Profile

Buildings are supporting different types of loads all the time – these could be people walking around the building, furniture, wind blowing onto the walls, snow building up on the roof or earthquakes shaking the foundations. I use maths and problem-solving skills to ensure that the building will stand strong and not fall over under these loads!

What project am I working on at the moment? I am working on a train station refurbishment project. The train station is around 120 years old and has a lot of heritage and architectural importance. To make sure that the station is still in good condition, I have gone to visit the site, checked old drawings from the archive, reviewed inspection reports on the structure and worked out what surveys need to be done. There’s quite a lot of detective work going on to understand the station’s current condition!

My favourite part of my work: Seeing the buildings that I’ve helped design come to life! It’s a magical feeling seeing your drawings and computer models transform into a real life building that you can walk into and touch 🙂

Sketches and drawings: these can be quick sketches done by hand which are scanned in or using computer software, depending on how much detail you want to provide and what you’re wanting to communicate. Construction stage drawings will be actually taken out on site and used as a reference to construct the building!

Calculations: these can be done by hand on calculation sheets, on Microsoft Excel or software which already have the formulas inbuilt. Calculations are used to determine things like how much load is the foundation supporting? How much is the floor vibrating? How much can the column bend without breaking the glass facade?

Creating computer models: By modelling a building in 3D, we create a digital representation of the physical characteristics of a building. These are also powerful tools in communicating how all the different aspects of a building fit together e.g. the structure (my role), the mechanical and electrical equipment (e.g. lights, vents), fire escapes and many more.

Learning: I am continuously learning new things in my day – that could be from speaking with different built environment professionals and learning what things are important for them when it comes to designing buildings. Or from going to training sessions on practically anything – technical design topics, other Engineers sharing about what projects they’ve worked on and the lessons learnt, about leadership or health & wellbeing. The learning never stops! Sometimes these training sessions happen in different offices which I always enjoy because you get to meet new people and learn about the culture in different offices.