GS Renovation installs steel beams and RSJs across New Cross, where the SE14 streets are lined with bay-fronted Victorian and Edwardian terraces built around rear closet wings and side returns. With over 30 years of structural experience in Lewisham, we remove load-bearing walls safely and open these period homes up without compromising the fabric above.
Sizing steel beams for New Cross terraces
Every RSJ we fit in New Cross starts with a structural engineer's calculation, not a guess. In these Victorian and Edwardian terraces the ground-floor spine wall usually carries the first-floor joists, the chimney breast and part of the roof, so the beam has to be sized for those exact loads. We set the steel onto concrete padstones spread across sound brickwork, giving the bearing the strength it needs at each end before any masonry is removed.
Because SE14 houses were built with solid walls rather than cavities, the loads travel straight down through the original London stock brick. We check the pockets we cut, confirm the padstone size against the engineer's figures, and only then transfer the weight onto the new beam. Getting the bearing right at this stage is what keeps the floors above level and the plaster crack-free for years afterwards.
Safe wall removal and propping in New Cross
Before a single brick comes out, we install temporary propping on both sides of the wall, supporting the joists above through Acrow props and strongboys bearing onto proper needles. In an occupied New Cross terrace this staged approach matters, because the family upstairs is carried safely at every point while we demolish. We take the masonry down in controlled sections rather than pulling a wall out in one go.
Many New Cross homes share a party wall with the neighbour, since the dividing wall and the chimney stack often sit astride the boundary. Where that is the case the Party Wall Act applies, and you serve the correct notices before work starts. Building control inspects the beam and its bearings, and we book those inspections so your steel is signed off and recorded on completion.
Beam choices worth thinking about
You have more say over a steel installation than most people realise. Whether the beam is left as a downstand below the ceiling or lifted flush into the floor above is a genuine choice, and it affects both cost and headroom. A flush beam means cutting the joists and hanging them off the steel, which takes longer but leaves a clean unbroken ceiling line right across the room.
The second choice is exposure. A painted or blasted steel left on show suits some SE14 houses and removes the need for boxing in, though it still needs fire protection where the regulations call for it, usually intumescent paint rather than casing. The third is whether short returns of wall stay at each end. All three go to the engineer before design, because each one changes the section size and sometimes the padstones. Where a beam will be visible, we would rather agree its finish before it is fabricated than paint over a decision afterwards.
- Ceiling and floor levels resolved where the beam sits below joists
- Making good, plastering and finishing around the new steel
- Load-bearing wall removal and knock-throughs
- Level, plumb and deflection checks before props are struck
- Bearing checks into party walls and shared masonry
Trusted RSJ and Steel Beam Installation in New Cross
New Cross homeowners choose GS Renovation because we treat structural work as structural work. One team handles the engineer's calculations, the propping, the steel, the padstones and the building control sign-off where the wall is shared. Over 30 years across Lewisham means we understand exactly how these SE14 terraces are built and carry the load.
- Honest updates if a date or a detail has to move
- Registered in England, Companies House no. 14611254
- Fully insured, with cover in place on every site
- Waste cleared as we go, not left piled in the garden
- Temporary propping in place before anything is cut
- Party Wall Act notices served where a beam bears into a shared wall