GS Renovation installs RSJs and steel beams throughout Hendon, from the 1930s semi-detached houses off the main NW4 roads to the mansion blocks near Brent Cross. With more than 30 years of structural experience across Barnet, we remove load-bearing walls safely and open up these generous interwar plans for modern family living.
Steel beam design for Hendon interwar homes
Hendon's 1930s semis were built with solid or early cavity brick walls and a fairly compartmentalised layout, so almost any wall you want to lose between the front and back reception is doing structural work. Before we touch it, a structural engineer calculates the load and specifies the beam, whether that is a single RSJ or a goalpost frame, along with the padstones the ends bear onto.
We then set up temporary propping, take the wall down in careful stages, and lift the steel into position onto its padstones. Everything is checked and signed off by building control under the Building Regulations. On a typical Hendon semi the beam carries the floor above and, on the flank wall, part of the roof, so the padstone bearing has to be exactly as the engineer drew it.
Party wall duties on shared Hendon walls
Because so many Hendon houses are semi-detached, the wall between you and your neighbour is a shared party wall, and the chimney breasts and stacks often sit within it. Where your steelwork bears into or cuts into that wall, the Party Wall Act applies and your neighbour must be served the correct notice before work starts. We flag this early so the notice period does not hold up the build.
For a mid-terrace or an end-of-terrace property near Golders Green or Finchley the same principle holds on the adjoining flank. We coordinate the propping, the engineer's details and the notice timing so the structural opening proceeds cleanly. Getting the party wall paperwork right protects both households and keeps the project on programme rather than stalling at the demolition stage.
What happens in the floor above the beam
Fitting the steel is only half of what happens at ceiling level. The joists that were bearing on the wall have to be transferred onto the new beam, and how that is done depends on the engineer's detail. If the beam sits below them they simply rest on the top flange and are strapped. If it is raised into the floor zone to keep the ceiling flat, each joist is cut back and carried on a hanger bolted or welded to the web.
That work means the ceiling in the room, and sometimes a strip of the bedroom floor above, is opened up and reinstated. In a 1930s Hendon semi the ceiling below is often the original lath and plaster, which does not take kindly to being cut, so we usually plan to overboard and skim the whole ceiling rather than patch a strip that will always show. You are told which of those applies before we begin.
- Structural engineer's calculations arranged and followed
- Load-bearing wall removal and knock-throughs
- Temporary propping and staged, controlled demolition
- Flitch beams where a slimmer steel and timber solution suits
- Ceiling and floor levels resolved where the beam sits below joists
Why Hendon Homeowners Choose GS Renovation
Hendon homeowners choose GS Renovation because one team manages the engineer's calculations, the propping, the safe demolition and the building control sign-off. We understand how these 1930s semis and NW4 mansion blocks are built, we coordinate the work around the party wall award on shared walls, and 30+ years in Barnet means the steel goes in right the first time.
- Building control inspected at the propping and beam stages
- High-density concrete padstones bedded at every bearing
- Clean, tidy and reliable tradespeople
- Free, no-obligation quotations
- A written scope and programme agreed before work starts
- Steel ordered cut, drilled and primed to the schedule