Structural repair

What the work involves

Structural repair means changing or restoring how load travels through a building. Remove a load-bearing wall and the load it carried needs another route to the foundation. That route is a steel portal frame: a beam on two columns, sized for the load it will carry.

Foundation work runs the other way. An existing foundation no longer carries what it needs to - through settlement, decay, or because load has been added that it was never designed for. Underpinning extends the foundation from below, so it bears deeper or spreads across a larger area.

We carry out both, including the propping that precedes the work and the floor replacement that sometimes goes with it.

When you bring us in

For an opening in a load-bearing wall, whatever the span. For an extension where the rear elevation comes out. For a roof addition the existing structure was never calculated for.

For cracking, settlement or deflection with a cause that sits in the foundation. For industrial buildings where new plant imposes more load than the structure can take.

And for work where a main contractor needs a crew that works to structural drawings and handles its own propping.

How we deliver it

We work to structural drawings and calculations. Tolerances, bearing and connection details are agreed beforehand - not on site.

The sequence is fixed: prop first, demolish second. The structure above is propped before a single brick moves. That isn't negotiable, including under programme pressure.

Foundation work runs in phases. We set the section width and sequence in advance, so the building is never inadequately supported at any point.