Removing false chimney Breast

Hi, newby here! We are ripping out our kitchen, ceiling down, stripped bare. We have a false chimney breast in the kitchen which we are taking out to make more room. We have removed the outside (plasterboard) and are left with the brick which forms the fireplace (which is in the living room, chimney runs through middle of the house) the flue and a metal frame. This metal frame runs straight up from the look of it. So, what we intend on doing is chopping the flue and the metal frame flush with ceiling height. Do you think we have any support issues? Any ideas on how best to do this? I will post pics!

 

I agree about the metal frame. The flue is going to be chopped and I can imagine the remainder of the flue going straight up to the chimney (it's a metal box chimney) is going to be pretty weighty! It's how to support that more than anything.

 

There's no brick at all, just the metal frame and the flue. It was surrounded by plasterboard. It's just the support of the remaining flue I'm concerned about.

 

Thanks for that, we were thinking around the same! Appreciate the input! We do plan on removing the flue completely as it runs through a loft conversion that was done before we bought the house ... ten years ago, but one step at a time as just ripping out the kitchen is a nightmare job in itself! I'm presuming we don't need building regs as it's not exactly structural?