Engineer's calculations for a Ealing project — steel beams sized, padstones and load paths worked out and a signed calculations package your builder and Ealing Council's building control can build from, delivered in days and revised free until it is approved.
Ealing Council granted 85% of the householder planning decisions it made in its latest published year — 2 points below the 87% England-wide householder average. Case officers apply the borough's daylight and outlook tests strictly across tight Victorian plot lines, which is where a policy-literate drawing pack earns its keep. Its dominant Victorian (1837–1901), Edwardian (1901–1910) and interwar (1918–1939) housing stock sets the design brief on most streets.
Class A and Class B set the thresholds — a rear dormer to 40m³ on a terrace or 50m³ on a semi or detached, and a single-storey rear extension to 3m on a terrace or 4m on a detached house — beyond which Ealing Council needs a full application. Ealing carries at least one Article 4 direction, and conservation areas including Bedford Park, Ealing Common and Ealing Green remove those rights outright, so we confirm your exact address before a line is drawn. A validated householder application in Ealing is determined against an 8-week statutory target.
Ealing Broadway (red-brick Victorian and Edwardian terraces around the town centre), Hanwell (Edwardian terraces and the Hanwell Village Green conservation area), Northfields (Edwardian streets around Lammas Park), West Ealing (mixed Victorian terraces and converted flats), Greenford (interwar semi-detached estates) and Perivale (1930s Metroland semis with hipped roofs) — these are the Ealing pockets our drawings cover most. Heritage designations here include Bedford Park, Ealing Common, Ealing Green, Hanwell Village Green and Northfields (Lammas Park). Ealing Council weighs each proposal against Ealing Local Plan and the Residential Extensions and Alterations SPD, where roof bulk on paired 1930s houses is a recurring refusal reason. Converted terraces are common across West Ealing and Hanwell, and flats and maisonettes have no householder permitted-development rights.. On roofs the borough is London butterfly / valley roofs on the terraces and hipped roofs on the 1930s semis, over Victorian and Edwardian terraces, interwar semi-detached houses and converted period flats.
The moment a wall comes out or a new floor goes in, something has to carry the load that wall or floor was holding — and building control will not accept "it looks strong enough". The engineer traces the load path: the weight of the roof, floors and walls above is gathered into a beam, the beam is sized in steel or timber to carry it within safe deflection, and that load is passed through padstones into the masonry and down to the ground. On Ealing's Victorian and Edwardian terraces, interwar semi-detached houses and converted period flats, the spans and loads differ house to house, so every calculation is specific to the property.
The deliverable is two things that work together: the calculations, which show the maths an approved inspector can check, and the structural drawings, which turn that maths into something a builder can order and fit — a beam schedule with sizes and lengths, bearing and padstone details, and connection notes. Case officers apply the borough's daylight and outlook tests strictly across tight Victorian plot lines, and the calculations are drawn to sit alongside the architectural set rather than contradict it. Everything is signed by a chartered or incorporated engineer carrying professional indemnity insurance.
Older Ealing stock — the kind found across Bedford Park, Ealing Common, Ealing Green, Hanwell Village Green and Northfields (Lammas Park) — often hides the real structural question: shallow Victorian foundations, timber that has been notched by past work, or a wall that turns out to be load-bearing when the drawings assumed otherwise. Bedford Park — shared with Hounslow — carries a long-established Article 4 direction, and several other Ealing conservation areas remove permitted-development rights, so PD can never be assumed on those streets. A survey-based calculation catches this before the wall is opened, not after.
Building control needs an engineer's calculations whenever you change how the building carries load. On a typical Ealing project that means any of these:
We size the steel, work the padstones and bearings, trace the load to the foundations and issue a signed calculations package and a beam schedule for Ealing Council's building control — coordinated with your architectural drawings so the beam that is calculated is the beam that is drawn and the beam that is ordered.
Below is Ealing Council's real householder decision record, drawn from official planning statistics and refreshed as new data lands. Ealing grants around the London average of householder applications, with roof bulk on paired 1930s houses and neighbour daylight across narrow plots the most common sticking points. Structural calculations sit behind building control rather than planning, but the same wave of loft, extension and knock-through work that drives these decisions is exactly what needs an engineer's package.
Source: MHCLG planning application statistics (householder decisions, rolling year). Compare every borough on our London approval-rate league table.
Tell us about your project and get a fixed, no-obligation quote back within one working day. If you don't need planning permission at all, we'll tell you that too — for free.
Building control approves structural work by checking the numbers, not by looking at the finished steel. Ealing Council's inspector, or an approved inspector acting for you, reads the calculations to confirm the beam is deep enough for its span, that deflection stays within limits so ceilings do not crack, that the bearing length and padstones spread the point load into masonry that can take it, and that the load has somewhere to go all the way to the ground. Across Ealing Broadway, Hanwell and Northfields, the recurring issue is a beam sized off a rule of thumb that the actual span will not support.
Roof bulk on paired 1930s houses is a recurring refusal reason. We issue calculations detailed enough to be signed off without a query, coordinate them with the architect's drawings so nothing conflicts on site, and stay available to revise if the builder finds the Ealing property is not quite as the survey assumed — free, until the work is approved.
We calculate beams, openings and floors on the period and modern stock across the borough. A few of the Ealing neighbourhoods where structural packages come up most often:
Structural calculations for Ealing Broadway's red-brick Victorian and Edwardian terraces around the town centre — beams sized, load paths traced and signed for Ealing Council's building control.
Structural calculations for Hanwell's Edwardian terraces and the Hanwell Village Green conservation area — beams sized, load paths traced and signed for Ealing Council's building control.
Structural calculations for Northfields's Edwardian streets around Lammas Park — beams sized, load paths traced and signed for Ealing Council's building control.
Structural calculations for West Ealing's mixed Victorian terraces and converted flats — beams sized, load paths traced and signed for Ealing Council's building control.
Structural calculations for Greenford's interwar semi-detached estates — beams sized, load paths traced and signed for Ealing Council's building control.
Structural calculations for Perivale's 1930s Metroland semis with hipped roofs — beams sized, load paths traced and signed for Ealing Council's building control.
Different jobs load the building differently, so each needs its own calculation. This is what the common Ealing projects typically require.
| Project | Typical structure | What the calculation proves | Signed off by |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wall knock-through | Steel beam on padstones | Span, deflection and bearing | Building control |
| Loft conversion | New floor beams and ridge/purlin steels | Floor loading and roof support | Building control |
| Rear or side extension | Opening beam plus extension roof and floor | Combined loads and foundations | Building control |
| Basement or underpinning | Retaining and foundation design | Ground and adjacent-building loads | Building control & party wall |
On older Ealing stock around Bedford Park and Ealing Common, shallow foundations and altered structure often mean the calculation drives the design rather than following it.
A fixed process built around building control rather than planning — most calculation packages are ready within five days of the architectural drawings.
Send us your Ealing postcode and the architect's drawings or a sketch. We confirm what structure the project needs, flag any load-bearing wall or foundation question, and tell you exactly what the calculation package will cover.
Where the loads are not obvious — an unknown wall, an old alteration, a deep span — we survey the property so the beam is sized on what is really there, not an assumption.
A chartered or incorporated engineer sizes the steel, works the padstones and load path, and issues the signed calculations and a beam schedule coordinated with your Ealing architectural set.
We submit the calculations to Ealing Council's building control or your approved inspector, answer queries, and revise free if the build uncovers something the survey could not see.
Whenever you change how the building carries weight — removing or opening a load-bearing wall, converting a loft, building an extension, or inserting a beam or column. Ealing Council's building control needs an engineer's calculation to approve any of these before the steel goes in. A Ealing project that only redecorates or moves a non-structural partition does not, but almost anything that opens the structure does.
No — they are a separate, later step. Planning permission decides whether Ealing Council will allow the change; structural calculations prove the change is safe to build and are submitted to building control, not to the planners. Many Ealing projects that need no planning permission at all — an internal knock-through, a permitted-development loft — still need a full engineer's calculation before work can lawfully start.
A chartered or incorporated structural engineer, carrying professional indemnity insurance, who takes responsibility for the numbers. Ealing Council's building control, or an approved inspector acting on your behalf, then checks and signs them off. Your builder cannot self-certify a steel beam, and an unsigned calculation will not be accepted — the engineer's signature and insurance are what make the package one building control will approve.
Yes — a beam over a removed wall is the most common calculation we do. We work out the load the wall was carrying, size a steel or timber beam to span the opening within safe deflection, and detail the padstones that spread its weight into the masonry each side. The result is a beam schedule your Ealing builder can order and Ealing Council's inspector can approve, with the load traced all the way to the foundations.
Sometimes. Where the loads are clear from the drawings we can calculate directly, but Ealing's older stock often hides surprises — a wall that turns out to be load-bearing, notched or altered joists, or shallow foundations near Bedford Park and Ealing Common. In those cases a short structural survey means the beam is sized on what is really there, which avoids a redesign once the builder opens the wall. Ealing Council is the decision-maker.
We price each Ealing package on the number of beams and the complexity — a single knock-through is straightforward, a whole-house loft-and-extension scheme has several elements — and send a fixed, no-obligation quote within one working day. It covers the calculations, the beam schedule and free revisions until Ealing Council's building control approves. Call 020 7864 7245 to start.
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