GS Renovation installs steel beams and RSJs across Kentish Town, working daily in the bay-fronted Victorian and Edwardian terraces that line the NW5 streets between Camden Town and Highgate. With over 30 years of structural experience, we remove load-bearing walls safely, from ground-floor knock-throughs to loft conversions, all sized, propped and signed off correctly.
Load-bearing wall removal in Kentish Town
The typical Kentish Town job opens up a solid-brick Victorian terrace, taking down the wall between the front and rear reception rooms or removing the closet-wing wall to widen the kitchen. Because these walls carry the floor and often the chimney breast above, a structural engineer sizes the RSJ first. We then set out temporary propping, cut carefully and lower the steel onto padstones so the load transfers cleanly to the existing brickwork.
Solid nine-inch walls in NW5 homes behave differently to modern cavity construction, so we never guess at bearings. Every beam sits on a properly calculated padstone, the propping stays in place until the steel is loaded, and demolition happens in staged sections rather than all at once. This keeps the floors above stable and protects the original cornicing and plaster that Kentish Town owners want to keep.
Party wall steelwork in NW5 terraces
Most Kentish Town terraces share a party wall with the neighbours on both sides, and chimney stacks and dividing walls frequently sit within that shared structure. When a beam bearing lands in or on a party wall, the Party Wall Act applies. We flag this early, help you serve the correct notices on adjoining owners, and coordinate the timing so the steelwork proceeds without disputes or delays with the houses either side.
Building control is the other non-negotiable. Structural beam installation is governed by Building Regulations rather than planning permission, so Camden Council building control, or an approved inspector, checks the engineer's calculations and inspects the padstones and bearings before the opening is closed up. We arrange those inspections, keep the sign-off paperwork in order and hand you a completion certificate you can produce whenever you sell the house.
Who does what on a steel job
Four parties are usually involved and it helps to know which is which. The structural engineer is appointed to survey, calculate and design the beam, and we never produce those calculations ourselves. Building control, either the council or an approved inspector, checks that what gets built matches that design. A party wall surveyor comes in where notice is dissented or the work is complicated enough to want one.
We are the contractor. That means we appoint and coordinate the engineer, serve the notices, book the inspections, carry out the propping, the demolition, the steelwork and the making good, then hand you the certificates at the end. Owners in NW5 sometimes ring three separate firms for those roles and end up managing the gaps between them. One point of responsibility is simpler, and nobody is left waiting on somebody else's drawing. It also means one firm answers for the finished work rather than three pointing at each other.
- Temporary propping and staged, controlled demolition
- Load-bearing wall removal and knock-throughs
- Flitch beams where a slimmer steel and timber solution suits
- Building control applications and inspection sign-off
- Structural openings for open-plan living
Trusted RSJ and Steel Beam Installation in Kentish Town
Kentish Town homeowners choose GS Renovation because we handle the whole beam job under one roof, from engineer's calculations to propping, steel and building control sign-off. Thirty years working NW5 terraces means we know how these solid-wall houses are built, we work tidily in occupied homes, and we leave the structure certified and safe.
- A written scope and programme agreed before work starts
- Making good and plastering priced in, not treated as an extra
- Aftercare and snagging support once the job is finished
- Levels and deflection checked before the props come out
- Building control applications and inspections coordinated for you
- Our own trades on site rather than a chain of subcontractors