I Do More Than Design Beams!

In July’s edition of Construction and Civil Engineering Magazine, catch up with our very own Managing Director, John Staves talking about what is a Structural Engineer and why are they so undervalued?


Structural Engineers help create record-breaking structures, beautiful structures, useful structures and sometimes just cool structures – anything from bridges, rollercoasters and skyscrapers to hospitals, schools, homes and public artworks.

Design Buildings

Structural Engineers design buildings, bridges and other structures to resist the forces applied to them.  These forces could be due to gravity, such as the weight of people and equipment within a building, the dynamic effects of people using a building or from natural events such as earthquakes.

Structural Engineers make sure the building works well in practice, depending on what it is used for: for example, a dance floor shouldn’t vibrate too much when people jump up and down on it.

Problem Solvers

Structural engineers are problem solvers.  Structural engineers use many skills.  From basic maths to cutting-edge technology. Every structure is different, so Structural Engineers are creative.  Finding solutions to unique problems all the time.

Practical

Structural Engineers are practical.  They don’t just think about the final permanent structure.  They think about how it will be built.

Safety Experts

Structural Engineers are safety experts.  Structural engineers are of critical importance in managing the risk to society throughout the lifecycle of the structure.  They consider the safety of structures from design and construction through to operation and demolition, in accordance with local legislation and best practice.  Structural engineers are key to ensuring that the built environment is robust and that lessons are learned when things go wrong.

Work Sustainably

Structural Engineers work sustainably.  They look to minimise materials used.  They innovate to make use of different modern materials.  Reducing demands on natural resources and recycling where possible.

Work as Part of a Team

But with all their skills, Structural Engineers don’t work alone.  They work as part of a team alongside Architects, builders and other engineers.  Construction is a collaborative game.  Sometimes the Structural Engineer will lead the team.  Calling for both project management and general management skills.


Proud to be a Chartered Structural Engineer

I am proud to be a Chartered Structural Engineer.  I am proud of the contribution I make to construction and more generally to society. 

But I sometimes get frustrated with the general misunderstandings around what I do and the benefits that what I do delivers.  Across the public as a whole, and within the political classes. 

Probably the worst is other allied professions misunderstanding what I do!


I Do More Than Design Beams! 

As I’ve outlined above, my skill set is broad and my contribution to projects is certainly more impactful than just safely transmitting vertical loads to the ground.

As a Chartered Structural Engineer, my education and training took longer than a medical doctor takes to qualify.  Like a Doctor, I have had to gain substantial experience and submit to both a gruelling examination and peer review to prove my competence. 

Just like a Doctor, I also have a professional obligation to keep up to date and improve my ability with Continuing Professional Development (CPD)

Lives Depend on my Decisions as a Structural Engineer

Multiple lives depend on a single decision I make as a Structural Engineer – if an occupied building collapses because of an error I make, many could be injured.  A Doctor deals with decisions that typically affect one person at a time.

The value a Doctor adds is clear and he is rightly recognised for that.  This is because most people have had some form of interaction with a Doctor.  Knowingly.  Either directly or via a close relative.

The Value a Structural Engineer Adds Is Subtler.

You are likely sat in a building, reading this.  A Structural Engineer has probably made sure that the building is safe and resists the forces applied to it. 

The Structural Engineer provides robust and durable shelters that people need to protect them from their environment. 

Did you cross a bridge on your journey to work or home? 

A Structural Engineer was undoubtedly involved in its design and currently helps with its maintenance, making sure you arrive safely.  You may not have engaged the Structural Engineer directly in either case, but you benefit from his/her work.

Structural Engineers Don’t Shout About What Value They Add

It is not a common trait of a Structural Engineer to shout about what he/she achieves and what value he/she adds, but it can be considerable. 

A little extra investment on the Structural Design of a building (spend on structural design is an investment because it will save absolute project cost) can pay back multiple times over during construction. 

Save on Build Costs by Early Input From The Structural Engineer 

Works can be kept simple and efficient, by early input from the Structural Engineer.  If investing £1k on Engineering fees could save £2k of build costs, how often would you want to invest £1k?  With the extra time that buys to refine and improve the design, and impact the buildability, this is easily possible and doubles your money!

And finally, the next time you visit your Doctor, just think, the surgery or hospital wouldn’t be there without the work of a competent Structural Engineer.

John M Staves CEng FIStructE is Fellow and Vice President of the Institution of Structural Engineers and Managing Director of Michael Aubrey Partnership

This article appeared in In July’s edition of Construction and Civil Engineering

Today I’m talking to Andrew Wiggett, one of our latest Structural Engineers to pass his Chartered exams.

Why Did You Choose To Study Structural Engineering?

When I was a school I didn’t really know what I wanted to do.

I chose the A levels that were interesting and “do-able” – Maths, further maths and physics and chemistry AS

I didn’t know what engineering was, or that you could do a degree in it

I thought I was going to do a Physics degree, or I looked at Medicine – but that was an idea that died out pretty quick!

In lower 6th form someone suggested looking at Engineering, I thought that’s a good idea – this is what I pictured physics to be like.


I did a general engineering degree at Cambridge University – 4 year Masters

My best module in first year was structures and materials – my two favourite subjects. I tried to avoid pure Maths, but there was a lot of this.


What Do You Like About Being An Engineer?

It’s a varied job, with lots of projects on the go at the same time.

I’m glad that none of my projects take too long, I wouldn’t like to be working on a project that had a two year deadline .. I wouldn’t know where to begin with that. Whereas twenty things to do in the next month is a lot more interesting.

Any Downsides To Structural Engineering?

Lack of protection of the name “Engineer” A friend said once they did a two day course installing BT infinity and now they were an “Engineer”

People come up to me and say “you’re an engineer, why can’t you do this task” it’s usually sawing a bit of wood in a straight line!

What Skills And Qualities Do You Think Are Important To Become A Structural Engineer?

Maths, but not someone who gets bogged down in the exact details.

Rejecting the negative answer out of hand and explicitly state it, it would drive pure mathematicians bonkers.

The ability to visualise things. That why I always struggled with the electronics side of things at university because it was something that I couldn’t picture. Whereas building structures I can picture as well as the mechanics and materials.

Communication skills There’s no point knowing the answer if you can’t tell someone what it is and there is no point designing something that a Contractor can’t build.

What Was The Exam Preparation Like?

I’d advise you doing the January exam, if you are like me and don’t like Christmas!

A big chunk of my revision was based around past papers, but I didn’t actually sit down and do a whole paper for 7.5 hours.

I started by working on basic scheme design. Coming up with two distinct schemes for a question. Choosing questions that I wouldn’t necessarily pick in the exam. Then I’d move on to the sketch drawings.


structural engineering


Any Tips?

I did prepare a folder of how to do calculations by hand – the sorts of calculations that would come up and set up so I could copy them out – much faster than just having the formula or procedure to hand.

The scheme design was what I concentrated on as that was the part I failed the first time.

I also worked on the end of the afternoon – the method statement. As this was something that I rushed badly last year, but you pick up some good marks here. There are 10 marks out of 50 available in part B – 40/45 minutes. I stopped what I was doing in the exam when I had 45 minutes to go and concentrated on the method statement.

You find out if you fail or pass.

If you fail you get a mark and feedback, but no mark if you pass. However there is a “best solution prize” – it’s across all the papers, across the world.


What Does Becoming Chartered Mean to you?

 It’s sort of the next step in my career.

I remember doing the first graduate interviews for my first job after University and they’d always say “where do you see yourself in 5 years” … Annoyingly it’s taken me 5.5 years – but I got there!


Do You Have A Favourite Building Structure?

 I’m a big fan of timber.

From a sustainability point of view, timber structures are the way things are going especially in this country.

Design lives of buildings are much more suited to timber, rather than putting up concrete and brick monstrosities to be then torn down in 40 years.

It’s like electric cars, we can’t all switch to timber overnight, there’s not enough of it. I think we need to push things in that direction, it’s slightly better.

what is a structural engineer


Preparing for Your Chartered Exams?

Are you preparing for your exams? 

Click here to find out about the Institution of Structural Engineers Chartered Membership exam and Professional Review Interview –

Good luck!

Today I’m talking to Oliver Goodyear.. Ollie has been part of the team here at Michael Aubrey Partnership since 2011, starting with us as a Graduate Engineer.

In January Ollie sat his Chartered Exams and we are thrilled that he passed first time!

Ollie, Why Did You Study Engineering?

“I’ve always had an interest in buildings and infrastructure and how things work.  I kind of fell into engineering. At school and college my better subjects were sciences and maths.

During my A levels I realised there was an engineering degree in applied science and maths and it felt more practical, more fun than doing further maths.

At the time and also now, I realised that there was a shortage of engineers so I thought there would be good jobs prospects at the end of it”.


What Do You Like About Being A Chartered Structural Engineer ?

“I like that every week is different. It’s not a monotonous job.

It keeps things interesting and variable, your weeks do change.

It can be a rewarding job, I feel you are actually achieving good stuff and adding value to the world.

It’s challenging, puzzle solving which engineers enjoy.”


It can give you a headache but when you actually solve a problem you get a high degree of satisfaction.

It’s quite a social career, always interacting with Architects, builders, members of the design team and homeowners.”

Any Downsides To Engineering?

“A tricky question … I guess it can really give you a headache when you can’t get things to work, it can be quite soul destroying.  A lot of the time you are thinking about it too much and just need to have a break from it.

In terms of structural engineering I think people don’t really understand what the role of a structural engineer is.

Pioneering Architects were pretty much engineers .. designing buildings and understanding the mechanics behind it.

I feel Structural Engineers are the unsung heroes in construction.

I think the engineer’s role is becoming more important. Buildings are becoming more wacky, more complicated”.

What Skills And Qualities Do You Think Are Important For A Chartered Structural Engineer ?

“I think you always have to be asking the question “why?”

That’s the difference between an engineer and a technician – you are challenging why things are done a certain way, not necessarily just going with what has always been done.

You have to be very thorough in what you do.

Constantly looking at options, analyse the constraints. You need to be an excellent communicator. This is a skill that comes with time I think. Understanding the project dynamics and the economics of the project.

Learnt not to go too far too early. when there are too many unknowns. As soon as there is an unknown, stop work and highlight the question, otherwise you go too far and end up with abortive works.

Try to get items agreed and back it up with a paper trail.

You come out of University design based, but the actual business side is something that you have to learn.

I always did well at the maths and science side of things and I’ve got quite a good memory, but I’ve released that’s quite a useless skill for an engineer.

The trick is not knowing the answer, but knowing where to find the answer – it’s fundamental really – I don’t need to memorise the Eurocodes!”

What Was The Exam Preparation Like? Any Tips?

structural engineering

“Pretty tough to be honest.

The toughest couple of months in my professional and academic life so far.

It’s so intense the amount of work that you have to produce in such a short time.

7 hour exam .. but it’s not long enough!

The length of the exam was the challenge because you are not prepared for the mental and physical challenge of it.

Preparation – I did a four part evening course with Institution of structural Engineers, Thames Valley group. Run by Rosie – she had passed the exam a few years previously. That was brilliant.”

She broke the exam into five parts and talked through each part in detail with tips and techniques and then as homework we would carry out a question and then the following week the first thing we would do was talk through what each of us did and what went wrong!

It gave me a lot of confidence knowing that people were in the same boat and at the same level.

It was valuable to go through past exam papers with other candidates and talk through exam techniques.

Every week they brought in an experienced engineer and talk about specific parts of the exam.

One week they brought in a temporary works engineer, who was actually one of the examiners, he came to talk to us about the method statements and programme section.

It’s the last part of the exam and is worth 10 marks, which is 20% of the exam .. by that point people have run out of time and get maybe 1 or 2 marks out of 10 and often fail just because they missed this section. In fact it’s probably the easiest part of the exam.

[click here for details of exam preparation courses run by the Institution of Structural Engineers]

My main tips would be to;

  • Encourage anyone going for the exam to go on one of the IStructE courses. Either evening one, like I did, or an intensive 1 or 2 day course. You’ve got to practice exam technique.
  • Spend some time putting together your resources for the exam. I started off with two large folders .. like War and Peace .. then soon realised it was going to be too much and I wouldn’t have time to look through it properly in the exam.
  • Get all your rules of thumb to hand in a small concise folder that you know inside out so you don’t waste any time.
  • You’ve just got to put in the hours. Lots of past papers, lot of exam preparation.
  • I took a week off work in November and from Boxing day to New Year’s Day I just worked solidly on it.

A lot of people told me I’ve got to do a past paper – under exam conditions. I did and failed it massively.

But it did give me a lot of confidence .. most people fail first time so it got that fail out of the way.

I could do it in 7 hours, it’s not too bad, it went quite quick, that made me feel a lot better about it.

Pass rate this year was 28%.

I’m still buzzing from finding out that I’ve passed the exam now.”


What Does Becoming Chartered Structural Engineer Mean To You?

“It means a lot.

You’ve got the exam and you’ve got the review. It’s been a few years leading up to it.  Firstly it’s a massive relief.

From a professional point of view it’s given me a lot of confidence and a feel good factor of passing is just brilliant.

I feel I can call myself an engineer now. I have met the industry standard and it is such a high standard to meet.

The route from school, College, University and onto professional qualification, that’s it I’ve reached the level, it’s complete.”


Do You Have A Favourite Building Structure?

“As a modern engineer you have so many resources available to you to do your job.

The advance of computational analysis and finite element and techniques like that have really changed engineering. I don’t think it’s any coincidence that the form and shape of skylines around the world has started to change over the last 20 years.

It really makes me appreciate the work of Engineers and Architects before computer times.

I really like historic buildings.”


Pantheon, Rome

“I went to Rome a few years ago and what they managed to achieve was amazing. My favourite building is the Pantheon.

It’s a large concrete cofferdome.

I think today it’s still the largest unreinforced spanning structure in the world and it was built 2,000 years ago!

A span that large .. the temporary works .. the construction techniques used would have been impressive.

That’s my favourite building.”


Getting the Right Experience

“I was pleased that I was able to get the right experience to pass the Chartered exams at one company.

A lot of people said that I had to move company to get the right experience, but I’m very pleased that wasn’t the case and I’m grateful to John Staves at Michael Aubrey Partnership for supporting me from a Graduate engineer right through to Chartered Engineer.”