Removing a chimney breast means supporting whatever stays above it. On an upper floor the brickwork left in place has to be carried, on gallows brackets where the wall and the engineer allow, or on a steel beam where they do not. We appoint the structural engineer, build to the design issued and arrange the building control inspection. This page sets out what the work involves in Hitchin.
Altering a chimney or flue in the Hitchin Conservation Area needs planning permission
The Article 4 direction over the Hitchin Conservation Area removes permitted development rights for the installation, alteration or replacement of a chimney, flue or soil and vent pipe. Work that would need no application elsewhere therefore needs a full planning application inside that area. It is a question about the chimney itself, so it can catch a scheme that only intended to take the breast out of a room.
We establish whether your address falls inside the Hitchin Conservation Area before anything is priced, and we say plainly if an application is needed. A chimney job that assumed no consent was required, and then met the direction, is a job that stops halfway.
In Hitchin the stack belongs to the street, not just to the roof
The council's character statement says the simple building forms of Benslow Lane and Trevor Road are enlivened by substantial brick stacks with original clay chimney pots, important in views along each street. In the Hitchin Hill Path Conservation Area the statement records red or brown brick, stucco, steeply pitched slated or tiled roofs, original sash windows with rubbed brick voussoirs, and decorative brick chimney stacks.
That has a practical consequence for your scheme. Taking the breast out of a room does not have to mean taking the stack off the roof, and where the stack reads in the street there is a case for keeping it. If it stays, it has to be carried, and that support is what the engineer designs. We set out both routes, with the price of each, before you choose.
The inspection is booked with Hertfordshire Building Control
Hertfordshire Building Control carries out the local authority building control function in North Hertfordshire, because North Herts Council does not deliver building control in house. So the notice for a chimney breast removal does not go to a council team at Gernon Road. We make the application and book the inspection for the stage when the support is in and still visible.
That sequencing is the whole job. Brickwork left standing above an opening has to be held on something the engineer has sized, and the inspector has to see it before it disappears behind plasterboard. We do not close anything up in advance of that visit.
- Structural engineer's calculations arranged and followed
- Ground floor removal with the upper stack fully supported
- Rubble bagged and carried out rather than dropped inside
- Party Wall Act notices for stacks in a shared wall
- Flue capping with ventilation to keep the stack dry
Why Hitchin Homeowners Choose GS Renovation
A chimney breast removal is a support job with a heritage question in front of it. The support question is what carries the brickwork left above the opening, and that is for the structural engineer we appoint, not for us and not for you. Gallows brackets are accepted where the wall and the engineer allow, and a steel beam is the answer where they do not. The difference shows in the price. The heritage question is whether the property sits inside the Hitchin Conservation Area, because the Article 4 direction there covers chimneys and flues. We answer both before quoting. GS Renovation Ltd is fully insured and registered in England, company number 14611254.
- Neighbours given notice before the noisy stages
- Straight advice on what is and is not worth spending money on
- Gallows brackets fixed only into sound party wall brickwork
- Hearth and floor structure reinstated where the breast is removed
- Dust screens and floor protection in occupied homes
- Roof, flashing and leadwork made good where a stack comes down