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Good point.....but he'd have to reduce it a lot from 305mm to cause cracking on that scale.

I was going to say precisely what Stevie has said - its a large beam for a relatively low load and not a large span. I suspect the SE has picked a large section off the top of his head so as not to have to take time seeing if a smaller section would work. Many SEs would be embarresed turning...

What are the loading details?

If you had an SE provide calcs for the beam, their figures should have included a check for excessive deflection. If the builder used his own judgement for the beam size - could be anyones guess.... What is the actual size of the beam (height x width) and what is the span?

Cracking above the level of the beam is not uncommon and is usually a one-off occurrence. Its when cracks appear below the level of the beam that sets alarm bells ringing. Having said that, most wall removals take place without incident. The cracks could be due to either a beam which is simply...

Agreed; in some cases, particularly in older properties with soft lime mortar, gallows brackets might not be viable. But ultimately no Building Inspector can unilaterally refuse to accept gallows brackets if an SE has confirmed that they would be OK.

If the stack is built into a wall (eg a party wall) you would support the remaining chimney stack in the loft off a pair of gallows brackets bridged by a short beam, depending on the width of the stack. The brackets are usually made out of 50 x 50 steel angle, and are fixed with 8-10mm...

The problem with using angles is that they can rwist under load, particularly on long spans. A bit risky I would have thought.

Whichever is cheaper or easier.. Long concrete lintels can fracture if not handled carefully.

Perfectly OK - a 3mm overhang each side is nothing. You can overhang up to 1/3 the thickness of the block, though I wouldn't advise it in your case.

A concrete lintel could well be cheaper than steel, but heavier to lift into position.

A 203 x 133 x 25 steel beam.

The problem with chimney supports is that practice and theory collide. Due to the corbelling-effect of brickwork, remaining chimneys in lofts or at first floor can stay stable indefinitely - that's the 'practice' part. The 'theory' part is that what's left of the chimney needs to be supported...

It is skew-nailed to the tops of the josts, The binder itself will be supported either by being built into a wall, or suspended by timber hangers from a higher beam, such as a purlin, or even the ridge.

Clearly yout last b/c bod needs to re-read the regs. What do we pay these people for.....?

Genuine question: why avoid GRP?

Any structural element (which of course includes beams) in a dwelling must have 30 mins fire protection, except those elements solely supporting a roof (eg purlins).

Don't worry, freshly-poured concrete loves water. It will be fine.

From two recent similar jobs I've looked at recently, I'd bet the farm that those walls are not loadbearing. For peace of mind, prod around the plaster near the top with a strong screwdriver and you'll see there's no connection

@Nose, being in Staffiordshire you would know these bricks as Staffordshire Blues, some of the finest and hardest bricks made. They are often used in two courses as a dpc (in hard 1:3 mortar) so there probably wouldn't need to be a rolled-out dpc as well?