Putting a steel beam into a Weybridge house is a building control job before it is a building job. We appoint the structural engineer, build to the calculations, and coordinate the application and the inspections. We never produce structural calculations ourselves. Quotations are free and carry no obligation.
Building control approval comes before the steel is ordered
Approval comes from Elmbridge Building Control Services Limited. It is a staff owned company that describes itself as the first building control mutual in the country, and it works for Elmbridge Borough Council and for Epsom and Ewell. It offers three routes. A full plans application is assessed before work starts, a building notice is assessed during the inspections, and a regularisation application covers work already done without approval. For a beam we would normally propose the full plans route, so the engineer's calculations are checked before anyone cuts steel.
A building notice puts the weight on the inspections
Elmbridge Building Control Services says so itself. Because no plan check is made on a building notice, additional reliance is placed on the inspection stage to ensure the building regulations are complied with. On a steel beam that means the bearings, the padstones and the fire protection are judged on site rather than on paper. Neither route is wrong. We tell you which one we are proposing, we book the inspections, and we are there for them.
Templemere houses carry their load on the flank walls
Elmbridge Borough Council's character appraisal for the Templemere estate records that the houses are of cross wall construction with brick flank walls. The side walls carry the load and the front and rear elevations do not. That changes the beam question entirely. A wall running across the house may be doing nothing structural while the flank wall does everything. Nobody should read that off a plan, so the engineer opens up and confirms what is carrying before any steel is sized.
Getting steel and lifting plant onto St George's Hill
Access is the first thing to settle there. Elmbridge Borough Council records that access to St George's Hill is limited exclusively to residents and to visitors of the private tennis and golf or country club, and that affects how deliveries and lifting plant reach a site. A beam you cannot get down the road is not a beam. We agree the delivery route and the lifting method with you before the steel is ordered.
The ground is its own question. British Geological Survey mapping shows no superficial deposit on St George's Hill, so the bedrock is at the surface. Across the main estate that bedrock is Bagshot Formation sand. At the southern end around Camp End Road it is Windlesham Formation, sand, silt and clay. Sand is not shrinkable clay, so what happens under a new post or pad is for the engineer to answer for your plot.
- Temporary propping and staged, controlled demolition
- Level, plumb and deflection checks before props are struck
- Beam boxing, fire protection and plasterboard encasement
- Structural engineer's calculations arranged and followed
- Party Wall Act 1996 notices and awards handled
Why Weybridge Homeowners Choose GS Renovation
We are a contractor. We appoint a structural engineer, build to the calculations, and coordinate the building control application and the inspections. We do not issue calculations, and we are not surveyors or architects. GS Renovation Ltd is fully insured and registered in England, company number 14611254, and one person stays your point of contact from the first visit to sign off.
- High-density concrete padstones bedded at every bearing
- Levels and deflection checked before the props come out
- Registered in England, Companies House no. 14611254
- A written scope and programme agreed before work starts
- Dust screens and floor protection in occupied homes
- Photographs kept at each stage for your records