GS Renovation creates open-plan spaces across Bermondsey, opening up warehouse conversions and new-build apartments throughout SE16 into flowing kitchen-diners and broken-plan living. With over 30 years of structural experience in Southwark, we combine the engineering behind a clean knock-through with the joinery and Crittall dividers that make a riverside flat feel twice the size.
Open-plan living in Bermondsey apartments
The appeal of a Bermondsey warehouse flat is its volume and light, and homeowners often want the internal partitions gone to make the most of it, turning a boxed-off kitchen and living room into one bright, connected space overlooking the water. Some of those dividing walls are non-structural studwork that comes out in a day; others are original masonry carrying the floors above. We survey with an engineer so the design starts from what is actually holding weight.
Where a load-bearing wall stands between you and the open plan you want, we replace it with a concealed steel beam, sized by the engineer and bearing onto padstones, propped and cut in safe stages. For broken-plan schemes we often introduce a Crittall-style glazed screen, keeping the loft-industrial feel of the conversion while zoning the kitchen from the living area without closing the space back in.
Consents and building control across SE16
An open-plan conversion in a leasehold Bermondsey flat needs more than demolition. Any structural beam is inspected and certified by Southwark Council's building control under the Building Regulations, and because the flat is leasehold the freeholder's licence to alter is required, with the managing agent typically wanting drawings and insurance before consenting. Where a wall is shared with the neighbouring flat is served too. We arrange the lot before starting.
Knocking rooms together changes how sound travels, so we protect the acoustic separation your lease and the regulations require between flats, keeping impact and airborne noise within limits after the walls come down. We work within the block's rules on hours and access, keep dust contained in an occupied home, and finish with plastering, flooring and any glazed dividers so the space is ready to live in, not just structurally open.
- Level flooring and threshold removal across the whole space
- Rooflights and glazed roofs to bring light deep into the plan
- Heat loss and acoustic considerations before the wall comes out
- Radiator relocation and underfloor heating in the new layout
- Steel beam installation to remove the dividing wall
Trusted Open-Plan Conversions in Bermondsey
Bermondsey homeowners choose GS Renovation because an open-plan conversion joins structural engineering, consents and finishing under one accountable team. We install and conceal the steel to the engineer's sizing, secure the freeholder's licence to alter, handle any Southwark building control, protect sound insulation between flats, and finish tidily in your occupied SE16 flat, backed by 30+ years.
- Structure and finishes delivered by one team on one programme
- The house kept usable while the opening is formed in stages
- Founder-led team with 30+ years of hands-on experience
- Cooking smells and extraction planned into an open kitchen
- Clean, tidy and reliable tradespeople
- Site left safe and secure at the end of every day