Removing a load bearing wall means putting in something that does the wall's job. The order is survey, engineer's calculations, temporary support, beam, bearings, then making good. We appoint the structural engineer and build to the design issued. We never produce structural calculations, and we are not surveyors or architects. This page sets out what the work involves on a Hitchin house.
The opening is inspected by Hertfordshire Building Control
Building control in Hitchin is delivered by Hertfordshire Building Control Limited, which North Herts Council owns along with seven other Hertfordshire local authorities. Hertfordshire Building Control states that it applies the relevant Acts and enforces the Building Regulations on behalf of eight local authorities. Its inspectors are Registered Building Inspectors under the post 2023 Building Safety Act regime, and its Major Projects team holds Class 3 registration.
For you that means the person signing off the opening is a registered inspector working to a published remit. We make the application, hold the temporary support and call the inspection while the bearings are still open to view. Closing an opening up before it has been seen is what turns a straightforward job into an argument.
What the wall stands on changes between Bearton, Westmill and The Avenue
British Geological Survey mapping gives a different answer in each of those parts of Hitchin. At Bearton it maps Lowestoft Formation diamicton, a glacial till, over Zig Zag Chalk bedrock. The BGS Lexicon puts the carbonate content of that till matrix at about 30 per cent and describes the till as characterised by its chalk and flint content. At the Westmill estate the mapped bedrock is Gault Formation mudstone, beneath glaciofluvial sand and gravel.
Westmill is one of two parts of Hitchin where the mapped bedrock is clay rather than chalk. The BGS Lexicon describes the Gault as pale to dark grey or blue grey clay or mudstone, glauconitic in part, with a sandy base. Around The Avenue and Chiltern Road the mapping gives Holywell Nodular Chalk Formation and New Pit Chalk Formation, undifferentiated. Sand and gravel is mapped over it in Chiltern Road and Highbury Road, while along The Avenue the chalk is mapped at the surface. A clay bearing and a chalk bearing are not designed the same way.
Brick making in Hitchin continued into the early 20th century
Brick making in Hitchin, in both red and white brick, continued until the early 20th century, and the name Tilehouse Street reflects that local industry. Inside the conservation area, the Walsworth Road properties date from about 1860 to 1880, and the council's character statement gives red brick as the material there. Providence Row, part of a group of nine terraced properties facing Bedford Road, is dated 1869.
Old brick and lime mortar do not behave like modern brick and cement. Where an opening is formed, the brickwork above has to be picked up cleanly and the making good has to sit against what is already there. We agree the brick, the bond and the pointing before the wall is touched, and we cut back rather than hack out.
- Electrics, pipework and radiators diverted out of the wall
- Making good, plastering and skirting reinstatement
- Dust screens and floor protection through occupied rooms
- Assessment of whether a wall is load-bearing
- Rubble bagged and cleared as the work progresses
The GS Renovation Difference in Hitchin
We are a contractor. On a Hitchin wall removal we appoint the structural engineer, take the calculations they issue and build to them, then hand the opening to a Registered Building Inspector while it can still be seen. The temporary support goes in before anything comes down, and it stays until the beam is bearing. One firm carries the survey, the propping, the steel, the brickwork and the sign off, so no trade is left waiting on another. GS Renovation Ltd is fully insured and registered in England, company number 14611254, and quotations are free and without obligation.
- Plastering, skirting and making good included in the price
- Structural engineer instructed and coordinated on your behalf
- Founder-led team with 30+ years of hands-on experience
- Paperwork and certificates handed over for when you sell
- Padstones and bearings detailed at both ends of the opening
- Aftercare and snagging support once the job is finished