Start with what is actually there
Drawings of a Victorian or Edwardian house describe an intention, not a building. Walls have been moved, chimney breasts removed, joists trimmed and steels inserted by previous owners without records. Before pricing structural alterations we open up: lift floorboards, expose bearings, check joist spans and directions, and confirm what the existing wall is built of. This is the single most valuable week on a refurbishment programme, and the one clients are most often persuaded to skip.
Load paths, top to bottom
A new opening does not just need a beam. It needs a route for the load to reach the ground: adequate bearings, padstones, piers that are not already carrying something else, and foundations sized for the new point loads. On terraced houses the load frequently arrives at a party wall, which brings the Party Wall Act into play. Where a basement is also proposed, the ground floor opening and the below-ground works have to be designed as one challenge, not two.
Temporary works come before permanent works
Needling, propping and strong-boys are designed, not improvised. The temporary works design states the prop spacing, the loads, the sequence of installation and, critically, when props may be struck. On our sites props are not removed until the engineer confirms the permanent structure is carrying, and that confirmation is recorded. Most structural incidents on domestic refurbishments happen during the temporary condition, not the permanent one.
Steelwork on site
Steel is fabricated from a schedule, and the schedule is only as good as the site dimensions it was taken from. We survey openings after opening up and before fabrication, allow for connection tolerances, and plan how a six-metre beam is going to get through a terraced house and up a staircase before ordering it. Fire protection, whether by encasement or intumescent coating, is specified at the outset because it affects the finished dimensions of every reveal around it.
Inspections and sign-off
Building control inspections at foundation, structural and pre-plaster stages are non-negotiable, and so is the engineer’s inspection of steelwork and connections before anything is covered. We photograph every bearing, padstone and connection before boarding out. When a surveyor or a future purchaser asks how the ground floor was opened up, the answer should be a record, not a recollection.