An RSJ is the steel beam that carries the load once a wall is taken out. Our work is the survey, the propping, the beam, the padstones, the making good and the building control inspections. We appoint a structural engineer to produce the calculations and we build to what they issue. We never write those calculations ourselves. This page covers what an RSJ job on a High Wycombe property involves, and who signs it off.
Building control for an RSJ in High Wycombe goes to Buckinghamshire Council
Buckinghamshire Council runs its own building control service, and the team covering the former Wycombe district area, which includes High Wycombe, can be reached on 01494 421 403. That is the team your beam is notified to.
The council lists removing 1 or 2 internal load-bearing walls as work you can apply for by building notice rather than by full plans. A single opening carried on one beam sits inside that description. We make the application and hold the paperwork, so you are not chasing the council between visits.
Inspections have to be booked around the steel, not after it
Buckinghamshire Council carries out building control site inspections only between 10am and 3pm, Monday to Friday, excluding public holidays, and asks for them to be booked the day before they are needed. A beam that is propped, lifted and bricked up inside one day leaves no window for a same day visit.
We plan the propping, the lift and the bearings around that booking window. The inspector then sees the opening at the stage that matters, rather than a finished wall with a beam somewhere inside it. Booking a day ahead is part of our programme rather than an afterthought.
What the beam finally bears on is chalk
The bedrock under High Wycombe is chalk. British Geological Survey 1:50,000 mapping returns a Chalk Group formation at every point sampled across the town, from the valley floor at Frogmoor to the plateau at Booker.
A steel beam gathers the load of everything above it into two bearing points. Those points have to carry down through the existing structure to ground able to take them. Where your engineer specifies a new pier or a pad foundation, we open up, record what is actually there and report it before the steel is ordered.
- Steel delivered cut, drilled and primed to the engineer's schedule
- Beam boxing, fire protection and plasterboard encasement
- Concrete and high-density padstones at every bearing
- RSJ and structural steel beam installation
- Structural openings for open-plan living
The GS Renovation Difference in High Wycombe
We are a contractor, not an engineering practice. For an RSJ in High Wycombe we appoint the structural engineer, build to the calculations they issue, and keep the propping in place until the steel is bearing correctly. We make the building control application to Buckinghamshire Council and book the inspections around our own programme, so the opening is seen at the right stage. That gives you one point of contact for the engineer, the steel, the brickwork and the sign off. GS Renovation Ltd is fully insured and registered in England, company number 14611254, and quotations are free and without obligation.
- Beams boxed and fire protected to the approved detail
- Photographs kept at each stage for your records
- Structural engineer instructed and coordinated on your behalf
- Registered in England, Companies House no. 14611254
- Restricted London access planned before the steel arrives
- Free follow-up visit after completion if anything needs attention