The Royal Opera House

The Royal Opera House

by | Jan 26, 2022 | Metalworks, Portfolio

Location: Covent Garden, London (circa. 2017)
Design Brief: Entrance and Foyer Metalwork
CAD System: AutoCad

I’ve loved the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden since my wife and I visited in 2007 to watch ‘Swan Lake’ on the day of our engagement. I was further delighted to be involved in the renovation of such an iconic space 10 years later.

The team I was part of were responsible for the new steel structure, as well as the lobby metalworks design package. I was responsible for taking the metalworks details that the architect had specified and liaising with our on-site team to provide a suitable fabrication package.

During this time I became further acquainted with glass balustrades, on this occasion it was the curved  balustrade at mezzanine level overlooking the open space of the ‘Linbury Theatre’ entrance.

In the Foyer I was responsible for the wall rails, the accessible ramp, all the glass infill and substructures. As well as the standalone handrails throughout. With the advice and support of our design director I was able to help deliver a quality result for our client.

More often than not designers don’t get to run their hands and eyes over work they have had a hand in getting to the workshop floor. I am happy to have the pleasure of both everytime I walk into this beautiful space.

Terminal 3 Heathrow

Terminal 3 Heathrow

by | Jan 26, 2022 | Metalworks, Portfolio, Structural Steel

Location: Heathrow, London (circa. 2017)
Design Brief: Walkway Balustrades, Internal Glass Partitioning, and Stair Structure Design
CAD System: AutoCad Advance Steel

There are few places where your work will be viewed by tens of thousands on a day to day basis. Heathrow airport is one of those places. It was my absolute pleasure to be involved with this project.

During the revitalisation of T3 I was tasked with the production drawings for the Stair Structure and Glass Balustrade Systems. As well as the various support structures throughout the project. We were to incorporate the original 2-D parts details as utilised in T2 into the new details, so that the continuity of design would flow from one terminal to the next.

Whilst the part details would remain, there was still a lot of design required around the interfaces of existing elements such as the hanging supports for the retail sector which needed to fit around existing HVAC and main structure. The new stair structures and balustrades which needed to interface with the new escalators. Not to mention the glass partitions and monitor displays that were fitted to cambered beams, requiring adaptive mounts.

Overall this was a challenging project with a rewarding outcome.

Kiribati Marine Training Facility

Kiribati Marine Training Facility

by | Jan 26, 2022 | Metalworks, Portfolio, Structural Steel

Location: Kiribati, Gilbert Islands, Pacific Ocean (circa. 2006)
Design Brief: New Build Structure, Walkways, Stairs and Balustrades
CAD System: StruCad

Quite often we are presented with projects on tight deadlines. This can be due to a variety of reasons, but how often is it because there is only one boat leaving and the next might not be for another three months or so?

This is how this project began with a two week turnaround for the metalworks and structure design package to be completed, including review and approval. It was with these criteria that I was presented and asked, ‘can we make it happen?’ The answer was, ‘yeah, but it’s gonna be tight!’.

So. No time to spare. Impossibly large package of work to complete. What could go wrong? The answer to that is, nothing. Nothing could go wrong, there was no room for that either.

My plan was to model the main structural components to form a project basis and split the work packages into two areas. Main Structure and everything else.

I got to work and completely modelled the structure without connections. This allowed us to have an accurate layout. Then I shared the model with my colleague where he continued with the structural connections and I continued with the walkways, stairs and balustrade details.

It was with this strategy that we were able to complete our design in time as well as having a fully coordinated package, all of this before multiuser space really took off. 

I’ve found that when we are confronted with problems there is an opportunity to think outside the box to find solutions. It’s the mindset that helps drive a solutions based approach to my work.

The Quadrant

The Quadrant

by | Jan 26, 2022 | Metalworks, Portfolio, Structural Steel

Location: 10 Waterloo Quadrant, Auckland CBD, New Zealand (circa. 2005)

Design Brief: 23 story building comprising over 250 hotel apartments

CAD System: StruCad

My role as the main design draughtsman was to detail the structural steel elements within our project scope. This comprised the balcony support system, the two fire escape stair cores and the roof structures; all according to the architect’s design and engineer’s specifications and has been the largest project I had been given responsibility of delivering up to that point in my career.

Each floor had a unique balcony arrangement and on those balconies each one had a structural support system for the balcony above, whilst also housing the sliding sun shades for the floor below.

The main challenge for me was the balcony supports. As each floor was different I needed to come up with a method of approach when modelling the structural support so that I wouldn’t need to go through and model every connection individually. With the sheer number of connections the solution needed to cut this drawing time to an absolute minimum.

In the end I took the advice of my senior colleague and took the time to write a parametric connection based on the angular input of each member. Dedicating the time at the beginning of the project paid dividends with a greatly reduced modelling time overall.

A major issue was the inclination of the roof plane on the end retail space. The space of the building was angular and the way the architect had indicated the falls and eaves lines would have meant that the roof would’ve had a twist through it.

After some discussion we determined the architect hadn’t intended this design discrepancy and so I was able to model the roof in a single pitch and demonstrate the new roof intersection lines. This reconciled the angular nature of the roof design and was a wonderful way of demonstrating the advantages of 3-D modelling.

Since then I’m pleased to see more have taken up modelled structures to improve the visualisation of their concepts.

The variety of complexity within the job and problem solving through the issues was enjoyable and a great learning experience of a project well done.

Kidbrooke Village

Kidbrooke Village

by | Jan 26, 2022 | Metalworks, Portfolio

Location: Kidbrooke, London (circa. 2019)
Design Brief: Phase 3 / Block D Metalwork Package
CAD System: AutoCad Advance Steel

Kidbrooke is part of a broader residential redevelopment strategy undertaken by Berkeley Construction in South East London. For the Third Phase Block D section of this project I was tasked as the lead metalwork designer and with further design coordination.



The redevelopment comprised five main residential buildings of varying height which share a communal green space on a raised podium. At street level there are a number of generous retail spaces. 

My role was to fully expand design on the balustrades at the podium level (metal and glass); the main entrances to apartment blocks; retail space canopies; car park and BoH metalworks including the automated gates as well as any other miscellaneous metal works that could fall under our scope of works as the project progressed. Simultaneously ensuring the design was harmonious within this project and previous phases.

The Substation doors were easily one of the biggest design challenges. The subcontractor responsible for substation louvre doors wasn’t able to manufacture the doors or the system because it was just too big, the structure was way outside the scope of what any louvre company could provide.

The door needed to be robust and secure (SR2), but like any other substation it needed to facilitate removal of the UKPN transformers for maintenance. To solve this issue I proposed incorporating a hybrid approach.

The main structure would be adapted to normally be bolt fixed in it’s closed position with louvre panels set into the frame work. During maintenance they could unbolt the doors around the perimeter and they would swing open through 180 degrees to allow unimpeded access to the substation.

By incorporating hidden proprietary hinges arranged in a unique way, meant that all areas were able to meet strict ‘secure by design’ criteria whilst also meeting the UKPN maintenance requirements. A clear win for everyone.