Extensive modifications were proposed for this project by the architect, who contacted ID Engineering for structural consulting. Most of the walls on the ground floor were to be demolished, which needed to be backed up by additional supports for the structure above. Since the rear wall was demolished on the full house width, support was needed not only for the vertical loads, but horizontal stability of the party walls was issue as well. Hence, a stability box frame was proposed as the most structurally sound solution.

Additional challenge was the demolition of the internal bearing wall on the ground floor, supporting floor joists on both sides in addition to an internal wall on the first floor. Steel beam was proposed to take over those loads, where special attention was devoted to the supports, which couldn’t be regular steel spreaders because of the big reactions and the danger of cracks in the wall if not calculated respectively. Hence, a square hollow section spreader beam was adopted to support the reaction from the beam and spread it on a wider surface of the wall bellow.

The loft conversion was supported by steel beams supported on the external brick walls. According to the architectural drawings, there were no walls on one side of the loft, which caused roof rafters to be with higher height than regular. Different calculations for different heights of the roof rafters were performed on both sides of the ridge beam to optimize the sections to the minimal height required for safe and sound roof support, while providing a cost-effective solution.