GS Renovation creates open-plan spaces in New Cross homes, opening up the classic two-reception layout of SE14's bay-fronted Victorian and Edwardian terraces. From simple knock-throughs to kitchen-diners across the rear closet wing and side return, broken-plan zoning and Crittall dividers, we handle the structure with over 30 years of local experience.
Open-plan layouts for New Cross terraces
The standard New Cross terrace has two reception rooms divided by a load-bearing wall, with a kitchen tucked into the rear closet wing. Knocking the receptions together, or opening the back reception into the kitchen across the side return, transforms how these homes live. Because the dividing wall usually carries floor loads and often a chimney breast, the opening has to be spanned by a properly designed steel beam, not simply widened.
We work with your architect or designer, or plan the layout with you directly, and translate it into structure. A broken-plan scheme might keep a stub of wall or use a Crittall-style glazed divider to zone the kitchen-diner while retaining light. The engineer sizes the beam for the opening, we prop the floors, remove the wall in stages and seat the steel on padstones so the space feels open but stays sound.
Getting knock-throughs signed off in SE14
Opening up a New Cross terrace is structural work under the Building Regulations, so Lewisham Council's building control or an approved inspector reviews the beam design, inspects the steel and bearings before they are boxed in, and certifies the job. It is not a planning matter, unless you are also altering the exterior within a conservation area, which a straightforward internal knock-through is not.
Since the wall you are opening frequently sits on or against the shared party wall, and may contain a flue, the Party Wall Act often applies and notice goes to the neighbour first. We coordinate the engineer and building control, prop and demolish safely, and finish the kitchen-diner or knock-through cleanly, from flush ceilings to any Crittall divider, so the open-plan result looks intended rather than improvised.
- Open-plan kitchen-diner conversions
- Ventilation and extraction planned for an open kitchen
- Level flooring and threshold removal across the whole space
- Rooflights and glazed roofs to bring light deep into the plan
- Structural engineer coordination and building control sign-off
The GS Renovation Difference in New Cross
For open-plan conversions in New Cross, GS Renovation delivers the structure behind the design. One team handles the engineer's beam calculations, Lewisham building control sign-off and the build itself, whether it is a knock-through, a kitchen-diner across the side return or a Crittall-divided broken-plan scheme. Safe propping, tidy working in your SE14 home and 30+ years of experience underpin the result.
- Registered in England, Companies House no. 14611254
- Heat loss and acoustics considered before the wall comes out
- Floor levels and thresholds evened out across the whole space
- The house kept usable while the opening is formed in stages
- Paperwork and certificates handed over for when you sell
- Clean, tidy and reliable tradespeople