Structural engineering in Newham

Designer duties that fall on the engineer

Newham's mention of the CDM Regulations is a reminder that structural design carries legal weight. A designer must make the client aware of its duties, design out foreseeable risks where possible, and pass what remains to the principal designer and into the health and safety file. That is why our drawings carry notes on temporary works and on the hazards of propping a terrace wall.

The Building Regulations add a competence duty for anyone doing design work, covering skills, knowledge and experience, and a further duty to take reasonable steps so that the design, if built, would comply. For a homeowner this is the reason to check who is producing the structural information. A builder who sizes a steel from a merchant's catalogue takes on the same duty as an engineer, without the training that goes with it.

A tenant or landlord should also ask who holds the design liability if a wall moves. We keep calculations, drawings and a record of the site survey on file, so the answer is documented and the lender's surveyor can see it.

Newham homes and what they ask of their structure

About 47.1 per cent of Newham households live in a house, and 30.8 per cent own their home. That leaves many renters, so structural work is often commissioned by a landlord who wants a loft, a rear extension or an extra bedroom for a family house, and who needs the design to survive a building control inspection and a lender's survey.

The Victorian and Edwardian terraces here were built in two-storey runs, many on shallow foundations. A rear addition built decades ago often sits on little more than a thickened slab, and a new extension must either tie into it or be separated by a movement joint. We dig a trial pit, find out which, and draw the answer. Our rear extension drawings in Newham cover the planning route.

Loft work is the other staple. The roof is a cut timber structure that a dormer or hip-to-gable conversion replaces in part, so the new steel must pick up the loads that the removed timber used to carry. Our loft conversion drawings in Newham show how that is approached in planning.

Heritage, green belt and speed of decision

Newham has 9 conservation areas and 125 listed buildings, while green belt covers 2 per cent of the council area. The borough also holds 21 heritage assets at risk. For most owners the designation question is quickly answered, and the structural design can proceed.

The council decided 388 householder applications in its latest year, granted 86.9 per cent and decided 97.2 per cent in time. With a fast planning stage, the structural package is usually the item that sets the pace, so we start it early.

Where a party wall is cut or thickened, the notice stays valid for 12 months, so work must start within that window or the notice is served again. Our building regulations drawings in Newham pick up the structural package for the submission.

Quote and next step

Send the address, photographs and any plans. We check designations, drainage and neighbours, then give a fixed quote. For a single beam, see structural calculations in Newham, and for the wider borough read architectural drawings in Newham.