Webb Yates Engineers

Building on traditional methods while embracing new ideas has the power to reshape how we design with low-carbon materials.   Chloe Newmann, Associate in our structures team, discusses why advancing low carbon materials matters for the future of construction. She is a key member of our sustainability group and has been crucial in our ever-advancing use of structural stone with key collaborators, such as @thestonemasonrycompany . Her work with stone has included the Stirling Prize-shortlisted 15 Clerkenwell Close with @groupwork_arch and the recently completed Field House with @wilkinsonkingarchitects .   Webb Yates turned 20 this year. To mark the occasion, we’re sharing stories from across the practice that reflect on the last two decades and look to the future. 🎥 Dion Barrett   #20yearsofwebbyates #lowcarbonmaterials #structures #engineering #stone

Multiple awards from RIBA for York Minster Centre of Excellence. The Heritage Quad and Technology Hub, designed by Tonkin Liu, have both received RIBA Yorkshire Awards, while the Heritage Quad was named Building of the Year and received the Sustainability Award. York Minster was also recognised as RIBA Yorkshire Client of the Year, acknowledging the long-term vision behind a project that brings heritage craft, training, research, and estate management together within the precinct. The structures are the first significant new building projects in the Minster’s precinct in a century. Together, they form the Centre of Excellence for Heritage Craft Skills and Estate Management. They house masons’ workshops, digital fabrication tools, a drawing room, and residential accommodation for interns and international collaborators. The Technology Hub brings state-of-the-art stone-cutting equipment into the precinct, while the Heritage Quad supports the more delicate hand-finishing, teaching, and research work. Our structural and civil engineering work included the timber roof structures, the reuse and adaptation of existing masonry buildings, salvaged steelwork within the new structural arrangements, and sensitive shallow foundation strategies developed around the Roman archaeology beneath the site. As Charlotte Harrison, Yorkshire Jury Chair, noted: “The Heritage Quad demonstrates how contemporary architecture can serve a historic setting not through imitation but through clarity, generosity, and long-term vision.” She also described the Technology Hub as “a model for how heritage, innovation, and social purpose can be brought together with clarity and care.” @tonkinliu @yorkminsterofficial @insallarch @bucklandtimber_glulam @simpson.york.limited @gt_llp @riba 📷 David Valinsky

Two senior structural roles are open in our Birmingham studio. We’re looking for experienced structural engineers to join our civil and structural team in Birmingham, with opportunities available at Senior and Associate level. Both roles will suit engineers who enjoy close collaboration with architects and wider design teams, and who are confident taking a leading role in the delivery of thoughtful, high-quality structural design across a range of sectors and materials. Link to our careers page in bio for more info and to apply.

Hybrid House with Nagan Johnson Architects.   The refurbishment and extension of a Grade II listed town house in Camden was our first built application of a hybrid stone and timber structure.   Developed through earlier research and prototyping, the project brings together thin stone slabs and timber elements, using each material where it works best. The stone slabs, provided by The Stonemasonry Company, form the floor surface and provide thermal mass, while the timber beams span between supports, carrying loads in bending.   Hybrid House is featured as part of Small Scale, Big Ideas at the Building Centre, where case studies, installations, and material samples show how natural materials can benefit architects, engineers, and environmental designers.   The exhibition runs until 29 May.   @thebuildingcentre @naganjohnson @thestonemasonrycompany   📸 Alexander Collins

Natural materials can span architectural, structural and environmental design.   Roberto Mirabella will present this idea next week for ‘Engineering Natural Materials’, a session as part of the talks programme running alongside the Small Scale, Big Ideas exhibition at the Building Centre.   Drawing on our ongoing research and recent projects, including those featured within the exhibition, Roberto will look at the opportunities and constraints of working with materials such as stone, timber, earth, and straw.   A key theme is how structural, environmental, and architectural design can be considered together. These materials bring inherent properties, thermal mass, durability, low embodied carbon, but realising their potential depends on close coordination across disciplines. The discussion will explore how this can inform building services strategies, spatial design, and construction methods from the outset.   Link in bio to book your place.   Donations to the Built Environment Trust are optional.   Small Scale, Big Ideas brings together twelve practices – architects, engineers, and makers – who are rethinking the home for social, material, and environmental change. It explores what becomes possible when constraint is treated as a creative driver.   The exhibition is open to the public from 5 to 29 May at the Building Centre.   @thebuildingcentre

Making the case for stone at German Parliament.   Steve Webb was honoured to deliver a keynote speech at the second Parliamentary Evening of the German Natural Stone Association at the Bundestag a few weeks ago.   The event brought together more than 100 invited guests, including the Minister for Research and Development, as well as representatives from the German Federal Ministry for Housing, Urban Development, and Building.   Alongside other industry specialists, including our friends at Bamberger Natursteinwerk Hermann Graser, Steve was advocating for regional stone as a building material and the role it can play in more sustainable and circular construction. As part of his talk, he presented the research and development we’ve been collaborating on, and how this could translate locally.   Thank you to the German Natural Stone Association for the invitation. It’s encouraging to see natural stone being discussed internationally and at this level, and we’re excited to be a part of the conversation.   @bambergernatursteinwerk @zukunftnaturstein @steevieweevy   📸 Marc Beckmann/DNV

Will you be at UKREiiF?   Rob Nield and Liam Bryant will be representing us in Leeds this year, joining conversations around development, retrofit, infrastructure, and how projects are actually being delivered.   We’re looking forward to catching up with collaborators, meeting new teams, and spending time on the detail behind current and future work.   If you’re there and want to connect, drop us a message.   @ukreiif @robnield1

Rammed Earth House with Tuckey Design Studio.   The private home is one of the few examples of unstabilised rammed earth construction at this scale in the country.   Set on the site of a former brickworks in Wiltshire, the house uses clay from the site, combined with crushed demolition material and local aggregate, to form loadbearing earth walls. These walls act as structure, enclosure, and finish, shaping both the character of the spaces and the environmental performance of the home.   The project’s successes and challenges have brought us a step closer to earth being more widely used as a building material in a UK climate, with careful detailing to manage weathering, moisture, and long-term durability.   Rammed Earth House is featured as part of Small Scale, Big Ideas at the Building Centre, where models and material samples give a closer look at how the building was developed and constructed.   The exhibition runs until 29 May.

@thebuildingcentre @tuckeydesignstudio @lehmtonerde.at @todhunterearleinteriors   📸 Jim Stephenson

The Sheep Field Barn has reopened at Henry Moore Studios & Gardens.   The transformation brings together exhibition, learning, and engagement within a single, reconfigured space.   Led by DSDHA, the design adapts an existing barn to support a broader programme of workshops, talks, and exhibitions, while improving environmental performance and strengthening connections to the surrounding landscape. Reclaimed timber wraps the existing structure, paired with sheep’s wool insulation, and new extensions reorganise access, circulation, and use across the site.   Structurally, the existing steel portal frame is retained and left exposed, with new Douglas fir roof beams and a timber mezzanine inserted within it. Reclaimed steel elements are reused as lintels, and a lightweight approach, including a suspended timber floor, limits additional load. Below ground, foundations are formed using reusable screw piles, reducing ground disturbance and enabling construction within the constraints of the rural site.   While the completed structure appears simple, the processes to achieve this elegant simplicity involved detailed coordination, testing of assumptions, and careful resolution of constraints. It’s a piece of quiet but interesting engineering that brings together a series of practical approaches that reduce material use and simplify construction.   @henrymoorestudios @dsdha_architecture @rooffconstruction @harleyhaddow @stockdaleuk 📸 Jim Stephenson

Small Scale, Big Ideas is coming to the Building Centre. Running throughout May, the exhibition brings together twelve practices – architects, engineers, and makers – who are rethinking the home for social, material, and environmental change. It explores what becomes possible when constraint is treated as a creative driver. Our contribution focuses on natural materials and how they can move beyond finishes to take on a central role in structure and environmental performance. Through case studies, models, material samples, and installations, we show how new ideas can develop at small scale and carry into larger work. Case studies include Rammed Earth House with Tuckey Design Studio, one of few examples of the construction method in the UK, and Niwa House with Takero Shimazaki Architects, the first full-scale project featuring our stone and timber composite structural design. @tuckeydesignstudio @takeroshimazakiarchitects A selection of organic building materials is also on display, including products by Hutton Stone Co, Albion Stone, and The Hemp Block Company, offering a tactile and visual reference for how these materials can be used structurally as well as architecturally. @albionstone @huttonstonecoltd @thehempblockco . Check it out from 5 to 29 May at the Building Centre. @thebuildingcentre @ashsakulaarchitects @e8_architecture @hsapics @kashdanbrownarchitects @neighbourhoodstudio @resonantarchitecture @rodicdavidson @russianforfish @studiobenjamin @ubuild @studiobark @construktclt

A new model for affordable housing designed to promote mutual support, collective governance, and intergenerational play Mewsings on Play by @UrbanRadicals with @sebtiew , @soladerin and @webbyates , @steevieweevy Vote for your favourite entry to win #TheDavidsonPrize People's Choice Prize via our link in bio! The proposal looks to address the decline of play streets and adventure playgrounds in South London since the 1970s, due to increased privatisation of public space, austerity, and demographic shifts. ‘Mewsings on Play’ presents a new model for affordable housing, proposing community spaces and shared amenities at ground floor, housing at mid-level, and a series of interconnected rooftop commons, all designed to promote mutual support, collective governance, and intergenerational play. Initially situated in Wickham Mews, Brockley, the proposal operates as a Community Land Trust focused on unlocking micro-sites between Victorian villa terraces. Project funding uses a blend of public grants, developer and housing association partnerships, social lender loans, and local authority support. Land is combined in a 3:6:3 ratio: 3 metres of existing garden space (leased from private owners if they choose to opt in), about 6 metres of underused mews land and the air space above it (leased long-term to the CLT, subject to existing rights), creating a new play street through the development. The scheme’s prefabricated shell-and-services structure is delivered by specialist contractors, while internal partitions and secondary elements are designed for simple installation and adaptation by residents themselves. This reduces cost and allows for incremental change, creating spaces that are efficient, intimate, and open to change over time. #MewsingsOnPlay #UrbanPlay #CreativeSpaces #CommunityEngagement #InclusiveDesign

TBC London has received the regional ESG Award from BCO. Set in an iconic location, right next to Tower Bridge, the project reworks an existing concrete frame into a mixed-use building with offices, retail, and flexible commercial space. Around 40 tonnes of reclaimed steel were incorporated into the structure. In a landmark collaboration between two separate design teams, this included 100-year-old sections sourced from the former House of Fraser store on Oxford Street with Civic, saving about 48 tonnes of carbon. The project is the first UK commercial development to successfully integrate large-scale reuse of pre-war structural steel, applying newly issued guidance for pre-1970 steel reuse in practice for the first time. The reuse venture is one of few examples of structural material being successfully transferred directly between live projects without intermediary storage or resale. This ‘Urban Mining’ initiative formed part of a wider strategy led by Stiff + Trevillion and FORE Partnership that has resulted in one of the most sustainable office buildings in London. The completed development exceeds LETI benchmarks, and has achieved BREEAM ‘Outstanding’, WELL Platinum, and NABERS 5* certification. The project will now go on to compete at the BCO National Awards in October. @bco_uk @stifftrevillion @civic_thrivingtogether @ecearchitecture @willmottdixon @atelier_ten 📸 Jack Hobhouse