An open plan conversion is a wall removal, a beam, a floor that has to run through and a set of services that have to move. We manage the whole sequence under one contract, appoint the structural engineer for the calculations and build to what they issue. We do not produce those calculations. This page sets out what an open plan scheme involves on a Hitchin house.
An open plan scheme in the Hitchin Conservation Area can still need planning permission
The Article 4 direction over the Hitchin Conservation Area removes permitted development rights for the enlargement, improvement or other alteration of a dwellinghouse. Rearranging rooms behind an unchanged elevation is one thing. A scheme that also widens a rear opening, adds glazing or takes in a side return changes the outside of the house, and inside that area those changes need a planning application.
We establish which conservation area, if any, covers your address at the survey stage, and we give you the consent route before you commit to a layout. Settling the layout first and finding the constraint second is the expensive order to do it in.
Town centre plots off the High Street and Bancroft are long and narrow
Medieval burgage plots survive on the western side of High Street in Hitchin and on both sides of Bancroft. They produce long thin building plots, reflected in places by alley ways, carriage entrances and courts. The pattern is set out in the council's adopted character statement for the conservation area.
A long thin plot suits a knock through along its length, and it makes the rear the natural place to bring light in. It also decides how the steel gets in, where a skip can stand, and whether a beam comes through the front of the house or down an alley. We measure the carry route at survey, including the turn at the doorway and the ceiling height inside.
Outside the conservation areas the planning question is a different one
Late 19th century terraced housing in the Lancaster Road, York Road, Duke's Lane, Ickleford Road and Bunyan Road area was inspected during the 2011 conservation area review. It was rejected as being too altered to merit conservation area status, so the review did not bring those streets into a conservation area. The Article 4 direction over the Hitchin Conservation Area does not reach them.
That changes the planning question, not the structural one. The beam, the bearings, the floor build up and the fire and escape arrangements are still inspected, and the engineer's calculations are still needed. We confirm the designation for your address rather than reading it off the street name.
- Radiator relocation and underfloor heating in the new layout
- Level flooring and threshold removal across the whole space
- Lighting, heating and electrical reconfiguration
- Heat loss and acoustic considerations before the wall comes out
- Rooflights and glazed roofs to bring light deep into the plan
Why Choose GS Renovation in Hitchin
An open plan conversion is one job with several trades in a fixed order, and the order is where these schemes come apart. The engineer's calculations come before the steel is ordered. The temporary support goes in before the wall comes down. The floor, the services and the ceiling follow the beam, not the other way round. We hold that whole sequence under one contract. You get one point of contact for the engineer, the steel, the flooring and the building control sign off, with no gap between them for a job to fall into. GS Renovation Ltd is fully insured and registered in England, company number 14611254, and quotations are free and without obligation.
- Honest updates if a date or a detail has to move
- Our own trades on site rather than a chain of subcontractors
- Lighting circuits zoned rather than one pendant in the middle
- Broken-plan and Crittall-style options priced alongside full open-plan
- One point of contact on the phone, not a call centre
- Beam depth checked against ceiling heights before you commit