We're in a bit of a chicken and egg situation.
Looking to rejig a house (it's about 100 years old), move the stairs, move rooms around internally, add a single storey extension. And finally, the relevant bit, see if we can remove 2 large chimney stacks that (about 5ft by 2 ft) that are in both downstairs large rooms and large upstairs bedrooms. The chimneys run from the ground floor up into the 1st floor and then into the roof before joining in the middle.
If we wanted to do anything with the large rooms e.g. knock through the walls and do an ensuite for the bedrooms upstairs, add a room/convert a room, then they will need to be removed.
The thing is we don't know if it's going to be possible.
So what's the point in getting an architect to draw up loads of amazing plans, and only then do they get in a structural engineer to see if the plans are possible.
If we can't remove the chimneys, or if we can but at massively increased cost due to structural work it means we have to get an entirely new set of architect plans drawn up at great cost.
Am I missing something here? How can anyone have plans drawn up by an architect that moves everything around/moves/removes possible supporting walls before a structural engineer comes along and sees if it's possible? Or does the architect have a set of revised plans at no extra cost ready to go?
Any help/advice is gratefully received.