A 9m² master ensuite reconfiguration in a Victorian semi-detached home in Didsbury, Manchester (M20), for a working couple in their late thirties — a partition wall between the existing tight L-shaped ensuite and the adjacent unused boxroom removed under a 152×89mm UB RSJ on concrete padstones to give a proper square footprint, Building Notice via Manchester City Council Building Control with completion certificate received week 4, full Schluter Kerdi sheet tanking with 24-hour flood test, walk-in wet zone with a 1000mm linear drain and a single 10mm toughened glass screen, BC Designs Senator 1.7m double-ended stone-resin freestanding bath, Crosswater Wisp twin-basin vanity with quartz top, Hansgrohe Talis E brassware throughout in chrome, 800×1600mm matt-stone large-format porcelain to walls and floor, and wet-system underfloor heating manifold sized at quotation stage against the existing boiler output and tied into the home's hydraulic circuit on its own thermostat zone. Four-week programme delivered against fixed price; first soak Friday evening of handback.
A working couple in their late thirties, a marketing director and a hospital consultant with two primary-school-age children, lived in a 4-bed Victorian semi-detached home in Didsbury, Manchester (M20), which they had owned for seven years. The rest of the house had been renovated gradually over those seven years — the kitchen and dining knock-through, the children's rooms, the family bathroom, the garden room extension — but the master ensuite had never been touched. Squeezed into a tight L-shaped corner of the master bedroom, with a corner shower-tray, a wall-hung basin, a close-coupled WC and almost no floor space, it had become the worst room in the house. Adjacent to the ensuite sat a boxroom which had been used as a junk store for the entire seven years and which neither of them could remember the last time they had set foot in.
The brief was straightforward: take down the partition wall between the existing ensuite and the boxroom to give a proper 9m² square footprint, install a walk-in wet zone with a single glass screen for the open feel they preferred over a sealed enclosure, install a freestanding double-ended bath as the room's centrepiece, install a twin-basin vanity for couples-use mornings, large-format porcelain throughout for a calm continuous surface, and tie new wet-system underfloor heating into the home's existing boiler circuit so they did not have to manage a separate electric thermostat. Building Notice via Manchester City Council Building Control to be handled by us.
We were one of three contractors invited to quote. Our price came in second by approximately £1,200 against the leading offer. We won the work because our quotation was the only one to (a) commission a structural engineer at quotation stage to survey the partition wall to be removed and confirm whether it was load-bearing — which it was, partially, supporting the upper-floor joists above — with the 152×89mm UB RSJ and concrete padstones designed and costed inside the contract sum, (b) size the wet-system underfloor heating manifold against the homeowners' existing boiler output sheet at quotation stage so the hydraulic balance could be carried out without a "subject to existing system survey" provisional, and (c) submit the Manchester City Council Building Notice in week 1 of the programme as a contractually-defined milestone with the completion certificate target written in to week 4.
The brief came from the homeowner couple directly across three pre-construction sessions, a working couple's brief built around long-term family use of a Victorian semi they had no plans to leave. Priorities, in their stated order:
A 4-week master ensuite reconfiguration in a Victorian semi-detached home is not a wet-room conversion and not a luxury spa build. The wall removal demands structural engineering and a Building Notice; the walk-in wet zone demands the same tanking discipline as a full wet room with a less forgiving open-shower geometry; the wet-system UFH demands hydraulic balancing against the home's existing boiler; and the work happens in a family home with two primary-school-age children whose routine cannot be disrupted. Every constraint had a workaround that had to be planned before site possession.
The two competing quotes treated the partition-wall removal as a "subject to structural engineer at extra cost" provisional. We commissioned a structural engineer at quotation stage to survey the wall and confirm its function: a load-bearing partition supporting the upper-floor joists above (a Victorian addition partition rather than original fabric, but supporting structure nonetheless). The engineer specified a 152×89mm UB RSJ on concrete padstones each end with a 600mm bearing into the existing brick walls. The full design plus the steel order were costed inside the contract sum. Wall opening formed under temporary support week 1; RSJ and padstones installed, Manchester City Council Building Control inspected and approved week 2.
Removing a load-bearing partition is notifiable under the Building Regulations. The two competing quotes proposed that the homeowners "arrange Building Control with the Council directly". We submitted the Building Notice on the homeowners' behalf in week 1 of the programme, with the structural engineer's calculations attached. Manchester City Council Building Control surveyor attended for the steel-installed inspection in week 2 and the completion inspection in week 4. Building Control completion certificate issued and added to the homeowners' handover folder as part of their property paperwork for any future sale.
The walk-in wet zone with a single glass screen is a deliberately-open shower geometry: less containment than a full enclosure, more reliance on tanking and gradient design to prevent any spray escaping the zone. Schluter Kerdi sheet tanking across the floor (lapped over the 1000mm Kerdi-Line linear drain bonding flange) and walls 200mm above every fitting, with extended tanking around the open shower zone perimeter. 24-hour flood test held as a contractual hold-point: shower waste blocked, water filled to the lip of the cove-skirting, left in place; flood test passed Wednesday morning week 3 with no measurable level drop. Photo documentation in handover folder.
The two competing quotes left the underfloor heating as a "subject to existing system survey" provisional. We sized the UFH manifold against the homeowners' existing boiler output sheet at quotation stage: a Worcester Bosch Greenstar 30CDi (28kW heating output) with the existing radiator circuit calculated at 18kW peak demand, leaving 10kW headroom for the new ensuite UFH zone (4kW design demand). Manifold installed week 3, blending valve and actuators commissioned, hydraulic balance carried out across the existing radiator circuit and the new UFH zone with the boiler running. Own thermostat zone added to the existing wet-system controller; the homeowners scheduled the ensuite UFH from their phone alongside the rest of the heating before practical completion.
The same large-format-porcelain installer we used on the Wilmslow Spa Bathroom Suite handled the 800×1600mm matt-stone panels here at a smaller format and a more modest price point. Substrate prepared to 1mm flatness across the panel face; levelling-clip system used throughout; lippage tolerance held to 0.5mm at all panel-to-panel junctions contractually. Tone-on-tone matching across walls and floor confirmed at delivery from a single supplier batch. Final lippage measured at handback at 0.4mm worst-case, comfortably inside tolerance.
The homeowners and their two primary-school-age children remained in the property throughout. Dust-sheet protection from the front door to the work zone, shoe protectors at the threshold, daily clean-down at end of every working day, tools cleared from view at end of every working day, single-point-of-contact site manager on a WhatsApp channel with the homeowners. Quiet hours observed before 8am and after 4.30pm so the children's morning routine and after-school homework slot were undisturbed. Cornice in the adjacent master bedroom and picture rails on the upper-floor landing protected with foamboard sleeves throughout the structural-opening works.
Master-ensuite reconfigurations with wall-moving in Victorian semis succeed or fail on three things: how the structural opening is designed before bid, how the wet-system underfloor heating ties into the existing boiler, and how a family home is kept liveable through four weeks of work. Our approach was built around four working disciplines and one family-life discipline.
Structural engineer engaged before bid, not after. The two competing quotes treated the wall removal as a TBC variation. We commissioned a structural engineer at quotation stage, walked the existing wall with him, agreed it was a load-bearing partition supporting the upper-floor joists, and got the 152×89mm UB RSJ and concrete padstone design back before our bid went in. The structural calculations were attached to our quotation; the steel was on order in week 1. The competing quote that came in cheaper would have hit the homeowners with a structural variation in week 2; ours did not.
Building Notice handled by us as a contractual milestone. Notifiable Building Regulations work needs Building Control sign-off. We submitted the Manchester City Council Building Notice in week 1 with the structural engineer's calculations attached, booked the Building Control surveyor's steel-installed inspection for week 2 and the completion inspection for week 4. Completion certificate issued and added to the homeowners' handover folder as part of their property paperwork. The homeowners did not have to make a single phone call to the Council across the four weeks.
UFH manifold sized against the existing boiler at quotation stage. Wet-system UFH tied into an existing boiler circuit that's already serving radiators across a 4-bed home is an exercise in hydraulic balancing. We pulled the homeowners' existing boiler output sheet at quotation stage (Worcester Bosch Greenstar 30CDi, 28kW heating output), calculated existing radiator-circuit peak demand at 18kW, confirmed 10kW headroom for the new 4kW ensuite UFH zone, and priced the Polypipe-style manifold, blending valve, actuators and hydraulic balance commissioning inside the contract sum. No "subject to existing system survey" provisional.
Same tanking flood-test discipline as the rest of the bathroom category. Wet-room tanking that has not been flood-tested is tanking on trust. The Hale Wet-Room Conversion we delivered earlier in the year and the Wilmslow Spa Bathroom Suite both used the same Schluter Kerdi system with a 24-hour flood test held as a contractual hold-point; the Didsbury walk-in wet zone used the same. Test commenced Tuesday week 3, passed Wednesday morning, photo-documented for the handover folder. No exception for project size or budget.
Family-life site management with primary-school children. Two children's morning routines and after-school homework slots are non-negotiable. Quiet hours observed before 8am and after 4.30pm; deliveries scheduled around the school run; tools cleared from sight at end of every working day; daily 4pm WhatsApp progress photo to both parents; in-person Friday walkthroughs at end of each week. The homeowners told us at handback that the children had not realised the project was nearly finished until the bath was carried in.
Twenty working days from key handover to first soak. A structurally-led mobilisation, a Building Control milestone delivery, a tanking-and-flood-test week and a brassware-and-bath finish week.
Site mobilisation Monday morning with dust-sheet protection running from the front door to the master bedroom, shoe protectors at the threshold, single-point-of-contact site manager introduced to the homeowners in person at 8.30am. Strip-out of the existing tight L-shaped ensuite and the boxroom: corner shower, wall-hung basin, close-coupled WC, dropped suspended ceiling, dated tile and vinyl, junk-store contents bagged for the homeowners' charity-shop run. Cornice in adjacent master bedroom protected with foamboard sleeves before any structural work. Manchester City Council Building Notice submitted Tuesday with structural engineer's calculations attached. Temporary support installed under the upper-floor joists Wednesday; partition wall demolished Thursday; 152×89mm UB RSJ on concrete padstones installed Friday with structural engineer present for the lift-into-position.
Manchester City Council Building Control surveyor attended Tuesday morning for the steel-installed inspection: RSJ and padstones inspected, bearing depth verified, structural calculations cross-referenced; passed and signed off. First-fix electrical: lighting circuits zoned for two-scene control, demister-mirror cabling, ceiling extractor cabling, UFH thermostat cabling. First-fix plumbing: hot and cold to bath position with floor-mounted bath spout, hot and cold to vanity (with in-line TMV3 valve at basin), shower mixer pipework, body of the wet-system UFH manifold installed and connected to the home's existing boiler circuit. New OSB structural subfloor laid across the now-square room. 18mm plywood backer board fixed to studs at every brassware position.
Wet-system UFH pipe loops laid across the entire floor (excluding the freestanding bath footprint), connected to the manifold, pressure-tested overnight Monday. Self-levelling compound poured Tuesday over the heating loops to give a 1mm-flat substrate. Schluter Kerdi sheet tanking installed across floor and walls 200mm above every fitting, with extended tanking around the walk-in wet zone perimeter. 24-hour flood test commenced Tuesday afternoon: shower waste blocked, water filled to lip of cove-skirting, left in place; flood test passed Wednesday morning with no measurable level drop. Photo documentation completed. Specialist large-format porcelain installer mobilised Wednesday afternoon for the 800×1600mm wall panels: substrate flatness verified, levelling-clip system used throughout, lippage tolerance held to 0.5mm at every panel junction. Wall porcelain installed Wednesday-Friday.
800×1600mm matt-stone porcelain laid to floor Monday-Tuesday, lippage measured at handback at 0.4mm worst-case across all panel junctions. Walk-in wet zone glass screen installed Tuesday: single 10mm toughened glass panel, silicone-sealed at the wall and the floor edges. Crosswater Wisp twin-basin vanity unit delivered and installed Wednesday: matt-grey carcase, quartz top, two countertop basins, soft-close drawer banks, demisting LED-edge mirrors above each basin. BC Designs Senator stone-resin double-ended freestanding bath delivered and positioned Wednesday afternoon; floor-mounted bath spout and freestanding bath filler commissioned Thursday. Hansgrohe Talis E brassware fitted across all positions Thursday: thermostatic shower valve, basin mixers, bath filler. UFH hydraulic balance carried out across the existing radiator circuit and the new ensuite zone with the boiler running; ensuite zone added to the homeowners' existing wet-system controller and to their phone app. Vogue UK heated towel rail connected to the wet heating system with TRV. Final snag round Thursday afternoon: 13 minor items closed by Friday lunchtime. Building Control completion inspection Friday morning at 11am: all works inspected and signed off as compliant; completion certificate issued and emailed to the homeowners and us the same afternoon. Builders clean Friday afternoon. PC certificate issued Friday afternoon. Bath filled with hot water at 4.15pm; first soak Friday evening.
The technical detail behind a 9m² master ensuite reconfiguration in a Victorian semi-detached home in Didsbury, built to a working couple's brief with the structural engineering, Building Control compliance and wet-system underfloor heating disciplines that wall-moving in a family home demands.
152×89mm UB RSJ on concrete padstones designed by structural engineer at quotation stage with 600mm bearing into existing brick walls each end. Temporary support installed under upper-floor joists before partition demolition. RSJ lifted into position with engineer present. Manchester City Council Building Control inspection passed week 2.
Building Notice submitted to Manchester City Council Building Control week 1 with structural engineer's calculations. Steel-installed inspection week 2 passed; completion inspection week 4 passed. Completion certificate issued and added to homeowners' property paperwork file for any future sale.
Full Schluter Kerdi sheet tanking system across floor (lapped over 1000mm Kerdi-Line linear drain bonding flange) and walls 200mm above every fitting. Pre-formed Kerdi-Kereck and Kerdi-Kerab corner pieces sealed at every junction. 24-hour flood test held as contractual hold-point; passed first time with no measurable level drop. Photo documentation in handover folder.
1000mm Schluter Kerdi-Line linear drain in the walk-in shower zone, OSB sloped subfloor formed to a 1:50 fall to drain. Single 10mm toughened glass screen, silicone-sealed at wall and floor edges. Open-shower geometry with reliance on tanking and gradient design for spray containment.
BC Designs Senator 1.7m double-ended stone-resin freestanding bath. Lighter loading than cast-iron (no joist doubling required); positioned centrally on the long wall opposite the doorway. Floor-mounted bath spout in chrome, freestanding bath filler with cross-handles, bath waste run cleanly to soil stack.
Crosswater Wisp 1.4m twin-basin vanity unit in matt-grey, quartz top, two countertop ceramic basins, soft-close drawer banks each side, demisting LED-edge mirrors above each basin position. Drawer storage sized for couples-use morning routine.
Hansgrohe Talis E in polished chrome throughout: thermostatic shower valve plus diverters, basin mixers (one per basin), bath filler and floor-mounted bath spout. Thermostatic valve commissioned and temperature-tested at handback.
800×1600mm matt-stone porcelain panels to walls (full height) and floor (entire ensuite footprint), tone-on-tone neutral palette from a single supplier batch. Substrate prepared to 1mm flatness; levelling-clip system used throughout. Lippage tolerance held to 0.5mm contractually; measured 0.4mm worst-case at handback.
Polypipe-style wet-system UFH manifold sized at quotation stage against the homeowners' existing Worcester Bosch Greenstar 30CDi boiler. Blending valve and actuators on the existing wet-system circuit. Hydraulic balance carried out across existing radiator circuit and new UFH zone. Own thermostat zone added to the homeowners' existing wet-system controller and phone app.
UFH pipe loops laid across the entire floor (excluding freestanding bath footprint), connected to the manifold, pressure-tested overnight before screeding. Self-levelling compound poured over loops to give 1mm-flat substrate ready for the porcelain floor. Resistance and pressure-test certificates in handover folder.
Mains-powered ceiling extractor fan with humidity sensor and 15-minute over-run, ducted to the existing soffit vent. Triggers automatically on humidity threshold; commissioned and humidity-test verified at handback.
Cornice in the adjacent master bedroom and picture rails on the upper-floor landing protected with foamboard sleeves throughout the structural-opening works. No damage logged. Dust-sheet protection from front door to work zone for the duration; daily clean-down at end of every working day.
A 9m² master ensuite in a Victorian semi-detached home in Didsbury delivered against a 4-week fixed-price contract with no variation orders, the partition wall between the existing tight L-shaped ensuite and the adjacent boxroom removed under a structural-engineer-designed 152×89mm UB RSJ on concrete padstones, the Manchester City Council Building Control completion certificate issued on the contracted Friday morning, the Schluter Kerdi tanking system passing its 24-hour flood test on first attempt, the wet-system underfloor heating manifold sized at quotation stage and hydraulic-balanced against the home's existing boiler at commissioning, the 800×1600mm large-format porcelain installed by the same specialist fixer we used at Wilmslow to a 0.4mm worst-case lippage, the cornice in the adjacent master bedroom unmarked through the structural opening works, and the BC Designs Senator stone-resin freestanding bath filled with hot water at 4.15pm Friday for a first soak the same evening.
The Hale Wet-Room Conversion we delivered for an older couple in March was a 3-week accessibility-led adaptation where the contracted milestone was the Trafford Council Occupational Therapist signing off the works at 10.40am on the Friday morning of handback. The Wilmslow Spa Bathroom Suite we delivered for an affluent couple in April was a 5-week luxury master ensuite where the contracted milestone was the homeowners' first soak in the cast-iron bath at 6.30pm on the Friday evening of handback. This Didsbury Master Ensuite was the same bathroom-category methodology applied to a 4-week middle-tier reconfiguration where the contracted milestone was the Manchester City Council Building Control completion certificate issued the same Friday morning as practical completion. Different scale, different brief, different products, different chapter of life. Same disciplines underneath: tanking flood-tested as a contractual hold-point, structural backing where the loads matter, specialist installers engaged at procurement stage, statutory paperwork handled by us before the homeowners had to think about it.
We have lived in our Victorian semi in Didsbury for seven years and renovated everything in it apart from the master ensuite, which was an L-shaped corner with a corner shower-tray you could only get into sideways. We knew the room next door was unused and that the wall between it and the ensuite needed to come down to make a proper square space, but neither of us was sure whether the wall was load-bearing and we didn't want a contractor showing up on day one and discovering it. We tendered three contractors. Building Group came in second on price by about twelve hundred pounds. We picked them because they were the only quote to commission a structural engineer at quotation stage to walk the wall with him, the only quote to come back with an RSJ specification and a steel order priced inside the contract sum, and the only quote to handle the Manchester City Council Building Notice and the two inspections on our behalf so we did not have to make a single phone call to the Council across the four weeks. The completion certificate was emailed to us the Friday lunchtime of handback and is in the property paperwork file for whenever we eventually sell. They also sized the wet-system underfloor heating manifold against our existing boiler output sheet at quotation stage so we did not get a surprise variation in week three; the team commissioned the hydraulic balance with our boiler running and added the new ensuite zone to our existing heating app on the Friday morning. The cornice in the master bedroom is untouched. The bath was filled at quarter past four. Our two children, who are eight and ten, did not realise the project was almost finished until the bath was carried in on Wednesday. We have already passed Building Group's number to two friends in Chorlton and West Didsbury who are looking at similar projects.
If you've got a tight ensuite that needs walls moving, a family bathroom that needs gutting and reconfiguring, a Victorian or Edwardian semi-detached home where the bathroom is the last room to be done, or any wall-moving project where structural engineering and Building Control sit alongside the bathroom build, we'll come out for a free home visit, walk the existing space with you, and put a fixed-price quotation on your desk — with the structural engineer's RSJ specification, the Building Notice, the tanking flood test, the wet-system underfloor heating sized against your existing boiler, the large-format porcelain and the brassware specification all costed in.
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