Basements & Underpinning London
London Elite Trades offer new basement space excavation, old basement rebuilding and underpinning services across London and the Greater London area.
As experts in a broad range of building services and comprehensive build management, we are able to fulfil all services related to the design and development of basements and cellars.
If you are interested in the idea of maximising your existing basement space, or developing it anew, our architectural drawings and building plans service will present you with a range of options.
Through a robust planning process, we can establish feasibility and design, towards ensuring the successful acquisition of planning permission.
Underpinning is a service which is required in a number of circumstances. Whether your property’s original foundation is giving way, supporting soil structure has undergone change or your property requires extra underground room, London Elite Trades offer both traditional and piled underpinning.
We work closely with structural engineers, architects, private home owners, building contractors, insurance companies and local authorities.
Over the years, we have successfully completed hundreds of projects across the UK as contractors and sub-contractors working with some of the best-known names in the construction industry. For more information on your property’s subterranean needs, contact London Elite Trades today.
At the heart of your basement construction or cellar conversion project we will install the most reliable waterproofing system. The patented Water Guard system is installed just under the floor at the wall floor junction around the perimeter of your basement.
It has holes in the back to accept water and a special flange on the back allowing it to intercept water penetrating at height levels. The Water Guard channels control water movement by diverting it to a Super Sump or another drain, where it can be safely removed from the property without trace to you inside the home.
This service is available throughout the whole of England and Wales.
We try our very best to help you convert your cellar/basement as easily as possible.
- If you are not 100% committed to the full process of the conversion, but would like to investigate possible solutions further, this service may be for you.
- If you are a general builder who is contemplating a conversion for a customer or acquaintance and perhaps are not 100% certain of the best process and require some specific technical assistance with the conversion, again this service may be for you.
- If you are selling your home and find that the prospect of a good conversion enhances the saleability of your home, but do not want to go through the full process, simply to show prospective buyers that, this can easily be achieved this service may be for you.
We are experts in detailing the very best way to do this. So you can be assured that whichever type of conversion project we advise on will be the most suitable for your property.
- We will visit your home and from that design an aesthetically pleasing and practical conversion to then put these ideas onto a full architectural package, laying out the full technical process to achieve this.
- We will detail what if any planning applications are necessary (we will apply for Full planning permission on your behalf if necessary).
- We will include all relevant building regulation requirements to enable a successful building regulation approval (alternatively we can even submit this stage of works for you). Or you can simply take our plans and decide what to do next at your own pace.
This service obviously varies in costs dependant on a few details.
- What type of house you live in?
- What type of space you would like (1 bedroom + bathroom, an office, a play room or a completely independent suite.)
- The final finishes required within the new room.
Once we have established these details we can supply you with a complete price for the project. Should you decide that you wish us to complete the conversion all of the costs paid so far will be reduced from the complete package costs.
Once you are in possession of the plans and have obtained all necessary approvals we can then help you further by supplying all materials from the first steel beam to the last screw to hold the door on its hinges.
Our experience with different merchants means you will get these materials at the best possible rate, with these materials being the best quality that are around, no waste, no over ordering, no under ordering and having to wait for further materials to arrive.
Briefing: At this stage we will meet with you to understand your requirements and the needs that the space is going to fulfil. At this stage we will obtain and develop your idea’s and vision for the build.
Feasibility: With the brief established, London Elite Trades will undertake investigatory works which will entail excavating trial pits to determine ground conditions and strata. From this we will generate preliminary designs and provide you with a feasibility report. The report provides information on likely outline costs, the processes involved in delivering the project, timeline and initial designs.
Design: Moving on from the feasibility study our in-house design team will prepare the necessary design information for planning submissions; this will involve preliminary structural engineering design, floor risk assessments, outline methodology, design and access statements together with full measured surveys and architectural design.
Planning submission: London Elite Trades will manage the entire process in obtaining planning consent.
Party wall awards and agreements: We will manage the process of appointing a party wall surveyor and ensuring the awards and agreements are made in a timely fashion in order to have as little construction impact
Working drawings: We will further develop the planning status drawings to provide full working drawings for both architectural and structural aspects of the project.
Specification: Work will commence in co-ordination with you to draft detailed specifications of the required finishes and products required.
Construction: We offer a full construction service. This option is available to you as the final stage of our in-house service. Should you wish to use us as at the construction stage we will submit detailed costings. We will tender the construction phase and produce the full tender documentation for tendering purposes.
We advise that before embarking on a basement conversion, there are some important factors to consider, in particular the height of the water table around the house, the existing cellar, basement or foundations, light into the area and ventilation.
We believe if there’s an existing cellar or basement, then you need to ascertain what the foundations are like. With Victorian properties, the foundations often don’t go down far enough, so we may need to underpin them. If your house is attached or a terrace, we will need to underpin not only your home’s foundations, but also your neighbours’ foundations too, as they are shared.
It is possible to create a basement in a property with a solid floor even if there is not one there already, but it is likely to be much more expensive.
If there is not an existing basement or cellar, then the job is more complicated and costly, however it may still be very financially economical! We need to start by propping up the existing ground floor and for this, we may have to dig far deeper into the ground than the existing foundations.
Underpinning may be required for a variety of reasons, the original foundation is simply not strong or stable enough, the usage of the structure has changed, the properties of the soil supporting the foundation may have changed, to add extra depth to a room or to add a basement.
London Elite Trades offer two types of underpinning methods; Traditional Underpinning and Piled Underpinning.
Building regulation approval is normally required if you want to underpin an existing foundation. A structural design for the underpinning, including details of the construction process, will generally be needed.
Before any major underpinning work starts, a trial hole will be dug next to the existing foundation for a structural engineer or surveyor to assess exactly what is required.A typical method is for short sections of underpinning to be separately installed; depending on how much of the fountain needs underpinning, it is sometimes possible to install more than one section at a time.
• Architectural design – planning stage and project
• Structural design
• Party Wall Surveying Matters
• Quantity Surveying – commercial management
• Construction service – structure and fit out
Before each section of underpinning is concreted, it will normally be inspected by a design engineer and a building control surveyor.
A sand and cement packing will usually be packed between the existing foundation and the underpinning to ensure support and fill in any voids; this will also be inspected by a engineer or a building control surveyor.
We work closely with structural engineers, architects, private home owners, building contractors, insurance companies and local Authorities.
London Elite Trades provide unmatched piling advice and expertise on commercial, domestic and industrial construction projects throughout the UK. Although a small, independent firm, we have successfully completed hundreds of projects across the UK as contractors and sub-contractors working with some of the best-known names in the construction industry.
