The Structural Engineer

This Technical Guidance Note describes the design and detailing of base plates – the primary means by which steel-framed structures transmit vertical loads into their foundations. 

A significant-sized opening in a masonry wall will always require a lintel to bridge over it. This note offers advice on the different types of lintel that are available, their detailing requirements and their design.

The equipment and processes used in laboratories often work at very fine levels of detail and can be very sensitive to vibration. This article discusses the main vibration issues that confront structural engineers, and explains how they can be addressed.

Structural-Safety calls on the engineering community to respond to key questions in the UK government’s post-Hackitt safety consultation.

Alastair Soane summarises the UK government’s proposals for reform of the building safety regulatory system, which are open for consultation until 31 July 2019.

Stephen Gregson stresses the importance of clearly defining responsibilities and interfaces when designing building facades.

In this second part of our biographical look at Alistair Day and the technique of dynamic relaxation, we review some of the exceptionally innovative and structurally demanding projects to have made use of the method.

This two-part article explores the life and achievements of Alistair Day, the engineer who developed the calculation technique ‘dynamic relaxation’.

2018 Milne Medallist John Parker discusses the privileges and responsibilities that structural engineers have, and the unexpected education that engineering projects can provide.

This paper discusses the design and construction of this award-winning building, including the constraints imposed by an inner-city site of archaeological interest, the requirements associated with specialist medical equipment, and the incorporation of extensive off-site construction methods into the structural design.

This paper describes how the 50-storey residential Principal Tower was designed and constructed on a site in the London Borough of Hackney close to the City of London.

This paper describes the innovative parametric design and evolutionary optimisation process used for the Solar Gate – an ethereal sculpture created for Hull's UK City of Culture year in 2017.

Following the recent fire at Notre-Dame de Paris, Professor Jacques Heyman discusses the construction of the cathedral and considers some of the questions that will arise in agreeing an approach to repair.

This month's letters continue the discussion around subsidence and settlement; call on structural engineers to declare a climate emergency; discuss the origins of the 120-year design life for bridges; and offer more thoughts on safety factors.

This month’s letters consider the meaning of ‘subsidence’ and ‘settlement’, among other topics.

This month we are delighted to announce the winners of the 2019 Structures prizes, which were presented at the Institution's People and Papers Awards held in June.

Upcoming events at HQ and around the Regional Groups.

This month’s question from Mounir Matta MIStructE concerns bending moments in a structural framing system.