Structural alteration covers anything that changes how a building carries its own weight: new openings, removed walls, altered roofs and new floors. In Esher it can involve planning permission, listed building consent and building regulations, and those are three separate consents. We appoint the structural engineer, build to the calculations, and coordinate the applications and inspections.
The authority you are dealing with in Esher
Elmbridge Borough Council is the local planning authority for Esher. Its adopted development plan is made up of the Core Strategy and the Development Management Plan 2015, covering the period 2011 to 2026, and the Core Strategy was adopted in July 2011. Planning consent and building regulations are decided separately, and an alteration can need one, both or neither.
Building control is a different body again. EBCS provides building control for both Elmbridge Borough Council and Epsom and Ewell. We make the application, agree the inspection stages and hold the paperwork together so the completion certificate arrives at the end.
Listed buildings and buildings that count without being listed
Listing controls internal structure, not just elevations. There are 25 listed buildings in the Esher Conservation Area, including three monuments in the High Street, and every one is Grade II except St George's Church, which is Grade I. Listed building consent is a separate application from planning permission, and internal structural work needs it.
Unlisted buildings can still be constrained. The Esher appraisal identifies 147 unlisted buildings that make a positive contribution to the character or appearance of the conservation area. Two weatherboarded cottages on Milbourne Lane date from around 1810. Structure of that age is timber and irregular, so it is opened up and inspected before anything is designed around it.
Alterations in the roof and attic storey
Changing a roof changes how load reaches the walls below. Elmbridge records that larger houses in sub-area ESH02 are between two and three storeys, with attic storeys lit by dormers or rooflights. The Esher appraisal records roof pitches of 45 to 50 degrees on the original Clive Road houses.
A steep pitch and an occupied attic mean purlins, struts and binders are doing real work. Forming a dormer or an opening in that frame needs the engineer's design and building control sign off. Temporary support holds the roof while the new members go in, and that sequence is agreed before the first tile comes off.
Ground, geology and flood risk
Where an alteration puts new load into the ground, the ground decides the foundation. The appraisal notes that the upper levels of the London Clay under Esher, where they contain sand, are known as the Claygate Beds. It also states that to the south-west of Esher, and within the conservation area itself, the London Clay is overlain by Bracklesham Beds of sand and gravel. British Geological Survey 1:50,000 mapping records the bedrock beneath Lower Green as the London Clay Formation, clay and silt, part of the Thames Group.
Water is the other ground question. Elmbridge describes Esher as sitting on relatively flat ground on the southern slope of the Thames valley. Elmbridge adopted its Flood Risk supplementary planning document on 3 May 2016. It includes a flood risk assessment template for small scale development including householder extensions. That template is used for work in Flood Zone 2 and in areas of medium to high surface water flood risk.
- Building control applications and completion certification
- Drainage diversion and build-over agreements where required
- Underpinning and foundation strengthening in sequenced bays
- Reinstatement, plastering and finishing after structural works
- Steel goalpost and portal frames to the engineer's design
Why Esher Homeowners Choose GS Renovation
The value we add is coordination, not calculation. We are a contractor: we appoint the structural engineer, build strictly to the calculations issued, and never produce them ourselves. Where listed building consent or planning permission is involved, we build to the drawings your architect or agent has had approved, and we keep the building control inspections in step with the programme. That gives you one point of contact across engineer, building control and site. Fully insured, registered in England, company number 14611254, and rated 4.9 from 31 reviews on MyBuilder.
- Building control applications and inspections coordinated for you
- A written scope and programme agreed before work starts
- Materials priced at options, so you choose the finish
- Honest updates if a date or a detail has to move
- Building control inspected at foundation, steel and completion
- Existing structure protected and monitored as the engineer requires