GS Renovation carries out structural alterations in Ware: new openings, beams, changes to floors, and the making good that follows. We are a contractor. We appoint structural engineers and build to their calculations, and we never produce those calculations ourselves. Building control applications and inspections are coordinated, and quotations are free and without obligation.
The ground under Ware is not one thing
The bedrock is consistent, the cover over it is not. The British Geological Survey maps the bedrock beneath Ware as the Lewes Nodular Chalk Formation and the Seaford Chalk Formation, recorded as undifferentiated chalk, at all 25 street locations sampled across the town. At Park Road, Scotts Road and Widbury Hill that chalk is mapped at surface, with no superficial deposit recorded over it.
Elsewhere a superficial deposit sits on top, and it changes with the street. The Kesgrave Catchment Subgroup, mapped as sand and gravel, underlies Crib Street, Baldock Street, Collett Road, High Oak Road, Trinity Road, Watton Road, Westmill Road, Canons Road and Hoe Lane. At Musley Hill and Fanhams Road the deposit is the Lowestoft Formation, mapped as diamicton, the chalky boulder clay of the area. Clay and gravel behave differently under a new load, which is why an engineer asks for trial holes rather than a map.
Listed buildings and a street layout from the 12th century
Ware has 202 listed buildings and listings, and 180 of them stand inside the Ware Conservation Area. Of those 180, fourteen are Grade II star and three are Grade I. The three Grade I assets are St Mary's Church, The Priory and Place House. If your building is one of them, or attached to one, consent comes before design and before any programme is agreed.
The layout matters as much as the buildings. The Ware Neighbourhood Plan records that the layout of the historic core of the conservation area was established in the 12th century, with the buildings dating from the 16th and 17th century onwards. A layout of that age was not set out around vehicle access, so crane, skip and delivery positions are worked out at survey rather than on the first morning of work.
Former industrial ground inside the built up area
Parts of Ware carried industry before they carried housing. Ordnance Survey mapping from 1874 to 1894 shows gas works on the north side of Star Street, and a water works at Amwell End south of the station. Historic industrial use is a question for the engineer, and for whoever advises on contamination. It is not something to assume away from a map.
The malting industry left its own gaps. A large central part of Identity Area 3 is made up of neutral 20th century buildings of limited architectural or historic interest, standing on what would previously have been the sites of 19th century malthouses, now lost. Ground that carried a malthouse and then a 20th century replacement can hide old foundations and old floor slabs. Trial holes settle it before a foundation or an underpinning sequence is designed.
Archaeology and scheduled monuments
Much of Ware is covered by a broad Area of Archaeological Importance, also referred to in the plan as an Area of Archaeological Significance. The Ware Neighbourhood Plan expects a Heritage Statement where a scheme could affect archaeological remains above or below ground. That is a document question, and it belongs at the start of a project rather than after foundations have been priced.
There are also two Scheduled Monuments in the town: Ware Priory, whose official scheduled monument name is Ware Friary, and Section of Ermine Street, north of Hertford Branch Railway. Scheduled monument consent is a separate regime from planning and from listed building consent. Where a site sits close to either monument, the position is established with the council before any structural design is commissioned.
- Structural surveys and engineer coordination
- Crack repair, helical bar stitching and masonry restraint
- Floor structure, joist and beam replacement
- Wall plate, joist hanger and restraint strap installation
- Bressummer and bay window support to period frontages
Trusted Structural Alterations in Ware
Ware homeowners choose GS Renovation because we are clear about what we are. We are a contractor. We appoint the structural engineer, we build to the engineer's calculations, and we never write those calculations ourselves. That boundary is what keeps a structural job honest. We are fully insured, registered in England under company number 14611254, and building control applications and inspections are coordinated for you.
- Trial holes dug to confirm what is under the building
- The engineer's calculations obtained and worked to on site
- Itemised pricing, so you can see what every stage costs
- Aftercare and snagging support once the job is finished
- Structural engineer instructed and coordinated on your behalf
- Paperwork and certificates handed over for when you sell