A Structural Engineer can perform a range of services to assist you in the assessment of your home or to assist with the design of your home projects. Whereas an Architect may design the appearance and layout of a property, a Structural Engineer can perform design checks using various structural products and materials to ensure the proposed works are structurally safe and buildable. All of our design work is carried out in accordance with relevant Building Regulations and British Standard Codes of Practice and we can provide any necessary calculations or drawings.

If you are proposing to make changes to your property e.g. internal alterations or an extension, the services of a Structural Engineer will likely be required. Usually, we become involved once you have chosen an Architect and he has developed plans for the changes. If you have architectural plans for the proposed works or you think that an architect is not required and would like to speak to us about your proposals then one of our engineers would be happy to discuss your project further with you.

The time taken to turn around your particular project will be dependent on our existing work commitments. As a guide, we would normally aim to issue structural reports within 5 working days following our inspection, and for home projects, we would normally aim to issue drawings and calculations within 7 days following your instruction and receipt of your architectural drawings. However, understandably larger domestic projects may take longer (we will of course confirm this prior to commencing work).

Yes. All of our engineers are experienced in the design of structural works and we take our health and safety responsibilities very seriously. We advise all of our Clients on health and safety matters at the time of providing a fee proposal.

Where a Structural Engineer is already involved in a project there are specific rules that we must follow if we are to be involved in the same project. The existing engineer’s works must have been completed and he must have been paid in full. We cannot be appointed to carry out any works for which another engineer already has an instruction and we cannot be appointed to check the work of another engineer without first informing them that we have been asked to do so.

That would depend on if the wall is load bearing or not and if it is, what it is supporting; if and how much floor, wall, ceiling, roof, etc. While not difficult to deal with when all the information is available it is probably ill advised to suggest a beam size without all the facts in clarity. Please contact the office to arrange a site visit if in doubt as to whether a wall is load bearing.

That depends. If you have some good and clear drawings, and the alterations and structure required are quite straightforward, then probably not. If you've not got any drawings and / or the alterations are not very straightforward, then it may be an idea that a site visit is made to determine and / or clarify any structural matters that we feel are relevant. We'd need to be completely certain of matters for no site visit to be required. As competent professionals we would not be acting in your best interests to guess or assume structure without exceedingly good reason!!

Yes of course we can, but before we do we'd like to talk to you about what their costs are, what you require and why you think their quote is high. We'd also like the same access to drawings and information as the other Engineer. If we feel that their quote is reasonable, we will be tell you; we won't try to beat it or undercut them - we're always busy and don't need to 'buy-in' work!!

No. All of our work is carried out confidentially on behalf of our Client. Where reports are carried out these are intended solely for our Client unless we receive your instruction to distribute them to third parties.

Domestic extensions to form open plan spaces often require connections between the steel elements. Steelwork fabricators must obtain a design for this type of situation. As a matter of course we will include the details of the connection arrangements. If the connections are not shown then the steelwork fabricator will be obliged to employ another engineer to carry out the design, usually incurring additional fees. Where we have been employed for this work we have found that it is time consuming to pick up the design and complete it. On large steelwork projects it is traditional for the fabricator to design the connections because there are significant costs in the connections details which can be more suitably controlled by the fabricator. This type of approach does not work when for small domestic. We consider that it is for better service to provide all the details ourselves.

Quite simply the planning process ensures that new structures are suitable for their surroundings, and the focus will be on size, shape form and function. The primary focus of building control approval is on safety. Structural safety is one of over a dozen construction aspects that are checked before giving building control approval. Planning permission may or may not be required for a project, building control approval is always required when structural alterations are undertaken.

Raft foundations (sometimes known as Mat Foundations) are a large concrete slab which can support a number of columns and walls. The slab is spread out under the entire building or at least a large part of it which lowers the contact pressure compared to the traditionally used strip or trench footings. Raft foundations are sometimes used due to poor ground conditions or where a traditional strip foundation would be excessively deep (meaning it would be more cost effective to engage a structural engineer to asses the site and provide design and calculations for a raft).