GS Renovation fits kitchens in Watford, from a straight replacement in the existing room to a kitchen built into a new rear extension with a wall taken out behind it. Where the room moves or grows, the drainage route and the council's design tests both decide the layout. Founder Abdelaaziz Saaid brings over 30 years of hands-on experience to getting the order of trades right.
Extending for a kitchen, and the tunnelling test
The Watford Residential Design Guide sets a test for infill extensions, and a kitchen extension beside an existing back addition has to pass it. The guide states that single storey rear extensions which infill the space between existing rear projections are unlikely to be found acceptable where this causes a significant tunnelling effect or increased sense of enclosure to the adjoining property. Filling that side gap is the standard way of getting a wide kitchen out of a narrow house, which is why the test matters at design stage.
Roof form is shaped for you as well. The guide notes that existing rear upper floor windows are likely to rule out a pitched roof, and that a flat roof is likely to be the appropriate form for a single storey rear extension. That has consequences inside the room: ceiling height, where rooflights can sit, and how much daylight reaches the back of a deep plan. Decide it before the units are chosen.
Moving the sink means moving the waste
Every kitchen layout is limited by where the existing drain connection sits. Thames Water is the sewerage undertaker for Watford, and the Watford Local Plan requires allocated sites to take account of the potential impact on water and wastewater infrastructure in conjunction with Thames Water. On a single kitchen that is background rather than an application, but the principle holds at house scale. Waste has to fall to an existing connection, and the fall is fixed by the invert level of the drain you are joining.
So we survey the drainage before agreeing a layout rather than afterwards. Where the sink or the appliances move to the other side of the room, the options are a longer run under the floor, a raised plinth, or accepting that the sink stays where it is. We say which one applies at quotation stage. Kitchen drainage, ventilation and electrical work are all Building Regulations matters, and we coordinate those applications and inspections.
Kitchens in flats and converted houses
The 2021 Census recorded 11,410 Watford households in purpose built blocks of flats and a further 2,199 in a converted or shared house, including bedsits. In a flat the kitchen sits above someone else's ceiling, which changes waste routes, acoustic separation and how materials get in and rubbish gets out. Lease consent and the managing agent's conditions run on a separate track from Building Regulations, and both take time.
In a converted house the surprises sit behind the plaster: a shared soil stack, a floor build up hiding the previous conversion's services, and fire separation that has to be reinstated rather than cut through. We open up and record what is actually there before the design is fixed. That is slower for the first week and faster for every week after it.
- Old kitchen strip-out, disposal and making good
- Open-plan kitchen-diner conversions with steel support
- Tiling, flooring and feature lighting
- Sink, tap and filter installation with full leak testing
- New circuits, sockets and dedicated appliance supplies
Why Watford Homeowners Choose GS Renovation
A kitchen is several trades working in one room, and the value is in the order they arrive. We carry the structure, the drainage, the electrics, the plastering and the fitting as one job with one point of contact, so nothing waits on a subcontractor who has moved on to somewhere else. Where a wall comes out or a rear extension is involved, the structural engineer is appointed by us and the building control inspections are coordinated by us. Fully insured, with free quotations that carry no obligation.
- Free follow-up visit after completion if anything needs attention
- Suppliers used across every budget, with options priced
- Free, no-obligation quotations
- Rated 4.9 from 31 reviews on MyBuilder
- Floors levelled and packed so doors and drawers line up
- Second fix carpentry and decorating finished by the same team