An RSJ is the steel beam that takes the load when a wall comes out. Our part is the survey, the propping, the beam, the padstones, the making good and the inspections that sign the work off. We appoint a structural engineer for the calculations and build to what they issue. We never write those calculations ourselves. This page sets out what an RSJ job on a Berkhamsted property involves, and who checks it.
Building control for an RSJ in Berkhamsted goes to Hertfordshire Building Control
Dacorum Borough Council does not run its own building control service, and states that its building control services are provided by Hertfordshire Building Control. Hertfordshire Building Control was created in 2016 to provide building control services for several local authority districts in Hertfordshire. Dacorum is its eighth member. The notice for your beam therefore does not go to the council offices.
Applications for Berkhamsted go to Hertfordshire Building Control at 4th Floor, Campus West, Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire AL8 6BX, telephone 01438 879990, or through the Planning Portal. We make that application and book the inspections around the steel going in, so the propping, the bearings and the beam are each seen at the right stage rather than after the fact.
The ground under Berkhamsted is chalk, with softer material along the valley floor
British Geological Survey 1:50,000 mapping gives New Pit Chalk Formation as the bedrock beneath the central High Street, Chapel Street, Bridge Street, Kings Road, Chesham Road, Bridgewater Road and Berkhamsted Castle. Over the valley floor at the central High Street, and at the canal by Castle Street bridge, the same mapping shows Head, described as clay, silt, sand and gravel, as the superficial deposit.
That matters where a beam lands. A steel beam concentrates the load of everything above it onto two small bearing points, and those points have to carry down to something able to take them. Where your engineer calls for a new pier or a pad foundation, what sits beneath it is a question to answer before the steel is ordered. We open up, record what is there and pass it on.
Getting steel into a terraced house on these streets takes planning
A steel beam arrives on a lorry and is carried in by hand, so access is part of the price rather than an afterthought. Dacorum's design guidance for Berkhamsted states that off street parking is not characteristic of many of the 19th century residential streets. The Berkhamsted Conservation Area Character Appraisal records that the High Street is roughly level along its length, while the side streets leading southwards from it rise steeply. It gives Highfield Road through to Kitsbury Road as the example.
The appraisal also records that Highfield Road and Victoria Road were built during the mid to late 19th century with small terraced houses similar to those on Bridge Street and Chapel Street. A small terrace, a steep street and no off street parking change the method rather than the outcome. We agree the delivery point, the carry route and the propping sequence with you before the order goes in.
- Level, plumb and deflection checks before props are struck
- Steel delivered cut, drilled and primed to the engineer's schedule
- Structural openings for open-plan living
- Temporary propping and staged, controlled demolition
- Concrete and high-density padstones at every bearing
Why Choose GS Renovation in Berkhamsted
We are a contractor, not an engineering practice. For a Berkhamsted beam we appoint the structural engineer, build to the calculations they issue, and hold the propping until the steel is in and bearing correctly. The building control application goes to Hertfordshire Building Control rather than to the council, and we make it and book the inspections around our own programme. That means one point of contact for the engineer, the steel, the brickwork and the sign off. GS Renovation Ltd is fully insured, registered in England, company number 14611254, and quotations are free and without obligation.
- Founder-led team with 30+ years of hands-on experience
- Making good and plastering priced in, not treated as an extra
- High-density concrete padstones bedded at every bearing
- A dedicated project manager from first survey to handover
- Site left safe and secure at the end of every day
- Rated 4.9 from 31 reviews on MyBuilder