Finalists announced for the Pai Lin Li Travel Grant 2024

Lucy Fryer MEng

Lucy studied Structural Engineering and Architecture at the University of Sheffield, where the integration of the courses ignited a passion for sustainability in the built environment. After graduating she joined Elliott Wood, growing her knowledge and capability on a variety of complex refurbishments and new builds, including developing the temporary works for the new five-storey deep basement at The Ritz hotel.
 
Since joining London Structures Lab, she has had an integral role in the redevelopment of 75 London Wall. The ten-storey unbonded post-tensioned concrete frame from the 1990’s will be deconstructed to its sixth floor, then extended up to thirteen floors, including roof gardens and terraces, with no new foundations. Lucy assessed the existing buildings capacity, helping to minimise strengthening, and developing the strategy for the new, steel framed structure for the additional levels. As part of the scheme’s ambitious sustainability agenda, Lucy explored opportunities to reuse steel, enhance steel grades to reduce embodied carbon, and optimise concrete mixes for cost, programme, and carbon.

She has also been instrumental in the development at One Golden Lane, a 1990’s frame with a listed façade that is being extended out and up by reusing existing steelwork deconstructed from the building’s roof. She found it rewarding to push the existing steel to its limits and minimise the strengthening required. Together, these two projects have formed an excellent vehicle for research into current low carbon steel practices.
Alongside project work, Lucy contributes to London Structures Lab’s net zero carbon white paper. Her role includes researching net zero roadmaps and low carbon alternative materials for incorporation into project optioneering. She has developed her understanding of materials, manufacturing and embodied carbon, at the same time as fostering her interest in research.  

In the future, Lucy will continue working on projects that strive to reject business as usual practices, pushing the construction industry to become more sustainable and minimise environmental harm. 

Hora Behnejad 

Hora is a dedicated Civil Engineering MEng student at University College London (UCL) who has just completed her penultimate year abroad at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) in the U.S. She will return to UCL for her final year, graduating in June 2025 with an Integrated Master’s degree in Civil Engineering.

As an Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) QUEST Scholar, sponsored by the global engineering consulting firm WSP, Hora has gained industry experience through three summer internships with WSP - two in England and one in Chicago, U.S. Additionally, she is a recipient of the prestigious Royal Academy of Engineering's Engineering Leaders Scholarship, which has further fueled her ambition to become a leader in the field of biobased materials.

Her passion for sustainable construction began in 2021 during her participation in a transformative two-week workshop on bamboo and membrane structures in Mexico. This experience expanded her knowledge of bamboo’s mechanical properties and construction techniques, sparking a keen interest in its potential as a sustainable construction material and laying the groundwork for further exploration. With the support of the Pai Lin Li Travel Grant, Hora aims to enhance her knowledge in bamboo construction through the BambooU Building and Design Course in Indonesia and by studying the works of the Base Bahay Foundation in the Philippines. Through these experiences, she is eager to explore bamboo’s potential to revolutionise the UK construction industry and promote more sustainable building practices with this net-positive material.
During the academic year 2022/23, Hora was the President of the UCL Women's Engineering Society (UCLWES).

In her spare time, she enjoys participating in STEM outreach activities as a certified STEM Ambassador. While studying abroad, she volunteered at a bilingual primary school, helping students with Mathematics. Hora also enjoys travelling and is trilingual, speaking Persian, English and Spanish fluently.

Andrew Smith 

Andrew is a Senior Engineer in Arup’s specialist structural support team. He is an international expert on timber design, with a particular focus on TCCs (Timber Concrete Composites) and stability systems. He represents the UK on the European committee which has published the world’s first TCC design code (CEN TS 19103), he has written papers and guidance, and has delivered training on behalf of the IStructE. His work has particularly focused around analysis methods for TCC bridges, including how to account for point loads, differential thermal loads and shrinkage. He has also developed new methods for designing light-frame timber walls and segmented CLT walls for inclusion in the new version of Eurocode 5. Andrew uses this expertise to support Arup’s timber projects across the globe.

Andrew is also an expert in the assessment of existing structures, ranging from historic masonry and iron infrastructure through to 1960s LPS (Large Panel System) buildings, RAAC (Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete), and modern concrete buildings with design or construction defects. He recently published a paper in The Structural Engineer on how to approach structural assessments for safety cases (as required under the UK’s Building Safety Act), and has been working with the IStructE to develop a new tool for assessing the safety of existing structures which is due for publication in the autumn.

Looking to the future, Andrew believes that the utilisation of innovative low-carbon construction techniques such as TCCs and the reuse of existing structures will be critical to reducing the carbon emissions of the built environment.