GS Renovation opens up Southwark homes for modern living, from knock-throughs in Peckham terraces to kitchen-diners in Dulwich villas and broken-plan layouts in Bermondsey warehouse flats. With over 30 years across SE1, SE16, SE17 and SE22, we turn cramped period rooms near Borough Market and the South Bank into bright, connected spaces that are properly engineered.
Open-plan living in Southwark's period homes
The classic Southwark knock-through joins the two reception rooms of a Georgian or Victorian terrace, but the dividing wall is usually load-bearing and often ties into the party wall shared with next door. We start with a structural engineer sizing the steel, then form the opening on padstones with staged demolition and temporary propping, so the floors and stack above stay fully supported throughout.
Not every scheme is a full knock-through. In Dulwich and Camberwell family homes we create kitchen-diners by opening the rear rooms, and broken-plan layouts using Crittall-style glazed dividers give a sense of openness while keeping cooking smells and noise in check. In SE16 warehouse conversions many partitions are non-structural, so a broken-plan rework can be lighter, though the freeholder's consent still governs the change.
Consents behind a Southwark open-plan project
An internal open-plan conversion is a Building Regulations job, not a planning one, so Southwark Council's building control inspects the steel, its bearings and the propping. Planning or listed-building consent only arises if the work touches the exterior of a property in one of the borough's conservation areas or a listed Dulwich or Bermondsey building. We identify which regime applies to your address before quoting.
Where the new opening cuts into the party wall shared with a neighbour, the Party Wall Act applies and you serve notice first. In Bermondsey and other SE16 leasehold flats we instead obtain the freeholder's licence to alter, coordinate with the managing agent and respect building-management rules on sound insulation between flats. From engineer to sign-off, one team keeps the whole conversion moving.
- Lighting, heating and electrical reconfiguration
- Rooflights and glazed roofs to bring light deep into the plan
- Radiator relocation and underfloor heating in the new layout
- Utility and boot room space carved out of the new layout
- Beam depth checked against existing ceiling heights
The GS Renovation Difference in Southwark
For open-plan conversions in Southwark, GS Renovation gives you a single accountable team rather than a scatter of trades. We arrange the engineer's beam design or freeholder consent, and Southwark building control sign-off, then deliver the steel, propping and finishes cleanly in your home. Over 30 years across the borough backs every knock-through.
- Heat loss and acoustics considered before the wall comes out
- Photographs kept at each stage for your records
- Materials priced at options, so you choose the finish
- Our own trades on site rather than a chain of subcontractors
- Heating and radiator positions reworked for the new layout
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