GS Renovation installs RSJs and steel beams across Wimbledon, working daily with the bay-fronted Victorian and Edwardian terraces that fill SW19 around Wimbledon Common and the All England Club. With over 30 years of structural experience in Merton, we remove load-bearing walls safely and give you a bright, open ground floor that still stands solid.
Removing load-bearing walls in Wimbledon terraces
The dividing wall between the front reception and the middle room in a Wimbledon terrace is almost always load-bearing, carrying floor joists and the weight above. We never touch it on assumptions. A structural engineer calculates the load and specifies the correct RSJ, and we cast or bed padstones so each end of the beam bears properly onto solid masonry rather than crushing old brickwork.
Before any brick comes down, we install temporary propping to hold the floors and any chimney breast above, then work through a staged, controlled demolition. On the solid-wall construction typical of these SW19 homes, tidy sequencing matters, so we cut back cleanly, seat the steel, pack the bearings and only strike the props once everything is fully supported and dry.
Party wall duties on Wimbledon steel projects
Many Wimbledon terraces share a party wall with next door, and chimney stacks and dividing walls frequently sit right on that line. When a steel beam bears into a shared wall, or you cut pockets for padstones within it, the Party Wall etc. Act 1996 applies. We flag this early so you can serve the correct notice on your neighbour before work begins and avoid disputes later.
We coordinate the structural drawings, the engineer's calculations and the notices so nothing stalls on site. Building control must inspect and sign off the beam installation, checking the bearings, fire protection to the steel and the finished padstones. We book the inspections, meet the surveyor and hand you the completion certificate, which matters when you eventually sell a home in Merton.
Setting out in a house that is not square
No Victorian house is square, and a new opening makes that obvious. The floor slopes, the ceiling is not parallel to it, and the two walls the beam spans between are rarely the same height or exactly opposite one another. If the steel is simply set to the existing ceiling line, the finished opening looks wrong even though the structure is perfect.
So we set out from a datum measured around the room rather than from any single surface. The beam goes in level, since that is what the engineer designed, and the casing and reveals are then packed and adjusted to take up the differences gradually where the eye will not catch them. Where the discrepancy is too large to disguise, we tell you at the outset and agree whether the ceiling is levelled across the whole room or the opening is allowed to follow the house as it has always sat.
- Party Wall Act 1996 notices and awards handled
- Concrete and high-density padstones at every bearing
- Goalpost frames where two walls meet at a corner
- RSJ and structural steel beam installation
- Access and lifting plans for restricted London sites
Trusted RSJ and Steel Beam Installation in Wimbledon
Wimbledon homeowners choose GS Renovation because we treat structural work as structural work. Engineer-sized steel, proper padstones, temporary propping and staged demolition, plus honest handling of building control sign-off. Over 30 years across SW19 means we know how these Victorian and Edwardian terraces are built and how to open them up without cutting corners.
- Registered in England, Companies House no. 14611254
- Building control inspected at the propping and beam stages
- Building control applications and inspections coordinated for you
- One point of contact on the phone, not a call centre
- Steel ordered cut, drilled and primed to the schedule
- Paperwork and certificates handed over for when you sell