From new openings to replacement joists and underpinning, GS Renovation carries out structural alterations throughout St John's Wood's Victorian and Edwardian terraces. Over more than 30 years working across NW8 and neighbouring Marylebone and Mayfair, we have supported openings, strengthened floors and stabilised foundations in period homes, always with an engineer's design and Westminster building control behind the work.
Supported openings in St John's Wood homes
Structural alterations in St John's Wood cover far more than a single knock-through. In these bay-fronted terraces we form new openings between the front and rear rooms, cut doorways through the structural spine wall, and create wider supported openings onto side-return extensions. Each one needs a beam sized by an engineer, sitting on padstones and installed behind temporary props, so the masonry and floors above stay fully supported throughout the work.
Older NW8 properties often hide tired timber too. Where original floor joists have sagged, been notched by decades of pipework, or suffered from rot near a leaking closet wing, we replace or double them up to the engineer's specification and bring the floor back to level. On the lower ground floors we occasionally recommend underpinning, deepening the foundations in careful bays where settlement or a nearby tree has undermined the original footings.
Engineering and consents across St John's Wood
Because the party walls in St John's Wood are shared with the houses either side, alterations that cut into or load those walls, or that involve underpinning next to them, are notifiable under the Party Wall Act. You serve the correct notices on your neighbours before work begins and coordinate with any surveyors appointed, which keeps relations civil on these close-set NW8 streets and avoids disputes once the props and beams go in.
All of this is internal structural work under the Building Regulations, so Westminster City Council's building control inspects and certifies it; planning permission is a separate matter, only needed for exterior work in a conservation area or on a listed building. The engineer provides calculations, we build to them, and building control checks the underpinning bays, the padstones and the finished bearings before signing off with the certificate you keep on file.
- Steel beam and RSJ installation
- Steel goalpost and portal frames to the engineer's design
- Lintel replacement and repair over failed openings
- Drainage diversion and build-over agreements where required
- Building control applications and completion certification
Why Choose GS Renovation in St John's Wood
GS Renovation is the single team that plans, engineers and delivers structural alterations in St John's Wood from start to finish. We commission the calculations, serve the install beams and underpinning to specification, and see the building control certificate through. With 30-plus years across Westminster's period homes, you get one point of contact and a tidy, properly certified result.
- Our own trades on site rather than a chain of subcontractors
- Registered in England, Companies House no. 14611254
- Every alteration certified rather than quietly built over
- Free follow-up visit after completion if anything needs attention
- Fully insured, with cover in place on every site
- The engineer's calculations obtained and worked to on site