Civil engineering
Structural civil engineering in all its breadth: sewage treatment plants, shafts, wind turbines and the preservation of historic building fabric.
Structural engineering works
Structural engineering works covers everything that is neither a building nor a bridge and still has to be carried: water management structures, tanks and shafts, wind turbine foundations, retaining structures and the stabilisation of historic fabric. What these tasks share is that no standard solution exists for them.
Water management and tank construction
Basins, tanks and shaft structures at wastewater treatment plants are watertight concrete structures. What governs here is rarely the load capacity but restraint and crack width control: temperature, shrinkage and restrained deformation determine reinforcement and the joint concept. Added to this is chemical attack from the medium and the requirement that the structures be refurbished while remaining in operation.
Building in groundwater
Where a structure sits in groundwater, the usual view is reversed. The problem is not weight but uplift, particularly in the empty condition during construction or later maintenance. Verification against flotation then governs wall thickness, base slab and sometimes the entire construction sequence. Dewatering during construction is another boundary condition that has to be settled early.
Foundations and special structures
- Wind turbine foundations
- Retaining and cantilever walls
- Shaft and tank structures
- Structures in groundwater and uplift verification
- Stabilisation and upgrading of historic fabric
Existing and listed structures
Historic fabric calls for different measures. Historic construction can only be modelled to a limited extent with today's methods, while as little original fabric as possible should be lost. The task is usually to demonstrate adequate safety with minimal intervention, and for that, first to understand how the structure actually carries load. Calculating too quickly here ends in strengthening components that have stood for two hundred years.
Questions we are often asked
What counts as structural engineering works?
All structures where the load-bearing system is the actual task: water management structures, tanks, shafts, retaining structures, wind turbine foundations and special constructions. The boundary with building construction is not sharp. What matters is that here function and structure coincide.
Why does crack width matter so much at treatment plants?
Because the structures have to be watertight. What governs is usually not load capacity but restraint from temperature and shrinkage. Reinforcement and the joint concept are therefore designed to limit crack width and not for load capacity alone.
Can structures be refurbished while in operation?
As a rule yes; with water management facilities that is the norm rather than the exception. It requires design in construction stages that take plant operation into account, including verification of the construction states that arise.
Do you work on listed structures?
Yes. With historic fabric the task is to demonstrate adequate safety with the least possible intervention. That means first understanding the existing structural behaviour rather than replacing it with a new structure.
Your project doesn’t fit in a box? All the better.
Whether a house, bridge or industrial plant: from everyday projects to demanding special solutions, we develop the right, economical structure.
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