What a structural package covers on a Hammersmith and Fulham project
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 Hammersmith and Fulham's Victorian and Edwardian terraces, purpose-built mansion flats 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. Basement schemes require a detailed basement impact assessment covering ground stability, flooding and construction management, 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 Hammersmith and Fulham stock — the kind found across Brackenbury, Bradmore, Peterborough Estate, Ravenscourt and Wendell 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. Conservation areas blanket much of the borough — Brackenbury, Bradmore and the Fulham Peterborough Estate among them — and Article 4 directions there remove permitted-development rights on frontages and roofs. A survey-based calculation catches this before the wall is opened, not after.
