Structural alteration and refurbishment projects
These have traditionally comprised a major part of our workload. We have a wealth of experience in dealing with historic properties and Listed Buildings (which comprise much of London’s building stock) as well as more recent concrete- and steel-framed structures. Projects have ranged from the simple removal of the spine wall in a Victorian terraced cottage to the complex ‘cut and carve’ of a colossal reinforced concrete-framed papermill building and its conversion into apartments.
The initial survey work to identify the form of the existing building structure is a crucial part of any refurbishment project. This is often tricky, particularly with old properties that may have been altered previously. Our considerable experience in dealing with all sorts of buildings is invaluable here; proper knowledge of the existing structure at the design stage can avoid delays and additional cost later during the construction.
We are happy to work on all manner of projects from those that have nil or minimal architectural information (often requiring us to measure up the building and prepare base layouts ourselves) to those where highly detailed architectural constraints demand particular ingenuity in the structural design. We like being challenged to design slim, elegant structures but we always have an eye on robustness – we deal with the consequences of ill-conceived designs and structural failures in our survey and report work, most of which involve excessive movement or deflection rather than catastrophic collapse.