GS Renovation removes redundant chimney breasts throughout Highbury, reclaiming space in the alcove-heavy bedrooms and reception rooms of N5's Victorian and Edwardian terraces. With more than 30 years of structural experience in Islington, we take out breasts safely, support the stack that remains above and leave the room squared off and ready to decorate.
Removing a chimney breast in Highbury
Many of Highbury's bay-fronted terraces still carry their original chimney breasts in the front and rear rooms, long after the fires stopped being used. Removing a breast frees up a surprising amount of floor space, but the masonry above still has to go somewhere. The breast helps carry the stack overhead, so we never take one out without first working out how the weight above will be supported.
Where we remove a breast on the lower floors but keep the stack above, we support that retained masonry on steel gallows brackets bolted firmly into the party wall, or on a beam where brackets are unsuitable. In some N5 houses the stack is redundant all the way up, in which case we often take it out entirely and make the roof good, which removes the load altogether.
Party wall and building control in N5
In Highbury's tightly packed terraces the chimney stack almost always sits within the party wall shared with the house next door. Removing the breast, or bolting gallows brackets into that shared wall to hold the stack, is notifiable under the Party Wall Act, so we serve notice on the neighbour and agree the condition of the wall before any work begins.
The structural support is a Building Regulations matter, and Islington Council's building control inspects and signs off the gallows brackets or beam. This is not planning permission territory unless your home is listed and you are altering the exterior. We handle the engineer's input, the notices and the inspections, cap any redundant flue with ventilation to keep damp out, and replaster so no trace of the breast is left.
- Steel beam support where brackets are unsuitable
- Full chimney stack removal and roof making good
- Structural engineer calculations
- Party Wall Act notices for shared stacks
- Making good, plastering and reinstating the wall
Why Highbury Homeowners Choose GS Renovation
Highbury homeowners choose GS Renovation because we treat chimney breast removal as the structural job it is. You get an engineer-checked support solution, gallows brackets or a beam correctly fixed, party wall notices and Islington building control handled end to end, and tidy working in your occupied N5 home, all finished and certified and backed by 30+ years across the borough.
- Free, no-obligation quotations
- Over 30 years of experience
- Dedicated project management
- Fully insured and guaranteed work
- Building control and planning support
- Clean, tidy and reliable tradespeople