been absolutely professional and the work he did resembles perfectly what I had in mind. Being an…
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions about Chimney Breast Removal Hammersmith
Do you charge for a survey before quoting chimney breast removal in Hammersmith?
A chimney breast removal survey in Hammersmith costs nothing, and it is part of quoting rather than a service to bill for. GS Renovation allows enough time at W6 to check the late Victorian or Edwardian details that move a figure within £2,200 to £3,250 for one floor on a beam (indicative), and to plan the order: the steel under the stack is inspected before it is boxed in. Nothing is owed if you go elsewhere in Hammersmith and Fulham.
What holds the stack up when a chimney breast goes in a Hammersmith flat conversion?
A steel beam spanning onto padstones, designed for the masonry left above it. Many Hammersmith terraces were split into flats floor by floor, so the breast being removed is usually carrying stack that continues through somebody else's home to the roof. The engineer sizes the beam for that standing load, and the bearings are formed in sound brickwork rather than soft or flue-weakened brick.
Does the hearth and floor need work when a Hammersmith breast is removed?
Almost always. Under a Hammersmith breast there is usually a concrete or brick hearth and a thickened section of floor built to carry masonry that is about to disappear. Once the breast is gone that structure serves no purpose but the floor still has to be level, continuous and properly supported. Joists are trimmed and levelled, and the hearth is broken out or made good depending on what sits beneath it.
What happens to the roof where a Hammersmith stack is taken down?
It is closed up and reweathered as part of the same job. Where the stack comes off above roof level in your Hammersmith terrace, the opening left in the slope has to be infilled with matching structure, felt, battens and slates, and the flashings at the abutment renewed. Rain reaching a roof through an unfinished stack opening does more damage in a week than the removal itself.
How is the debris handled inside an occupied Hammersmith house?
Bagged and carried out on a route protected in advance. A chimney breast produces a large volume of rubble and soot in your Hammersmith terrace where the only way out is the hall and the front door. Floors and the stair are covered, openings sealed so soot does not travel, and material is removed daily rather than stockpiled. Parking for the collection is arranged before the breast is opened.
Does removing a breast change how a Hammersmith room heats?
Slightly, and usually for the better. The masonry taken out of a Hammersmith room was a cold mass against an external or party wall, and the flue behind it drew air even when capped. Once the breast is gone and the void is properly sealed and ventilated, the room loses a draught path. Any radiator that was on that wall is repositioned as part of the work.
Can a Hammersmith chimney stack be taken down above the roof in a conservation area?
Treat it as a planning question first. About half of the borough lies inside its 44 conservation areas, and a stack removed above the roof changes a roofline the street can see. Keeping the stack and carrying it on steel inside the house leaves the roof untouched. Where the stack must come down, we check the designation of the address and ask the planning team before scaffold is booked.
When does a Hammersmith chimney breast removal need the 5 day building control notice?
At completion. Most inspections need 1 day's notice, so the visit to see the steel under the retained stack is called the day before it is boxed in. The completion inspection needs 5 days' notice, so it is booked while the making good is under way rather than once the room is decorated. That keeps the completion certificate from trailing the job by a week.
Is the boxed projection in a newer Hammersmith flat a chimney breast?
Probably not. 15% of Hammersmith homes were built in 2000 or later, and flats of that age are unlikely to have working chimneys. A projecting box in the corner of a room there is more often a service riser carrying soil pipes, water or ventilation for the flats above. It belongs to the building, cannot simply be removed, and is opened only with the managing agent's agreement.
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