A kitchen renovation is a services job as much as a joinery one: drainage, ventilation, electrics and sometimes a structural opening, all in an order that cannot be reshuffled. We survey, appoint a structural engineer where a wall is coming out, and run the trades to one programme. We never produce structural calculations. In Letchworth Garden City, the parts of a kitchen scheme that show on the outside carry their own consent.
An extractor outlet or a replaced window is a Heritage Foundation matter
The Foundation's published list of works needing its consent includes flues and chimneys, replacement windows and door replacements. The same list names extensions, conservatories, porches, roof alterations, re roofing, garages, outbuildings and frontage hardstandings. A kitchen scheme that puts a new outlet through an external wall, or changes the window over the sink, meets that list.
The Foundation states that its consent requirement is separate from the permission required from the local authority under planning and listed building legislation and the building regulations. It is an additional application, not an alternative one. We identify at survey which elements of your kitchen sit outside the building envelope and therefore need it.
Where the waste from a moved sink ends up
Anglian Water is the wastewater undertaker for Letchworth Garden City, and the adopted North Hertfordshire Local Plan refers to capacity within the environmental consent at Letchworth Water Recycling Centre.
Inside the house, the practical question is falls and access. Moving a sink, a dishwasher or a washing machine means new waste runs that drain properly and connections that stay reachable afterwards. We set the drainage out before the units are ordered, because a run chased in later is the item that pushes a kitchen programme over.
The age of the house is a survey question before it is a style one
Valuation Office Agency figures for 31 March 2025 record 2,580 Letchworth properties built between 1955 and 1964 and 2,020 built between 1965 and 1972. In the Letchworth Grange area, 1,520 of 3,080 domestic properties date from 1955 to 1964.
Whether the wall between kitchen and dining room carries load, and what state the existing drainage and wiring are in, are both established at survey rather than assumed from the decade. Where the wall is structural we appoint the engineer and build to the calculations issued. Where it is not, the job is simpler and we say so.
- Quartz, granite and marble worktops templated and fitted
- New circuits, sockets and dedicated appliance supplies
- Floor levelling and screeding before the flooring goes down
- Wall removal between the kitchen and dining room
- Plastering, decorating and second fix carpentry
Trusted Kitchen Renovation in Letchworth Garden City
A kitchen goes wrong in the gaps between trades, so we run them as one programme with one point of contact. The drainage, the electrics and any structural opening are set out before the units are ordered, and the consents that apply to anything showing on the outside are identified at survey rather than mid build. Where a wall is coming out we appoint the structural engineer and build to the calculations issued, because we are a contractor and never write those calculations ourselves. GS Renovation Ltd is fully insured and registered in England, company number 14611254. Quotations are free and carry no obligation.
- Clean, tidy and reliable tradespeople
- Our own trades on site rather than a chain of subcontractors
- Second fix carpentry and decorating finished by the same team
- Straight advice on what is and is not worth spending money on
- Fully insured, with cover in place on every site
- Suppliers used across every budget, with options priced