Simply...keeping it simple...
I am a structural engineering creator. My reason for being is to create simple, smart, practical, buildable and tenacious engineering solutions for clients using 34 years of hard won New Zealand and international experience. I can do this in conventional and post-tensioned concrete, masonry, structural steel and timber (and yes, I have post-tensioned structural steel elements.)
more about us

Expertise

  • Seismic Structural Design and Detailing
  • Peer Review Assignments
  • Seismic Assessment and Retrofit Design and Detailing
  • 3D Visualization and Detailing
  • Low (and focused) Damage Design and Detailing (structural)
  • Temporary Works Design and Detailing
  • Overall Problem Solver (structural)
  • Innovator (structural devices)

01

There's always a bigger earthquake

thoughts about survivability after the next one...
We can lose sight of the fact that the current design standards (besides generally being more than 10 years old in NZ) are an absolute minimum standard, and an asset need only survive those minimum requirements. As the asset owner, wouldn't you like to have the opportunity to explore more resiliant solutions that don't leave you in a hapless situation, like so many folk after the last ones?

02

Simple elegance is the key

custom structural solutions
Great ideas are instantly recognizable in their simplicity - often leading to the self reflection - "but that's so simple, why didn't I think of that!" This is the art of engineering - the science is mathematically confirming what you already know. This is the yin and yang of engineering creativity, and the reason I get out of bed in the morning.

03

I do the math

graphical presentation of the data
I always tell younger engineers that they "have to do the math - neatly" - but how do I know that they've done the right math when so much of the work engineers produce appears to be a black box approach - which has its own inherent problems. The best way to visualize large amounts of data is graphically, which provides immediate visual confirmation that all the various loading demands on a particular element are within its capacity. Visual reassurance makes for great quality assurance.

Most recent assignments

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Using the existing reinforced concrete beams for controlled flexural yielding (shear strengthened using FRP) I was able to achieve a predictable mechansism for a dependable capacity of 80%NBS with the expectation of system tenacity in being able to withstand larger events.
Working for a former employer I undertook the detailed lateral and foundation design for this mixed use development (a 5 storey office and conference centre with a 9 story hotel complex) comprising a largely precast podium substructure and a structural steel framed superstructure using composite hollow section columns. Lateral stability was provided by a mix of conventional yielding shear walls, eccentrically braced frames with replaceable active links, and localized moment frames all founded on a stone column ground improved site.
Structural steel frame, with timber infill floors nestled into a significant excavation on a challenging, sloping site in Queenstown. The design incorporated a low damage braking system to limit damage in the design event and allow the facility to continue operating (from a structural perspective) following a design event.**
** Braking system not incorporated.

Let's talk Simply!