Building work in Teddington: area guide

This is our area guide to building work in Teddington (TW11, Richmond upon Thames): the housing, the council rules that apply (Richmond Council for planning) and every service we offer here. For whole-house refurbishment go to Home renovation in Teddington.

Roof structure is the detail that decides most Teddington projects. The older terraces and semis across TW11 generally have a cut timber roof with purlins rather than modern trusses, and those purlin struts frequently land on internal walls, so opening up below is a load-bearing wall removal question before it is an open-plan conversion one. We work throughout the area, in the streets running between Teddington High Street and the Thames towpath and out towards Bushy Park and Teddington Lock. Every structural alteration is designed by a structural engineer we appoint, built strictly to that design, and inspected by building control at the stages they set.

Of the 11,670 homes the valuation list records in Teddington, 40% were built before 1919, 13% between the wars and 47% since 1945; 49% are flats and 51% are houses. VOA Council Tax stock of properties, March 2025, for Teddington North, Teddington Central and Hampton Wick & Teddington East. Counts rounded by the VOA.

Purlin struts decide which Teddington walls can come out

In a cut roof the purlins run the length of each slope and are propped part way along on timber struts, and in the older TW11 terraces and semis those struts very often come down onto a spine or landing wall. A wall that looks like a light partition on the ground floor can therefore be carrying part of the roof through the first floor. Before any opening is designed, the structural engineer we appoint looks in the loft, traces each strut to where it lands and checks the joist direction on every floor, so the beam is sized for what is really above it.

Where a wall does carry roof load, the job is a load-bearing wall removal rather than a simple open-plan change: the struts are re-supported or picked up on new steel first, the opening is propped, and the beam goes in on the padstones the engineer specifies. Building control inspects the bearings before they are boxed in. In the post-war houses with trussed roofs the internal walls usually carry only the floor, which makes the same opening a smaller job.

Flats, houses and floors near the river start from different questions

Nearly half of Teddington homes are flats, in converted period houses and in post-war and newer blocks, and in a flat the lease and the freeholder's licence to alter come before any wall is moved. The houses are where most structural work happens: a rear opening, a side return infill, or a spine wall taken out so the kitchen and dining room become one room.

Close to the Thames and Teddington Lock, a ground floor deserves a look at levels, drainage and airbricks before any floor is replaced, because a suspended timber floor depends on the void below staying dry and ventilated. That check is part of the survey rather than something discovered halfway through a kitchen fit.

Where to go next for work in Teddington: house extensions in Teddington, the Richmond upon Thames area guide, building work in Twickenham, building work in Surbiton and Renovation Mistakes to Avoid.