Can an engineer visit my house in Kildare before quoting?

The first call is free, and on it we will say whether a visit is needed at all. For structural calculations the site visit is part of the job and included in the fixed fee, which is quoted before anything starts.

Will a soakaway work on my site?

On the sand and gravel across much of the county it often does, but it is a test result rather than an assumption. A percolation test on the site, to BRE 365, shows how fast the ground takes water, and the soakaway is sized from it. On clay or peat the answer may be attenuation and a controlled outfall instead.

Areas we cover

Structural Engineers in Kildare

Structural, civil and precast engineering from our office in Newbridge, for homes, developments and commercial buildings across Co. Kildare.

The Hotel at Goffs, Kill, Co. Kildare

Mill Lane Development, Naas, Co. Kildare

The Hotel at Goffs, Kill, Co. Kildare

Mill Lane Development, Naas, Co. Kildare

Contents

Kildare is home. The office is at Baroda Court in Newbridge, so a site in Naas, Kildare town or Kilcullen is a short drive rather than a day out, and the engineer who visits is the one who designs the job and signs for it.

We work for homeowners, builders, architects and developers across the county. The same office takes on an extension, a wall coming out, a house for sale with a crack in it, a housing scheme that needs its roads and drainage, or a hotel framed in precast.

What we do in Kildare

Structural Calculations

Extensions, attic conversions and openings in load bearing walls, with a site visit and a fixed fee quoted first.

Surveys and Reports

Pre purchase surveys, condition reports and crack and subsidence reports on houses across the county.

Building Regulations Compliance

Opinions on Compliance for a sale, and design and assigned certification under BCAR.

SuDS and Drainage Design

Soakaway tests on site, and surface water designed to the council's SuDS policy before it reaches a sewer.

Uisce Éireann Connections

The connection applications a new house or a development needs, made as your agent.

Flood Risk Assessments

For sites near the Liffey, the Barrow and the rivers that feed them.

Precast Concrete

Precast frames for developers, contractors and manufacturers, designed in Newbridge.

Planning and building control

Planning applications in the county go to Kildare County Council, at Áras Chill Dara in Naas. The council is also the building control authority, and commencement notices are lodged with it through the national Building Control Management System.

The council expects surface water to be dealt with on the site, through SuDS, before anything reaches a public sewer, and an application that does not show how is likely to come back with a request for further information. The drainage design, the soakaway results and the flood assessment are the parts of a planning application we usually prepare.

The ground in Kildare

The county is flatter than its ground is simple. The Curragh and much of the middle of the county sit on sand and gravel, which drains well and usually takes a soakaway. The north west runs into the peat of the Bog of Allen, where a foundation has to reach firm ground or be designed for what is there. The valleys of the Liffey and the Barrow carry softer ground and a flood risk that a planning application will be asked about.

That is why a site visit comes before the design, and on a larger site a site investigation before that. We set out what an investigation finds, peat and made ground among it, and what each does to a foundation in What the Ground Decides.

Towns we cover

Newbridge, Naas, Kildare, Kilcullen, Athy, Monasterevin, Rathangan, Clane, Sallins, Prosperous, Kill, Maynooth, Celbridge, Leixlip and Kilcock, and the countryside between them.

Our work in the county

Not always. A rear extension to a house can be exempt from planning up to 45 square metres, provided it meets the other conditions in the planning regulations, such as the garden it leaves behind. Where a case is in doubt, a section 5 declaration from Kildare County Council gives a firm answer. Exempt from planning is not exempt from the building regulations: the structure still has to comply, and an extension over 45 square metres needs a commencement notice either way.

On the sand and gravel across much of the county it often does, but it is a test result rather than an assumption. A percolation test on the site, to , shows how fast the ground takes water, and the soakaway is sized from it. On clay or peat the answer may be attenuation and a controlled outfall instead.

Send us the project.

Drawings, a specification, or the site address and the programme dates: whatever you have is enough to start. We come back inside two working days, and a written fee proposal against a defined scope follows within three working days of that.

Email: info@petruf.ie
Phone: +353 45 498 201; Write to us on WhatsApp
Office hours: Monday to Friday9:00 to 18:00Saturday and SundayClosed