The Dude

Hi, Our house was previously extended but the previous owners did not remove the old exterior wall lintel meaning we have a constriction of around two foot were the old exterior walls protrude into the room each side and about one foot from the ceiling. We want to remove the old lintel, raise it above the ceiling line and get rid of as much of the old walls as possible increasing the gap from around 6 foot to 8 foot. The builder has recommended a structural engineer (which is good!) He wants to support the exterior wall using strongboys rather than needles. I appreciate it is a lot less work to use strongboys but I am concerned they are not sufficient to support the storey above. Will a structural engineer be able to advise how the wall should be supported during the work?