Peek-A-Blue is a residential renovation and rear extension by @nimtimarchitects , taking its name from the ultramarine coloured openings used throughout the property to connect the internal spaces and allow natural daylight to seep through.
The small ground floor living areas have been opened up to provide a double-height snug at the centre, which connects through to the new kitchen and dining room extension at the back of the house. The snug floor was lowered by 1m to allow level access and improve flow throughout the ground floor and into the garden.
We designed the larger structural openings to improve internal circulation and support the loads above while working within the existing building constraints.
Projects like this demonstrate how structural engineering supports good architectural design, enabling homes to evolve and improve alongside their owners and requirements, while retaining quality and character.
#SDengineers #StructuralEngineering #ResidentialArchitecture #LondonExtensions #ArchitecturalDesign #EngineeringInDesign #BuiltEnvironment #UrbanHomes #CollaborativeDesign
That’s it, we’re signing off from socials for 2025.
Our office will be closed from 5.30pm on the 24th, reopening again on 2nd January. But before we go, we’d like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year one final time! 🎄🎉
Thank you for all the support again this year, it means a great deal to us. We hope you all have a wonderful festive break, and we’ll see you in 2026!
#MerryChristmas #HappyChristmas #FestiveCheer #HolidayCheer
Our Carbon Toolkit is here! 🌱📘
We’ve gathered years of real lessons learned from domestic extension projects and turned this into a practical guide that compares real options of frame and foundation solutions. Our document highlights carbon and cost implications for each option, giving designers and clients access to the data required to make informed early-stage decisions.
And the best part? It’s free.
Check it out on our website — link in bio.
#CarbonToolkit #LowCarbonDesign #SustainableDesign #StructuralEngineering #EmbodiedCarbon #DomesticExtensions #SDCarbonToolkit #ClimateCrisis #Resource #Construction #Architecture #ArchitectureandDesign #LondonEngineers #StructuralEngineers #Guide #Engineering
Celebrating 10 years of SD Engineers with insights into what it was like to win our first structural award, reflecting back on the decade, and a message of thanks to everyone who has supported us along the way.
#SD10Years #SDEngineers #EngineeringExcellence #SD10thAnniversary #SDCelebration #SDLegacy #SDJourney #TeamSD #StructuralEngineering #CivilEngineering #StructuralEngineerLondon #EngineeringExcellence #UKConstruction #CivilEngineerLondon #StructuralEngineer #CivilEngineer
Celebrating 10 years of SD Engineers with insights into lessons Mike and Andy have learnt about leadership, how they define success, and what they think are the toughest challenges of building and sustaining a practice.
#SD10Years #SDEngineers #EngineeringExcellence #SD10thAnniversary #SDCelebration #SDLegacy #SDJourney #TeamSD #StructuralEngineering #CivilEngineering #StructuralEngineerLondon #EngineeringExcellence #UKConstruction #CivilEngineerLondon #StructuralEngineer #CivilEngineer
Celebrating 10 years of SD Engineers with insights into what the original vision was for SD, how it felt to hire our first employee, and the secret behind balancing business and remaining best friends.
#SD10Years #SDEngineers #EngineeringExcellence #SD10thAnniversary #SDCelebration #SDLegacy #SDJourney #TeamSD #StructuralEngineering #CivilEngineering #StructuralEngineerLondon #EngineeringExcellence #UKConstruction #CivilEngineerLondon #StructuralEngineer #CivilEngineer
We are well and truly getting into the festive spirit now that we’ve had our Christmas party.
We donned our best Christmas jumpers, swapped our Secret Santa gifts, got a bit competitive at shuffle club, soaked up some of the booze with a scrummy dinner, downed some more booze, and sang our hearts out at karaoke. Oh, we had A LOT of festive fun!
Enjoy your office celebrations everyone! Only 1 week until the big guy in red arrives.
#LifeatSD #SDTeam #SDEngineers #StructuralEngineers #CivilEngineers
Continuing with the celebrations, here’s more on our Structural Award winning project…
A preliminary scheme for Mary Ward Centre was put forward by another engineering practice for a steel framed airspace extension on top of the existing frame. Upon completion of their investigations they concluded that a complete refurbishment and extension of the existing structure would be commercially unviable and proposed a demolition and new build approach.
Given our experience in similarly complex refurbishment projects, we were approached to complete an independent review and better understand if retention could be achieved commercially. Initial analysis convinced us that transforming the building from four to six-storeys and a full refurbishment could be viable, subject to further investigations and amendments to the design.
With the construction sector responsible for 40% of global greenhouse emissions, structural engineers can make a significant impact by reducing embodied carbon associated with designs.
To calculate the CO2 saving at Mary Ward Centre by opting for refurbishment, as opposed to a demolition and new build approach, a new steel framed building with concrete slabs on metal decking was created as a comparison; modelled in Revit, assuming the same foundations as the refurbishment option.
By fully modelling the frame in Revit, our Technicians used the EOC ECO2 plug-in to calculate the volume of new material and the Structural Carbon Tool for CO2 amounts for individual elements.
The refurbishment option demonstrated a 40% reduction in embodied carbon when compared to constructing a new building, excluding demolition of the frame, with the refurbishment and extension meeting LETI’s targets.
#istructeawards
#structuralawards
#builtenvironment
#construction
#structuralengineer
#civilengineer
#structuralengineering
#civilengineering
#structuralaward
#structuralawards24
#awards
#constructionawards
#architecture
#socialvalue
#retrofit
#refurbishment
#retrofirst
#communityimpact
#communityarchitecture
In celebration of our Structural Award win on Friday night, this week we’ll be shining the spotlight onto the award winning project itself.
The Mary Ward Settlement - a century old charity - offers adult education, legal advice, and community services. Operating from a Grade II listed building in Queen Square, London, they required larger premises due to their expanding services.
They identified Queensway House, now Mary Ward Centre - a derelict 1970s concrete framed building in Stratford - as a potential new home. Queensway House was approximately 60% too small, necessitating extension and refurbishment.
The 1970s building underwent a full refurbishment and was extended from four to six-storeys. Mary Ward Centre now provides workspace for their Legal Centre, flexible teaching areas, a café, multi-functioning performing arts theatre, and community spaces.
The two-storey lightweight extension was added at roof level and houses the performing arts/dance studio, and workspace for the Legal Centre. The original concrete was strengthened with steel throughout to cater for the additional loads created by the extra storeys. Although the loads across the footprint of the building were increased, the majority of foundations remained untouched with only minimal interventions to two existing foundations.
Since its completion the building has been recognised as a Structural Award Winner 2024, AJ100 Community Impact Award Winner 2024, shortlisted for a NLA New London Award, and AJ Architecture Award.
#istructeawards
#structuralawards
#builtenvironment
#construction
#structuralengineer
#civilengineer
#structuralengineering
#civilengineering
#structuralaward
#structuralawards24
#awards
#constructionawards
#architecture
#socialvalue
#retrofit
#refurbishment
#retrofirst
#communityimpact
#communityarchitecture
@awwinspired@marywardcentre
We’re at the @architectsjournal #AJRetrofitLive event today. What a programme! Very much looking forward to hearing from all the speakers and getting stuck into discussions with our fellow professionals.
#AJRetrofit #AJRL24 #AJRL #retrofit #retrofirst #networking #design #architecture #structuralengineering #civilengineering #structuralengineers #civilengineers #circularsteel #circularprinciples #repurpose #repurposing #lowcarbondesign #environmentaldecisions #construction #environmentaldesign
The brief for this private home in south east London was to extend into the loft and to the rear of the house.
Our client was keen to reuse as much of the existing structure as possible and achieve a low carbon design. Our engineers collaborated with @miketuckstudio on the design and considered various structural options to meet the client and Architect’s aspirations.
We undertook carbon calculations to demonstrate how much carbon could be saved by installing reclaimed steels vs new steel. Using reclaimed steel produced a SCORS Rating of A++ and saved 23kgCO2e/m2 compared to the new steel option. To give this some context, this saving is the equivalent of a one-way flight from London to New York or a persons consumption of meat, dairy and beer for a year.
We have a good relationship with Cleveland Steel & Tubes Ltd, a steel stockholding, distribution, and processing company, and we worked with them to identify reclaimed steel members that could be used on our site. The reclaimed steels were shotblasted and then spliced together to provide the exact length required for the loft conversion.
This project has reached an exciting milestone in the last couple of weeks - the steels are in! The photographs show the shotblasting process and the spliced steels in position.
Working on projects where the client is driven by environmental factors is incredibly rewarding - it’s something we relish being involved in. If you’re considering reclaimed steel for your next project, or require carbon counting, please get in touch with us - we’d love to hear from you.
#projectnews
#projectmilestone
#reclaimedsteel
#reusedsteel
#retrofit
#retrofirst
#reclaimedmaterials
#repurpose
#repurposing
#lowcarbondesign
#lowcarbon
#environmentallyaware
#environmentaldecisions
#embodiedcarbon
#structuralengineer
#structuralengineering
#circularsteel
#circulareconomy
#circularprinciples
#steelreuse
#architecture
#construction
#environmentaldesign
Harry Furnival-Doran is one of our Project Engineers and is heavily involved in all things sustainability at SD.
He’s been at the forefront of us working through the Heart of the City Climate Course and is always seeking to develop our processes to find more environmentally friendly design options.
Harry will be attending Circular Steel 2024 at No.6 Aldgate next Tuesday, 10th September. He’s looking forward to connecting with like-minded professionals and hearing what progress is being made across the industry. If you’re attending next week, please let us know so that Harry can look out for you.
SD has experience of designing with reused steel and so if this is a topic of interest to you, please don’t hesitate to get in touch to find out more.
#steel #steelreuse #circularsteel #circulareconomy #circularprinciples #environmentaldesign #structuralengineer #civilengineer #structuralengineering #civilengineering #construction #architecture
