RSJ and Steel Beam Installation Ealing

GS Renovation installs RSJs and steel beams across Ealing, from the bay-fronted Victorian terraces of Hanwell to the Edwardian villas near Walpole Park. We remove load-bearing walls safely and open up these period homes for modern family living.

In Ealing, a steel beam for one opening typically costs £1,500 to £4,000 fitted and signed off, or £2,500 to £6,500 or more for a full knock-through with the engineer's fee and making good (indicative London ranges, MyBuilder and Checkatrade, 2026). GS Renovation Ltd, a building contractor based in Potters Bar, does the work in Ealing.

How the job runs

1. Free site survey at your Ealing address and an itemised quote.
2. The engineer we appoint sizes the beam, and the work is registered with Ealing Council building control or an approved inspector. On a shared wall you serve the party wall notice as building owner; we supply the drawings.
3. Props go in, the opening is cut and the beam is set on padstones, packed tight above.
4. Building control inspects the steel before it is covered. We make good, and the completion certificate follows.

Removing load-bearing walls in Ealing terraces

The typical Ealing project takes a bay-fronted Victorian or Edwardian terrace and removes the wall between the front and middle receptions, or the wall into the rear closet wing. Because these solid-brick dividing walls carry the floors and often a chimney stack above, a structural engineer sizes the beam first. We then set out temporary propping, take the wall down in safe staged sections and lift the steel into position.

Every RSJ bears onto padstones spread across sound brickwork so the load transfers cleanly into the walls below. In older Ealing houses we frequently find that the wall being altered also supports a chimney breast, so the engineer calculates for that extra weight. Once the beam is seated and packed, we case it, make good and leave a clean opening ready for plastering.

Housing in Ealing

On the valuation list Ealing counts about 149,900 homes, 54% flats and 46% houses; 28% predate 1919, 30% are interwar and 42% post-war. Most homes here are flats, and a beam in a leasehold flat in Ealing needs the freeholder's licence for alterations, since the lease usually keeps the structure with the freeholder.

Choosing who signs off your Ealing steel before it is ordered

Before the steel is ordered in Ealing, decide who is going to check it. Ealing Council runs its own building control service and says it will go on acting as the service provider of last resort when no alternative provider can be found. It also says it currently has severe backlogs with customers who reverted to council building control after their private sector company failed. For a beam, that matters on site. If the body you appointed stops trading between the bearing inspection and the final visit, the file has to move, and the new body has to be satisfied about work it never saw.

So treat the choice as part of the structural design, not an afterthought. Whichever body you use, keep your own copies of the approved calculations from the structural engineer we appoint, the drawings, every inspection record and dated photographs of each padstone and bearing before it is packed and boxed in. Ask us for those photographs as the work goes in. A reverted file with pictures of the bearings is far easier to close than one that relies on memory. If you pick a private provider, ask how its records would pass to Ealing Council if it stopped trading, and get the answer in writing.

Party walls and building control in Ealing

In Ealing's terraced streets the dividing wall between you and your neighbour is usually a shared party wall, and chimney stacks often straddle that boundary. Where our steelwork cuts into or bears onto a party wall, the Party Wall Act applies, so you serve notice on the adjoining owner as building owner before work starts (or your surveyor does). We flag this early, give your surveyor the engineer's drawings and programme around the notice, so the schedule stays on track.

Removing a load-bearing wall is controlled under building regulations rather than planning permission, so it needs building control sign-off, arranged through Ealing Council or a registered building control approver. We supply the engineer's calculations, carry out the propping and installation to those drawings, and arrange the inspections. You receive the completion certificate that proves the structural work was done correctly, which matters when you come to sell in W7 or UB1.

Choosing the right steel for the opening

Not every opening wants the same section. A straightforward run between two supporting walls is usually a universal beam, deep and efficient, which is why a downstand appears under the ceiling. Where headroom is tight, a wider and shallower section, or a pair of channels bolted back to back, can carry the same load in less depth. Where the wall also supports the rear external wall, the answer is often a goalpost frame with posts and base plates.

The engineer makes that call, not us, but the brief they work to comes from you. Whether you want to keep full ceiling height, whether the beam can be seen, how wide the opening needs to be and what sits above it all feed into the design. It is worth spending time on that conversation, because comparing options on paper costs far less than changing the steel once it has been fabricated and delivered.

• Party wall process explained, and the beam built to the award
• Temporary propping and staged, controlled demolition
• Existing pipework and cabling diverted around the new opening

VOA Council Tax stock of properties, March 2025, for all 41 statistical areas in Ealing. Counts rounded by the VOA.

Plenty of Ealing projects start with one job and grow, so it helps to see home renovation in Ealing, our Ealing area guide, London builders who fit steel, party walls and steel beams, RSJ and steel beam installation anywhere in London and Lintel Replacement Cost.

Trusted RSJ and Steel Beam Installation in Ealing

Ealing homeowners choose GS Renovation because one experienced team handles the engineer's design, the propping, the steel and the making good, with our founder's 30+ years on the tools. We arrange building control and keep an occupied home clean and safe throughout, giving you a signed-off opening built to last.

Checked by Abdelaaziz Saaid, founder and director of GS Renovation Ltd (Companies House no. 14611254). Structural design is by the consulting engineer appointed to your project.