GS Renovation carries out open plan conversions in Harlow, taking out the walls between kitchen, dining and living space and replacing them with engineered steel. The design comes from a structural engineer we appoint. We build to it, coordinate the building control application and inspections, and make good so the finished room reads as one space rather than a patched one.
Opening up a Harlow terrace
A Harlow terrace opens up along the line of the walls that cross the house. The Harlow Local Development Plan records over 35,800 dwellings in the district and attributes the higher than average proportion of terraced properties to the principles of the original master plan for Harlow. The Harlow Design Guide records that housing was developed in housing groups of approximately 150 to 500 dwellings, each with a distinctive style. Two houses in different groups are not the same brief, even where the finished room you want looks alike.
The steel follows what you want the space to do. A single beam on the line of one wall is a different design from a pair of beams and a column where two walls meet at a corner. The engineer sizes each element and specifies the bearings, and the width of the opening drives the weight of the section. How that steel gets into the room is settled at survey, not on delivery day.
When opening up also means extending
Where the open plan layout depends on extending the back of the house, Mark Hall North adds a planning application to the job. The Article 4 direction there means a single storey rear extension, including a conservatory, needs planning permission where it would be visible from a highway. Highway in that direction includes a road, pavement, public footpath, bridleway, unadopted street or private way. The definition is wide, so visibility is tested properly rather than assumed.
Harlow Council also sets out what stands a better chance. It states a single storey rear extension in Mark Hall North is more likely to be approved if it is no more than 3m high with a flat roof, or 4m at the highest point otherwise. It should also project no more than 4m beyond the original rear wall, and leave no more than 50% of the plot covered by buildings. Designing to those figures from the start costs less than redesigning after a refusal.
Light, outlook and the neighbours
Harlow judges the effect on neighbours through named policies. Harlow Council adopted the Harlow Local Development Plan at its Full Council meeting on 10 December 2020, superseding the Adopted Replacement Harlow Local Plan of July 2006. Policy PL1 sets design principles for development and Policy PL2 sets amenity principles, covering privacy and overlooking, overshadowing and loss of daylight and sunlight, outlook, and the perception of enclosure. Those are the tests an objection would be measured against.
The Harlow Design Guide applies a 45 degree rule to determine the overall depth of a two storey rear extension, to avoid overshadowing a neighbour. For a two storey rear extension to a detached house the rule is applied at the second level. Knowing that before the drawings are made keeps the depth realistic, and it tells you early whether the open plan room you have in mind fits inside what is likely to be permitted.
Drawings and building control
Harlow Council's householder validation checklist requires plans at a scale of 1:50 or 1:100 in metric measurements. Each plan needs a title and drawing number including revision number, a north arrow, a scale and a scale bar. Drawings missing those items get sent back and the application waits. That is straightforward to get right before submission, and it saves weeks.
Building control is the parallel track. Harlow Council lists structural alterations to your house among the works that need building control approval, alongside extensions, loft and garage conversions and drainage work. For alterations to a single dwelling costing more than £5,000 and not more than £25,000, the building notice charge is £598.26 and the full plans charge totals £553.95, on the fee schedule effective from 1 April 2024. A knock through with engineered steel in it suits the full plans route.
- Zoned lighting circuits and dimming for a multi-use room
- Flush beam detailing where a downstand would look wrong
- Side-return integration for a wider ground floor
- Beam depth checked against existing ceiling heights
- Broken-plan layouts and Crittall-style glazed dividers
Why Harlow Homeowners Choose GS Renovation
An open plan conversion is a design decision with a structural and a planning consequence, and the order you take them in matters. GS Renovation settles the layout with you, has the structural engineer size the steel for that layout, and prices the job against the calculations. Where an extension forms part of it, the Harlow design tests are applied to the drawings before submission rather than after a refusal. One point of contact covers the engineer, the steel, the building control inspections and the making good.
- Structure and finishes delivered by one team on one programme
- Photographs kept at each stage for your records
- Itemised pricing, so you can see what every stage costs
- Floor levels and thresholds evened out across the whole space
- Lighting circuits zoned rather than one pendant in the middle
- Materials priced at options, so you choose the finish