Open-Plan Conversions Greenwich
Open-plan kitchen, diner and living conversions in Greenwich, steel, floors, heating and finishes as one job.
- Rated 4.9 from 31 reviews on MyBuilder
- London guide: £3,000 to £8,000+
- Free site survey, itemised quote
GS Renovation creates open-plan spaces across Greenwich, opening up post-war flats and houses, Georgian townhouses near the Maritime Museum and Victorian terraces in Charlton and Eltham into bright kitchen-diners and knock-throughs. We combine the structural work with careful finishing, including broken-plan layouts and Crittall dividers.
In Greenwich, a knock-through finished as one room typically costs £3,000 to £8,000 or more, including the steel beam (indicative London ranges, MyBuilder and Checkatrade, 2026). GS Renovation Ltd, a building contractor based in Potters Bar, does the work in Greenwich: the structural engineer we appoint designs the steel, we install it, and building control signs it off.
Price guide
| Work | Indicative London range |
|---|---|
| Open-plan conversion, steel beam and finishing | £3,000 to £8,000+ |
Indicative London ranges (MyBuilder and Checkatrade, 2026), not a quotation. Prices checked September 2026. Full breakdown: Open-Plan Kitchen-Diner Ideas.
How the job runs
- Free site survey at your Greenwich address, covering the walls, services and floor levels, and an itemised quote.
- The engineer we appoint sizes the beam, and the work is registered with the Royal Borough of Greenwich building control or an approved inspector. On a shared wall you serve the party wall notice as building owner; we supply the drawings.
- Props in, opening cut, beam on padstones; then floors, heating and electrics are joined up.
- Building control inspects the steel before it is covered. We finish the room, and the completion certificate follows.
Open-plan conversions in Greenwich homes
The compartmentalised layouts of Greenwich's period homes, with their separate front rooms, back rooms and galley kitchens, respond beautifully to opening up. Knocking two reception rooms into one, or joining the kitchen to a rear room to form a kitchen-diner, changes how these houses live while keeping the character of their cornicing, high ceilings and original detailing intact.
Because the walls being removed are usually load-bearing, every conversion starts with the engineer's design: we prop the structure, install the steel beam the engineer has sized on padstones and demolish in safe stages. Many Greenwich homeowners now choose broken-plan layouts, using a Crittall-style glazed screen to divide the space visually while keeping it light and connected, an approach that suits the proportions of these older rooms well.
Housing in Greenwich
About 125,080 homes are listed for Greenwich, and the mix is 45% houses to 55% flats, with 60% built after 1945, 17% in 1919 to 1939 and 22% earlier. Where most homes are flats, opening up a flat in Greenwich changes its fire escape route, which building control checks.
How opening up to a Greenwich extension changes the chargeable area
Royal Greenwich has a charging rule that catches owners who combine an extension with an open-plan ground floor. Where an extension opens up an existing elevation into an open-plan layout, it adds half the floor area of the adjacent rooms to the chargeable area. Building control charges are banded by that area, with one band for a domestic single storey extension not exceeding 10m2 and another for a domestic extension of 10 to 60m2. A small rear addition that opens fully into the kitchen and dining room can move up a band once half those rooms are counted.
The rule is a prompt to settle the layout before the application goes in. Measure the rooms that will open onto the extension, add half their area to the new floor, and read off the band before the application goes in. It also matters where only part of the old wall comes out. If you intend to keep a nib, a glazed screen or a doorway between the new space and a Greenwich reception room, ask Royal Greenwich building control how the rule applies to that layout while the plans are still drawings.
Consents and neighbours in Greenwich conversions
An internal open-plan conversion is governed by the Building Regulations rather than planning permission, so the Royal Borough of Greenwich's building control signs off the beam, its bearings and the propping. Planning applies to exterior work within one of the borough's conservation areas, which are extensive around central Greenwich and Blackheath, and a listed property needs listed-building consent for internal work too.
Where the removed wall or a chimney breast within it ties into the shared party wall, common in the terraces of Woolwich, Charlton and Eltham, the Party Wall Act applies and you serve notice on the neighbour first. We coordinate the engineer, the steel and building control, then handle the plastering, flooring and any Crittall dividers so the finished open space is ready to use.
- Making good, plastering and decorating the finished space
- Knock-throughs between front and rear reception rooms
- Broken-plan layouts and Crittall-style glazed dividers
VOA Council Tax stock of properties, March 2025, for all 35 statistical areas in Greenwich. Counts rounded by the VOA.
Why Greenwich Homeowners Choose GS Renovation
Greenwich homeowners choose GS Renovation for open-plan conversions because one team owns the whole project. We arrange the structural engineer, fit the steel to their design, secure building control sign-off, and finish the space, from Crittall dividers to plaster. Tidy working in your occupied period home and our founder's 30+ years of structural experience underpin every job.
Reviewed jobs near Greenwich
1 MyBuilder review from Woolwich, with each customer's own job title:
- Replace kitchen extractor hob, Woolwich, 27 Apr 2024 (5 out of 5)
Read all 31 on our reviews page.
Giorgio is an excellent and intelligent workman, and with very reasonable prices! He installed a kitchen extractor fan in a complicated situation…
George was brilliant. Lovely bloke, very reasonably priced and a perfectionist to boot. He completed our small kitchen renovation with care and great…
George was very friendly and helpful from start to finish. He worked really hard to ensure our kitchen was installed to a high standard and was…
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions about Open-Plan Conversions Greenwich
How do you price open-plan conversion in Greenwich?
The method for pricing open-plan conversion in Greenwich is deliberately dull: measure, scope, itemise, then compare with £3,000 to £8,000 or more (indicative). Nothing is quoted over the phone, because a blind figure changes later. GS Renovation allows for the 1950s to 1980s construction at SE10 and prices the engineer's calculations and building regulations approval of the steel as its own line.
Can I open up a Greenwich terrace into a kitchen-diner without planning permission?
In most cases, yes. Internal open-plan conversions are controlled under the Building Regulations, so the Royal Borough of Greenwich's building control, not the planning department, signs off the steelwork. Planning is a question only for external changes, which a conservation area controls more tightly, but a listed home needs listed building consent for internal changes too. If a shared party wall is affected, you serve the party wall notice as building owner (or your surveyor does), and we give you the drawings and programme it needs.
Does opening up a three-storey Greenwich townhouse affect the fire escape?
Yes, and it has to be settled before the steel is ordered. In a three-storey house the enclosed hall and stair form the protected route out from the upper bedrooms, and removing the ground floor walls around it breaks that route. Building control agrees a fire strategy first. The answer may be keeping the hall enclosed with a glazed screen, which also suits the proportions of a Georgian house.
Will one big open room in my Greenwich house be harder to heat?
It often is, because the heat that stayed in a small room now spreads across two, and the radiator that hung on the removed wall has nowhere to go. Heat loss is recalculated for the combined space before first fix, so pipework can be rerouted while floors are up. Over a suspended timber floor, insulation laid between the joists makes a large difference to a draughty open room.
What if the floors do not line up once the rooms in my Greenwich house are joined?
Then a level decision is needed before any finish is bought. The front room commonly has a suspended timber floor while the back kitchen sits on concrete at a slightly different height. Options are a small step at the beam line, raising the lower floor on battens, or relaying one floor entirely. Whatever is chosen, airbricks feeding the timber void must stay clear.
Can a riverside flat in Greenwich be opened up the same way as a house?
Not on the same terms. In a modern block the walls between rooms may be concrete or blockwork tied into the frame, the freeholder's written consent is almost always required, and the lease may restrict layout changes outright. Opening a flat so the kitchen sits on the route from bedroom to front door changes fire escape, so a fire strategy is agreed with building control before design is fixed.
What certificates should an open-plan Greenwich extension leave behind at completion?
For a domestic extension Royal Greenwich may need an electrical installation certificate, a fire alarm commissioning certificate, a gas certificate and a double-glazing specification before completion. The fire alarm one carries weight in an open-plan scheme, because joining rooms changes the escape route and the detection has to match it. Collect each document as its trade finishes: the electrician's certificate after testing, the alarm commissioning after second fix, the glazing specification when the doors are ordered.
Can Royal Greenwich building control be asked about an open-plan layout before drawings are done?
Yes. Royal Greenwich building control gives pre and post application advice charged by the hour, with the first hour free. An hour is enough for the question that decides an open-plan scheme: how people get out from the upper floors once the hall wall has gone. Bring a sketch of the ground floor and the stair. An answer before the engineer designs the steel can change which walls stay, and that is far cheaper to learn on paper than on site.
Does opening up rooms in a post-war Greenwich house always need a steel beam?
Not always. In Greenwich 60% of homes were built after 1945, and houses of those decades were built in many ways, from ordinary brick to timber frame and concrete systems. In some the wall between kitchen and living room is a partition; in others it carries a floor or roof load. The structural engineer we appoint establishes which before a layout is fixed. Where the wall carries nothing, the opening needs no beam, only making good and the fire and ventilation checks.
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