Climate emergency

Young Structural Engineering International Design Competition 2020: a sustainable habitat for coastal communities.

Novel materials and methods to achieve net zero: part 1 of 6.

Engineering Matters speaks to 2020 Gold Medal winner, Mike Cook, about the climate emergency and his career.

Jo reflects on her own career and looks ahead to 2050, discussing the role structural engineers play in creating safe, sustainable, inclusive and resilient cities.

Engineers must resist pressure to build environmentally unsustainable schemes if we want to be judged well by future generations, says 2020 Gold Medal winner and former Institution Vice-President, Mike Cook.

This foreword briefly summarises the commitments that engineers have made in declaring a climate emergency and considers first steps to build action plans that will support these commitments.

Engineers discuss their experiences of implementing changes and set out their future action plans for tackling the climate emergency.

Updates on how the Institution and wider industry have been working towards the targets.

Learn about some of the resources available to you to help with sustainable design.

Mike Cook FIStructE describes six actions structural engineers should take now to address climate change.

The speakers discuss their experiences of influencing both the brief and the client. They also highlight how they are adapting the business model within their respective companies.

In this piece, Pooja Shah shares her thoughts on how young engineers can respond to the climate emergency. Pooja is an Engineer at RDG Engineering and Chair of the IStructE Young Member’s Group.

Meet the esteemed judging panel for this year’s Young Structural Engineer International Design Competition and find out what they are looking for ahead of the competition winner’s announcement.

An update on what the Institution is doing to help combat the climate emergency.

A debate focussing on the monitoring and flexible use of structures and the use of new technologies.

How digital fabrication is transforming the way we construct the built environment.

A discussion of culture and practice in design relating to material efficiency.

Luke Bisby urges structural engineers to improve their understanding of ‘fire resistance’ as the profession looks to innovate rapidly in response to climate change.

A study shared by BuroHappold to share knowledge that may help address the climate emergency.

The Institution’s Digital Workflows and Computational Design Panel calls for a rethink of what computational design offers the industry for more sustainable design.

Ben Gholam describes the development by Price & Myers of a parametric benchmarking tool to allow engineers to produce scheme designs with the lowest embodied carbon.

Isuru Nanayakkara looks at traditional technologies and modern approaches to lightweight shell construction to seek a better perspective on how shell technology can be appropriated to different local contexts.

The IStructE Safety, Health and Wellbeing Panel considers the safety implications when aspiring to a lean design.

Hear from the engineer behind the Structural Award-winning Newquay Harper Footbridge project - and get into the mindset of only doing what is necessary.

James Norman, Tim Ibell and Oliver Broadbent examine the challenges engineers will face in persuading clients to repurpose existing buildings in place of building new ones.

William Algaard presents ways in which structural engineers can help shape the direction of a project by confidently and constructively sharing their expertise in a language that client and architect will understand.

To design more sustainable buildings, big decisions need to be made early in the design process. Could laying out the structure to a 300mm planning grid reduce embodied carbon, enable the circular economy and still retain the uniqueness of design, asks David Treacy.

Tim Ibell, James Norman and Oliver Broadbent challenge structural engineers to steer their clients away from a presumption of a new building.

Oliver Broadbent and James Norman call for a rethink of engineering education to meet the needs of an industry adapting to the demands of the climate emergency.

In his winning entry to the Institution’s Kenneth Severn Award 2020 – an annual essay competition for young engineers – Will Rogers-Tizard argues that structural engineers can help tackle the climate emergency by making better use of materials, understanding carbon values and questioning industry norms.

As the climate changes there will be ever-increasing social and economic pressure to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, with focus turning to the embodied carbon in products which has thus far been eclipsed by operational values.

Stephen Fernandez discusses ways in which engineers can explore the potential to refurbish existing buildings instead of demolishing and building anew.