GS Renovation installs steel beams and RSJs across Kennington, from the Georgian and Regency townhouses off the SE11 streets to the Victorian terraces near Vauxhall. With over 30 years of structural experience in Lambeth, we open up load-bearing walls safely, working around the listed status and conservation constraints common to these period homes.
Load-bearing walls in Kennington townhouses
Kennington's Georgian and Regency townhouses were built with solid masonry walls, and the dividing wall between the two ground-floor reception rooms is almost always load-bearing, carrying floors and often a chimney stack above. Before any demolition, we have a structural engineer calculate and specify the correct RSJ or steel beam, along with the padstones it bears onto. This is building regulations work, signed off by Lambeth building control, not planning permission for the internal structure.
On site we install temporary propping first, then remove the masonry in safe, staged sections so nothing above is left unsupported. The steel is craned or manoeuvred into position within these tight SE11 plots, seated on its padstones and packed tight, then encased for fire protection. We keep the house watertight and secure throughout, because most of our Kennington clients are living in the property while the work goes ahead.
Party wall duties on Kennington terraces
Many Kennington homes share a party wall with the neighbour, and chimney breasts and dividing walls frequently sit within that shared structure. Where a beam bears into a party wall, or you cut into it, the Party Wall Act applies and formal notice must be served on the adjoining owner. We flag this early, coordinate with your surveyor and time the works so notices and awards are in place before the steel goes in, avoiding disputes with neighbours.
Because a good number of these townhouses are listed or fall within a Lambeth conservation area, we stay mindful of original cornicing, ceiling roses and joinery around the opening. Where a period feature can be retained or carefully reinstated, we do so, and we make good the plaster and floors so the finished opening reads as though the beam was always part of the room rather than an afterthought.
Who is responsible for what on site
It is worth being clear about the split of duties, because it protects you. The structural engineer is the designer. They survey the property, establish the loads, size the beam and the padstones, specify the bearings and the temporary works, and issue the drawing and calculations. We appoint them, brief them and give them access, but we do not produce structural calculations ourselves and we would not want a contractor who did.
We are the builder. Our job is to construct exactly what the engineer has designed, in the right sequence, with the right propping, and to have it inspected at the stages Lambeth building control requires. If the structure turns out to differ from the assumptions, the engineer is called back to revise the design before we go further. That separation is why the paperwork at the end stands up, and why nobody is marking their own homework on a wall that holds a house up.
- Lintel and catnic support to smaller openings
- Steel delivered cut, drilled and primed to the engineer's schedule
- Ceiling and floor levels resolved where the beam sits below joists
- Concrete and high-density padstones at every bearing
- Structural engineer's calculations arranged and followed
Why Kennington Homeowners Choose GS Renovation
Kennington homeowners choose GS Renovation because we treat steelwork in period, often listed property as a structural discipline, not a quick knock-through. Engineer-designed beams, correct padstones, staged propping, party wall coordination and Lambeth building control sign-off are all handled by one team with 30+ years behind it, working tidily in your occupied SE11 home.
- Aftercare and snagging support once the job is finished
- Materials priced at options, so you choose the finish
- Party Wall Act notices served where a beam bears into a shared wall
- Making good and plastering priced in, not treated as an extra
- Clean, tidy and reliable tradespeople
- Waste cleared as we go, not left piled in the garden