From new openings to replacement joists and supported openings, GS Renovation carries out structural alterations throughout Brent's mansion blocks and period flats. With over 30 years of experience across NW2, NW9, NW10 and HA0, we build the steelwork to the engineer's design behind knock-throughs, widened doorways and reinforced floors in Wembley, Willesden and Kilburn, all inspected and certified.
Structural alterations for Brent period flats
Structural alterations in Brent cover far more than knocking through: new openings between rooms, replacement joists where old timber floors have deflected, supported openings for wider doorways, and occasionally underpinning where a ground-floor flat has movement. In the borough's purpose-built period flats, original floor structures can be a century old, so we always start with an engineer's inspection rather than assumptions about what lies behind the plaster.
When an alteration removes or reduces support, our engineer specifies the steel and the padstones it bears onto, and we prop the surrounding structure before any cutting begins. Openings are formed in staged sequence so nothing is ever left unsupported, and new joists are hung and levelled to carry the floor above. Every element is designed to the Building Regulations and inspected by Brent Council's building control before completion.
Consents and neighbours in Brent
Internal structural alterations are governed by the Building Regulations, not planning permission, so there is no planning application for a new opening inside your NW6 or HA9 flat. Planning only enters the picture for exterior changes in a conservation area or to a listed building. What does apply to almost every Brent flat is the leasehold requirement for the freeholder's licence to alter, which we obtain before work starts.
Because flats sit above and below one another here, alterations near a party structure shared with a neighbouring home can be notifiable under the Party Wall Act, and you serve the notices where required. We coordinate with the managing agent on access and working hours, protect communal areas, and keep dust contained. You are left with a sound structural change that respects the block and its residents.
- Building control applications and completion certification
- Steel goalpost and portal frames to the engineer's design
- New door and window openings in solid masonry
- Crack repair, helical bar stitching and masonry restraint
- Drainage diversion and build-over agreements where required
Why Brent Homeowners Choose GS Renovation
Brent homeowners choose GS Renovation for structural alterations because one team owns the whole job: engineer's design, freeholder consent and Brent Council building control, plus the hands-on steelwork and making good. Three decades of work across the borough's mansion blocks and period flats mean tidy, staged working and a certified, properly supported result every time.
- Our own trades on site rather than a chain of subcontractors
- Existing structure protected and monitored as the engineer requires
- Clean, tidy and reliable tradespeople
- Every alteration certified rather than quietly built over
- Honest updates if a date or a detail has to move
- Founder-led team with 30+ years of hands-on experience