Structural Alterations and RSJs in Bedford
Victorian terraces and Edwardian villas opened up, with the party wall, the chimney and the engineer all dealt with properly.
Five star
Google reviews
£5m
Public liability
10+
Years’ trade experience
Family run
Milton Keynes based
Bedford has more Victorian and Edwardian houses than anywhere else we work, and structural alterations there are period work. The terrace opened from the front room through to the kitchen addition, the villa’s two receptions made one, the chimney breast out to give a straight wall for the kitchen, the back of the house opened to the garden. Solid brick walls, timber lintels, shared chimneys and footings that are often only a few courses deep.
The sequence is what it always is: engineer, propping, cutting, steel on padstones, fire protection, boxing in, inspection and certificate. What Bedford adds is the party wall on nearly every terrace, Bedford Borough building control rather than Milton Keynes, and the care that soft brick in lime needs. We are thirty minutes away and take these jobs on regularly, usually as part of a wider renovation.
Typical works can include
Every project in Bedford is different. Depending on the agreed scope, works may include:
- Structural engineer calculations, where required and where included within the agreed scope
- Temporary works, acrow props and strongboys
- Opening formed and masonry cut back
- Padstones or spreader plates bedded to specification
- Steel beam installed, levelled and packed
- Fire protection to the steel and boxing in
The full list, and how we run the job, is on the main structural alterations page.
Terraces, chimneys and the Party Wall Act
A Bedford terrace opened from front to back is usually two or three beams bearing on the party walls, which means the Party Wall etc. Act and notices served on both neighbours in good time. The chimney breasts are back to back with next door’s, so removing one means supporting the stack above on a steel or gallows brackets and, again, the neighbour being told. Timber lintels over the existing openings come out while the wall is open, and the piers each side are checked down to footings that may be shallow on the Oxford Clay.
The Edwardian villas along De Parys Avenue and Kimbolton Road bring long spans and heavy loads, so the steels are substantial and the padstones generous. Internal structural work on an unlisted house needs Building Regulations approval only, even in the Castle Road or town centre conservation areas; on a listed house, listed building consent can be needed. That is general local guidance; the position for your house is confirmed before anything is committed.
Very good and reliable
Structural alterations we have built
Our own photographs, some mid build, because that is where you can see how a job was put together. More on the projects page.
Questions from Bedford
Can you remove a chimney breast in a Bedford terrace?
Yes. The breast in the room comes out and the stack above is supported on a steel or gallows brackets to the engineer’s design, inspected by building control. Because the chimney is usually shared with next door, the Party Wall etc. Act comes into it and the neighbour is notified before work starts. It is a routine job for us and one of the most common in Bedford.
Is Bedford within your area for a structural job?
Yes. On its own a wall removal is two or three days on site plus the making good, and Bedford is thirty minutes from our base. It is nearly always part of a kitchen refit or a full renovation, and at that scale the distance makes no difference at all.
What is the difference between planning permission and Building Regulations?
Planning is about whether you are allowed to build the thing at all: size, appearance, effect on neighbours. Building Regulations are about whether it is safe and properly built: structure, insulation, fire, drainage, ventilation, electrics.
They are separate approvals. An extension can need no planning permission whatsoever and still require Building Control approval. For structural work we generally prefer the Full Plans route, so drawings and calculations are checked before we start rather than problems surfacing halfway through.
We work alongside Building Control and structural engineers regularly and can manage that liaison where it forms part of the agreed scope. Their fees and appointments are not automatically included unless the quotation says so.
How long will the work take?
It depends on the job, and anyone who gives you a number without seeing the house is guessing. As a rough guide: a bathroom is two to three weeks, a kitchen refit two to four, a single storey rear extension is usually ten to fourteen weeks from breaking ground, and a full house renovation runs three to six months depending on scale.
Weather, Building Control inspections and lead times on windows, doors and kitchens all move those numbers. We build realistic float into the programme rather than promising a date we cannot hold.
Other work we do in Bedford
Structural alterations nearby
Also covering Kempston Biddenham Bromham Clapham Elstow Wootton Wilstead Cardington Great Barford Great Denham Wixams
Planning structural alterations in Bedford?
Send a few photographs and tell us what you have in mind. We will come and look, and the written quotation costs nothing.