Structural alterations covers new openings, replacement joists, beams and support to retained masonry. GS Renovation is a contractor: we appoint the structural engineer and build to their calculations, and we never produce those calculations ourselves. In Borehamwood that means one organisation for design policy and a different one for building control.
What the geological survey shows under Borehamwood
A clean sheet, on the published mapping. BGS 1:50,000 mapping returns no superficial deposits at ten points sampled across Borehamwood, from Shenley Road to Cowley Hill, Theobald Street, Elstree Way and Barnet Lane. The same ten points show no artificial ground, so no made ground or infill appears on the published map. No mass movement deposits are recorded there either, so no landslip is shown. The sheet covering the town is EW256, North London.
That is a starting point, not a ground investigation. Mapping at 1:50,000 will not show a filled garden pond, an old soakaway or a shallow drain run under the wall you want opened up. Where an alteration reaches foundations, the engineer decides whether trial holes are needed. What the mapping does give you is the absence of the large scale surprises, which is worth knowing before anyone prices the work.
Roof alterations Hertsmere pushes back on
Three in particular. Hertsmere states it will normally refuse the conversion of a sloped hip end roof into a flat gable end roof. It states it will normally resist extensions that result in crown roofs, because they add bulk that is out of keeping with the street scene. It expects dormers to sit within the rear roof slope, and normally resists a dormer in the front roof unless one is already established in the street scene.
On size, Hertsmere states that in most cases a dormer should take up no more than 60 per cent of the roof slope. These are design positions rather than structural ones, but they decide what may be built, which in turn decides what steel and what timber the engineer has to design. Establishing the position with. Hertsmere before drawings are finalised saves paying twice for the same set.
Two organisations, not one
Hertsmere Borough Council does not run its own building control service and directs building control enquiries to Hertfordshire Building Control. So design and policy questions go to the council, while inspection of the structure goes elsewhere. Hertfordshire Building Control is registered in England under company number 09990656, and describes itself as a not for profit organisation that returns all profit to Hertfordshire local councils and their residents.
For you the effect is two sets of paperwork on two timetables. A planning decision and a building control sign off are not the same thing, and holding one does not imply the other. We coordinate the building control application and the inspections, and we tell you plainly which parts of a scheme need a Hertsmere decision and which do not.
Locally listed buildings in Borehamwood
Hertsmere's local list appendix for Elstree and Borehamwood, dated June 2016, contains 26 entries with Borehamwood addresses. Hertsmere states that being on the local list does not affect a building's permitted development rights. It also states that local listing gives it an additional basis to require extensions and external alterations to be sympathetic to the original building. The rights stay; the design scrutiny goes up.
Hertsmere's only Special Character Area, covered by Policy SADM31, is the Bushey Heath Ministry of Defence housing area, and there is no equivalent designation in Borehamwood. Internal structural work remains a Building Regulations matter in any case. Where an alteration changes the outside of a locally listed building, the design conversation with. Hertsmere comes first and the steel is designed around the answer.
- Trial holes to confirm foundation depth and ground conditions
- Structural surveys and engineer coordination
- Load paths carried down to foundations on new piers and pads
- Wall plate, joist hanger and restraint strap installation
- Lintel replacement and repair over failed openings
Why Borehamwood Homeowners Choose GS Renovation
Hertsmere sets the design policy and a separate body inspects the structure, so a Borehamwood alteration has two authorities to satisfy on two timetables. We handle both threads: engineer appointed and briefed, drawings prepared, building control application and inspections coordinated. GS Renovation is registered in England, company number 14611254, fully insured, and rated 4.9 from 31 reviews on MyBuilder.
- Our own trades on site rather than a chain of subcontractors
- Work sequenced around the surveyors' schedule of condition before excavation
- We build to the party wall award the surveyors agree, to the letter
- The engineer's calculations obtained and worked to on site
- Site left safe and secure at the end of every day
- Fully insured, with cover in place on every site