A kitchen renovation is a services job wrapped around a building job. Drainage, ventilation, electrics and, where the layout changes, a structural opening all land in one room, in a fixed order. We coordinate the trades under one contract and, where an opening is formed, appoint the structural engineer and build to their calculations. This page sets out what a Hitchin kitchen involves.
Building control has a part in a kitchen, even without an extension
Hertfordshire Building Control describes its remit as checking foundations, damp proofing, structural issues, insulation, ventilation, heating, sanitation, the accessibility of a building, fire protection and means of escape in case of fire. A kitchen touches several of those at once. Widening an opening between the kitchen and a dining room is a structural issue. A new extract route is ventilation. Moving a sink or a washing machine is drainage.
We work out at survey which parts of your scheme are notifiable and which are not, and we make the application where one is needed. It also means an inspection is booked for the stage when the work can still be seen, rather than after the units are in and the floor is down.
Kitchens in the town centre sit at the back of long, narrow plots
Medieval burgage plots survive on the western side of High Street and on both sides of Bancroft, and they produce long thin building plots. The council's character statement records that pattern as reflected in places by alley ways, carriage entrances and courts. A kitchen at the back of such a plot has one route in and one route out.
That decides the logistics as much as the layout. Units, worktops and appliances all arrive along the same route, and a stone worktop needs a straight run and clear headroom to reach the room in one piece. We measure the access at survey and set the delivery order, so the room is not stacked with boxes while the first fix is still going in.
Some Hitchin streets sit outside conservation area control
The 2011 conservation area review rejected conservation area status for Dacre Road and Radcliffe Road in Hitchin. It cited modern infilling and the insertion of modern windows, replacement front doors and modern roofing materials. It also cited the loss or unsympathetic alteration of front boundary walls.
Two things follow for a kitchen scheme. There is no conservation area designation on those streets to answer, which widens what can be done at the rear. There is also a record that earlier alterations have happened, so what you open up may not be the original build. Radcliffe Road does appear on the Hitchin Register of Buildings of Local Interest, so the two questions are separate and both worth checking against your address.
- New circuits, sockets and dedicated appliance supplies
- Tiling, flooring and feature lighting
- Plumbing, electrics and appliance integration
- Plastering, decorating and second fix carpentry
- Island units and bespoke cabinetry
The GS Renovation Difference in Hitchin
A kitchen is where the trades collide. Plumbing, electrics, plastering, tiling and joinery each need the one before it finished, so a day lost early moves everything after it. We run all of them under one contract, which means you are not the person chasing an electrician on behalf of a fitter. Where the scheme forms a structural opening we appoint the structural engineer, build to their calculations and arrange the building control inspection with Hertfordshire Building Control. Quotations are free and without obligation, and GS Renovation Ltd is fully insured and registered in England, company number 14611254.
- Straight advice on what is and is not worth spending money on
- Photographs kept at each stage for your records
- One point of contact on the phone, not a call centre
- New circuits and consumer unit work certified under Part P
- Second fix carpentry and decorating finished by the same team
- Suppliers used across every budget, with options priced