Opening up fireplace front - full width

[Locoblade]

Hi All

 

I'm new here but have lurked for a while and currently in the middle of a DIY house renovation we bought 2 years ago.

 

In our living room we have an unused fireplace I want to build out a little with studwork to form the basis of a media wall for the TV as it's the ideal place in the room for it, but we'd also like a wide decorative fireplace or openings underneath the TV across the entire width of the chimney breast where the old fireplace is and that leaves me with a problem to solve with the existing fireplace opening and lintel.

 

We don't have the budget or tolerance for dust to remove the chimney entirely and building the chimney face out too far with studwork to make space will look ungainly and consume too much room space so what I'd like to do is replace the existing lintel with a full width steel with front plate that supports the front brick face and allow at least 10-15cm of overhang across the chimney stack to give me enough undercut to do what we need along the lower half.

 

Does anyone see any issues in what I'm proposing or a better way to do it, and would it need proper structural engineer calculations and BC notice?

 

cheers

 

Edited April 7, 2023 by Locoblade