Climate emergency

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.

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

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

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.

Mike Cook FIStructE explains how and why structural engineering firms are addressing the climate emergency.

Chris Wise discusses individual responsibility and how engineers can attempt to affect climate change.

An introduction to the goals and how structural engineers can use them to tackle the climate crisis and create a better world.

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.

In late 2019, the Institution set up a Climate Emergency Task Group, with the goal of driving our response to the climate emergency.

Congratulations to the winners of our 2020 Young structural engineering international design competition.

CEO Martin Powell is one of 43 signatories to the engineering sector submission to the UK Government Spending Review.

In this blog Mike Sefton considers how attitudes and responses to climate change have evolved over the last 25 years. He encourages us all to take collective responsibility for tackling the climate emergency.

Mike gives a presentation about his career and commitment to the climate emergency.

In an inspiring online lecture, Dr Mike Cook presented his compelling vision for the future. He argued that structural engineers have a vital role to play in reducing the impact of carbon in the built environment.

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

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

Learn how to change your designs to reduce carbon in your projects.

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.

Caroline Field explores the relationship between ‘lean’ and ‘resilient’ design, and discusses how future designs should evaluate risks and incorporate strategies to mitigate and adapt to these.

Natasha Watson explains how structural engineers can produce designs that make efficient use of material to reduce their environmental impact.

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.

Ian Poole explores ways to improve the utilisation ratio of designs, and encourages engineers to challenge assumptions that favour rationalisation over optimisation.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

Advice for engineers who are trying to lower carbon in a brief.

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