Structural alteration covers the work that changes how a building stands up: new openings, beams, removed walls and altered roofs. GS Renovation is a contractor. We appoint and coordinate structural engineers, build to their calculations, and handle the building control side. In Stevenage the planning route and the building control route sit with two different bodies.
Stevenage Borough Council is the planning authority for the borough
Stevenage Borough Council is the district level local planning authority. It is a non metropolitan district with borough status, and county level functions are provided by Hertfordshire County Council.
Decisions are plan led. The Stevenage Borough Local Plan 2011 to 2031 Partial Update was adopted on 22 July 2026, replacing the plan adopted on 22 May 2019. Anything submitted now is assessed against the current document, so guidance written for the older plan can mislead.
The Design Guidance SPD carries weight in decisions
Stevenage Borough Council published its Design Guidance Supplementary Planning Document on 28 February 2025, following a Cabinet meeting on 12 February 2025, and it is a material consideration in planning decisions.
Principle HD10 requires a roof extension to sit within the footprint of the original property, to occupy less than half of the existing roof slope, and to leave a gap of at least 500mm to the eaves and to either side. Those figures shape the structural design, not only the drawings.
Ground conditions change across the borough
The local plan describes the underlying geology of the town as a combination of impermeable clay overlaying areas of exposed permeable chalk. The bedrock beneath Chells, Pin Green, Symonds Green, Martins Wood, Great Ashby, Broadwater and the Gunnels Wood Road employment area is mapped as the Lewes Nodular Chalk Formation. At Chells no superficial deposit is mapped, so chalk lies directly beneath the topsoil.
The British Geological Survey describes that formation as hard to very hard nodular chalks and hardgrounds, with interbedded soft to medium hard chalks and marls, and regular seams of nodular flint throughout. Underpinning, pad foundations and new footings are designed for what is found on your plot, which is why trial holes come before calculations.
Not every job can use a Building Notice
Hertfordshire Building Control states that a Building Notice cannot be used if you are building over or within 3 metres of a public sewer, and that work under a notice can start on site after 48 hours.
Where the notice route is closed, a full plans application is the alternative, and that changes the programme. We establish which route applies before a start date is agreed, so the sequence holds once the job begins.
- Load-bearing wall removal and new structural openings
- Wall plate, joist hanger and restraint strap installation
- Temporary works, propping and needling
- Drainage diversion and build-over agreements where required
- New door and window openings in solid masonry
The GS Renovation Difference in Stevenage
Structural work in Stevenage is judged against a local plan adopted on 22 July 2026 and a design guidance document that has been a material consideration since February 2025. We read both before drawings are commissioned, so the structure and the policy are settled together rather than in sequence. GS Renovation appoints and coordinates the structural engineer and builds to the calculations issued, and takes no part in producing them. Fully insured, free no obligation quotations, one point of contact, and rated 4.9 from 31 reviews on MyBuilder.
- Temporary works and needling planned before demolition starts
- Existing structure protected and monitored as the engineer requires
- Work sequenced around the surveyors' schedule of condition before excavation
- Free follow-up visit after completion if anything needs attention
- Structural engineer instructed and coordinated on your behalf
- A written scope and programme agreed before work starts