GS Renovation creates open-plan and broken-plan living in Kennington's period homes, opening up the compartmented ground floors of SE11's Georgian and Regency townhouses. With 30+ years of structural experience in Lambeth, we knock through, form kitchen-diners and fit Crittall dividers, all properly supported and building-control certified.
Opening up Kennington's period floors
Georgian and Regency townhouses in Kennington were designed as separate front and rear rooms divided by a solid spine wall, which is precisely why so many SE11 owners want them opened out into a single light-filled space. Because that dividing wall is load-bearing, a knock-through is never just a demolition job. A structural engineer sizes the steel beam that will span the new opening and carry the floors above once the wall has gone.
We install the beam onto padstones, prop the structure while we work, and take the wall down in staged sections so the load transfers safely onto the new steel. Many Kennington clients now prefer broken-plan layouts, using a wide structural opening with Crittall-style glazed dividers to keep a kitchen-diner feeling connected yet distinct, which also respects the proportions of a period room rather than gutting it completely.
Getting sign-off right in SE11
An open-plan conversion in Kennington is governed by Building Regulations, not planning permission, so Lambeth Council's building control inspects the beam and its bearings against the engineer's calculations and issues the certificate you will want on record. Where the new beam bears into the party wall shared with your neighbour, the Party Wall Act applies and you serve the required notice before starting, so consents are in place from day one.
Many Kennington houses are listed or within a conservation area, which affects the exterior rather than an internal knock-through; we keep the structural work inside and flag early if a change would ever reach a controlled facade. The result is a bright, connected ground floor, ready for a kitchen-diner opening onto the garden, delivered with the sightlines you would expect near Vauxhall and the South Bank and fully certified.
- Structural engineer coordination and building control sign-off
- Side-return integration for a wider ground floor
- Kitchen island services routed through the new floor
- Lighting, heating and electrical reconfiguration
- Flush beam detailing where a downstand would look wrong
Why Choose GS Renovation in Kennington
Kennington owners choose GS Renovation for open-plan work because one team carries it from engineer's design to finished, replastered space. We handle the steel, Lambeth building control and Crittall dividers, work cleanly in your occupied period home, and bring 30+ years of SE11 structural experience to every knock-through.
- Heat loss and acoustics considered before the wall comes out
- Lighting circuits zoned rather than one pendant in the middle
- A written scope and programme agreed before work starts
- Structure and finishes delivered by one team on one programme
- Itemised pricing, so you can see what every stage costs
- Waste cleared as we go, not left piled in the garden