Structural alteration covers the work that changes how a building carries itself: new openings, removals, beams, strengthening and support. We coordinate the structural engineer, build to their calculations and arrange the building control inspections. We never produce the calculations ourselves. On a Royston property the constraints are as much about consent, and about what sits under the floor, as about the steel.
Four buildings in Royston are listed grade I, and listed building consent runs separately
The Local Plan records four grade I listed buildings in the town: the parish church of St John the Baptist, The Old Palace at 23 Kneesworth Street, 18 Melbourn Street and Royston Cave. The Manor House in Melbourn Street, an early 18th century red brick house with vertical sliding sash windows, is listed grade II star.
Listed building consent is decided separately from building regulations and covers work affecting character, inside as well as out. Where a property is listed, that consent sits at the front of the programme rather than the end of it. We build to the consent as granted and to the engineer's design within it, and we are not architects or heritage consultants.
There are hand cut voids in the chalk under central Royston
Royston Cave is a man made chamber cut into the chalk beneath the road in the town centre, rediscovered in 1742, with rectangular and oven shaped recesses cut into its walls. Its present entrance is a 22 metre access tunnel dug in 1790 by a local builder, Thomas Watson, linking the cave to number 8 Melbourn Street.
Anything that changes how load reaches the ground, an underpin, a new pad or a pier, needs to know what it is bearing on. Local Plan Policy HE4 also requires a desk based assessment where a heritage asset with archaeological interest is affected, and a field evaluation where that is justified. We raise both before the design is fixed rather than after a hole is open.
A single Royston wall can be built of two different materials
The boundary wall between the entrance to Stamford's Yard and number 32 Kneesworth Street is built of clunch, exposed on the yard side and faced in gault brickwork in rat trap bond on the side facing number 32. One wall, two materials, and rat trap bond leaves voids inside the brickwork rather than a solid section.
The Corn Exchange, built in 1829 by Lord Dacre, is an example of a building constructed of the moulded yellow bricks patented by Caleb Hitch. Patent and hand made bricks do not match modern dimensions or strengths. Where a new opening meets them, the making good is a matching exercise as well as a structural one, and we agree the approach with you at survey.
Roof heights vary between neighbours in Royston, which matters at roof level
The council's townscape analysis records buildings in the conservation area as largely two storeys with some three storey buildings, and roof heights varying between neighbours because of their different dates and methods of construction. Roofs are predominantly simple gables with the ridges running parallel to the street, and few buildings present a gable end to the road.
Work at roof level therefore starts from your roof rather than from a standard one. A steel at ridge or eaves, a purlin wall removed, or a new opening in a gable all depend on how that particular roof was framed and where it bears. We survey the existing structure and the engineer designs from what the survey finds.
- Building control applications and completion certification
- Steel beam and RSJ installation
- Steel goalpost and portal frames to the engineer's design
- Trial holes to confirm foundation depth and ground conditions
- Load paths carried down to foundations on new piers and pads
Why Royston Homeowners Choose GS Renovation
The consent route is what separates a smooth structural job from a stalled one, and in Royston there are two routes to keep apart. Planning and listed building consent are decided by the council. Building regulations approval and inspection are a separate process. We coordinate the structural engineer, build to the calculations issued, and arrange the building control applications and inspections, so the paperwork and the programme move together. We appoint engineers, we do not employ them as our own practice, and we never issue calculations under our own name. GS Renovation Ltd is fully insured, registered in England, company number 14611254, with one point of contact from survey to sign off.
- Clean, tidy and reliable tradespeople
- Work sequenced around the surveyors' schedule of condition before excavation
- Site left safe and secure at the end of every day
- The engineer's calculations obtained and worked to on site
- Every alteration certified rather than quietly built over
- Materials priced at options, so you choose the finish