Chimney Breast Removal Stevenage

Removing a chimney breast means taking out masonry that carries its own weight, and the stack above it if that stack is staying. The remaining brickwork has to be supported, usually on a steel beam designed by an engineer, with gallows brackets only where the engineer and building control accept them. In Stevenage the age of the property and its conservation area status both shape the answer.

For Stevenage, on London-derived ranges 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; Hertfordshire work generally runs below that. GS Renovation Ltd, a building contractor based in Potters Bar, does the work in Stevenage.

How the job runs

1. Free site survey at your Stevenage 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 Hertfordshire 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.

Stevenage has little pre war housing

Only 1,160 Stevenage dwellings, 3.0 per cent of the borough's council tax stock, were built before 1940, where the figure across England and Wales is 35.2 per cent.

That changes what a chimney job looks like here. Flues, hearths and earlier alterations differ between a post war house and a pre war one, and what is behind the plaster is confirmed at survey rather than assumed. The quotation follows the survey, not the other way round.

Housing in Stevenage

For Stevenage the Council Tax list gives about 38,430 homes; by type 24% flats and 76% houses, by age 96% post-war, 1% interwar and 2% older than 1919. A terrace breast in Stevenage usually sits on the party wall, so removal needs a notice, and 52% of homes here are terraced.

Six of the seven conservation area plans ask for stacks to be kept

Six of Stevenage's seven Conservation Area Management Plans state that chimney stacks can contribute greatly to the local character and should be retained and repaired. The exception is the Town Square plan.

Seven conservation areas cover parts of the town: Broadwater, Old Town High Street, Orchard Road, Shephall Green, St Nicholas and Rectory Lane, Symonds Green, and Town Square. If your property sits in one of them, taking the breast out while retaining the stack is the route that keeps the roofline as it is, and that puts the support detail at the centre of the job.

The Old Town is a different structure altogether

Stevenage Old Town High Street retains timber framed buildings of the 16th century or earlier, among them 2 Letchmore Road, 9a Middle Row, 84a and 131 High Street, and a 16th century hall house at 94 to 98 High Street.

The Great Fire of Stevenage on 10 July 1807 destroyed 42 properties in Middle Row, and the buildings lost were rebuilt with brick facades and tiled roofs. The brick refronting along the High Street therefore follows the fire rather than predating it. Work on a building of that age is historic masonry and timber repair, and listed building consent applies where the building is listed.

Who inspects the support you leave behind

Hertfordshire Building Control Limited does. Stevenage Borough Council does not run its own building control service, and owns that company jointly with seven other Hertfordshire local authorities. Inspection bookings are taken on 01438 879990 and by WhatsApp on 07483 034482.

The support to a retained stack is inspected before it is covered up. We make the application and book that visit, so the job closes with a record of sign off rather than an open file.

• Ground floor removal with the upper stack fully supported
• Bedroom breast removal to reclaim usable floor space
• Full chimney stack removal and roof making good

VOA Council Tax stock of properties, March 2025, for all 12 statistical areas in Stevenage. Counts rounded by the VOA.

Work in Stevenage rarely sits on its own, so you may also want home renovation in Stevenage, chimney breast removal in Hitchin, builders across London, the Party Wall Act for a breast in a shared wall, how we handle chimney breast removal across London and Building Regulations Explained.

Trusted Chimney Breast Removal in Stevenage

Chimney work in Stevenage runs straight into conservation area guidance, because six of the seven management plans ask for stacks to be retained and repaired. We plan the support to the retained stack first and the finishes second, and we build to a structural engineer's calculations where a beam is the answer. Building control applications and inspections are coordinated for you. The company is fully insured, quotations are free and without obligation, and you deal with one point of contact.

Reviewed jobs near Stevenage

1 MyBuilder review from Stevenage, with each customer's own job title:

• Kitchen worktops, Stevenage, 24 Jun 2021 (5 out of 5)

Read all 31 on our reviews page.

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.