-1-
‘ Webb Yates are a joy to work with. They are skilled, committed and inventive. Their attitude to creative design collaboration mirrors our own. They are always willing to put in the time and effort to push the solution beyond the normal and the obvious and achieve something really special.’ Alan Stanton, Stanton Williams -2-
PHILOSOPHY The pursuit of sustainable and efficient structures creates economically rational projects with inherent beauty Webb Yates Engineers was established in 2005 with the aim of creating a practice that combines imagination with technical rigour to create artful and inventive structural designs.
Our work with stone is one of many vindications of our approach. After working on our first stone project 6 years ago we have become one of the UK’s top stone engineering consultancies.
Central to our philosophy is an enjoyment of the collaborative creative process. Our team relishes working closely with architects, designers, builders and other engineers. Where possible, we develop flourishing working relationships; and where appropriate, challenge boundaries and find fresh approaches.
We are attracted to stone because it has a very low ratio of carbon footprint compared to its strength. Our collaboration with The Stonemasonry Company has lead to the development of innovative techniques and engendered opportunities to experiment and push boundaries.
A love of material possibilities informs the best of what we do. As well as mainstream construction materials, such as timber, steel and concrete, we work with a wide selection of other materials which has expanded our knowledge and exercised our ability to approach unusual problems and solve them in a practical and considered way.
We believe that a deep understanding of the process of making things is essential to good design. Working through the act of building is at the heart of how we find efficient structures. We like to work with specialist fabricators and manufacturers so that we understand how things are put together at a detailed level.
-3-
Whether you are a contractor, developer or architect, Webb Yates Engineers always begin projects with pen and paper, rapidly outlining key options for discussions and evaluation. We couple the immediacy of sketches with the dexterity of digital design to create integrated intelligent solutions.
THE TEAM We are an enthusiastic, close-knit team dedicated to the art of engineering. There is currently a resurgence in the number of students studying science and technology in the UK. Engineering is an intellectually challenging but tremendously rewarding field of endeavour and vital for a country that wants a more balanced economy. We therefore seek to
give engineering a more prominent and visible role in the development of beautiful and rational architectural engineering design. We give lectures and tutorials at Oxford Brookes University School of Architecture, the University of Kent School of Architecture, The Architectural Association, and the Bartlett amongst
others. We also take part in cultural and industry events and exhibitions curated by institutions such as the Victoria and Albert Museum and The Architecture Foundation. We take part in Club Peloton sponsored cycles such as pedElle and Cycle to MIPIM as well as organising regular charity events ourselves. Over the last year
Top: Webb Yates Engineers staff Left: Webb Yates Engineers ‘Bridging the Country’ charity event Right: Unreinforced stone floor prototype with The Stonemasonry Company -4-
we have raised thousands for sustainable technology charity Practical Action with our annual Beer Festival and ‘Bridging the Country’ where we ran, cycled and kayaked from Tower Bridge in London to the Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol.
THE FUTURE The vision of clients and the imagination of architects push the practice into areas that bring the best out of our practice. Issues such as new housing, reuse of existing buildings, efficient use of resources and wellbeing in the workplace require more than a standard response if we are to create environmentally and socially sustainable buildings that people love. As our horizons expand, so do the scale and complexity of the commissions we are involved with.
Typifying our approach, the floor shown below was a live install at the V&A produced in conjunction The Stonemasonry Company. We were able to create a 3m x 3m 40mm thick unreinforced stone floor. We believe that this
-5-
reciprocating plate approach has the potential to replace concrete as the most common slabbing material, thus dramatically reducing the carbon footprint of construction with this beautiful, natural material.
SECTORS
02 / Airports
01 / Education
03 / Bridges
04 / Retail
05 / Arts
01 Cowley St Laurence 02 Gatwick Premium Drop-off 03 Cow Bridge 04 Fritz Hansen 05 Concrete Inspiration Exhibition
-6-
07 / Industrial
08 / Commercial
06 / Sports
09 / Residential
10 / Community 06 American Express Community Stadium 07 Fuente Del Jarro 08 Second Home 2 09 Barretts Grove 10 Virginia Water Pavilion
-7-
PROJECTS
-8-
01 / Hackney Marshes Centre Providing changing rooms for Hackney Marshes sports pitches, this award-winning community hub also includes a cafe, teaching space and office accommodation. The architects were looking to respond to the surrounding green urban environment in both the elongated form and the rugged industrial external materials. Internally the structure is exposed throughout and defines the architecture. The resulting spaces have clarity, hardwearing finishes and provide an economic
structure appropriate to this type of building. The external cladding is principally weathered steel panels and gabion walls, chosen for robustness and to reflect the building’s surroundings. The gabion walls - recycled concrete from a demolition site in Wembley - are both vandal resistant and provide a framework for climbing plants. That the project won the London Planning Awards for Best Project Five Years On is a testament to the graceful ageing of the building.
-9-
Client London Borough of Hackney Architect Stanton Williams Photography Hufton + Crow Awards: London Planning Awards: Best Project Five Years On, winner RIBA Awards 2012: Winner Civic Trust Awards 2012: Winner Hackney Design Awards: Winner
02 / New Oak A private house with a standardised timberframe system and a feature oak roof structure combines the benefits of a prefabricated system alongside the stunning visual effect of a wellcrafted exposed structure. The floors are of trussed joist construction and the walls are constructed with OSB sheathed stud.
The factory fabricated units function as stressed skin diaphragm elements to support the large cantilevers at the eaves. The main feature of the double height central living space and gallery is a stressed skin roof supported on a lattice of new oak beams. This needed to support itself in a clear span from the walls on all
four sides. One side of the roof was propped against the other with thin timber poles. The location of these poles was determined from stress analysis of the strapped rafters. The roof was assembled on the ground on site and then lifted into position. Architect Waind Gohil + Potter Architects Photography Conrad Cherniavsky
- 10 -
03 / Golden Lane
A key decision in this exemplar refurbishment project was to strip back the fabric clutter that it had accumulated over the 150+ years of its existence to expose the raw structural elements. The building is a fourstorey former warehouse dating from the end of the 19th century that has been extensively refurbished for the architect/client’s own occupation.
The basement slab was lowered. Large double height openings were formed between the basement and ground floor. The ground floor was largely removed and replaced with a glazed meeting box. The storage space in the loft was converted into a mezzanine. The architects were very concerned with the quality of the detailing. Literally hundreds of options were proposed and reviewed for every element. The results of this effort are clear to see. - 11 -
Architect Amin Taha Architects Contractor Ecoway Photography Timothy Soar
04 / Fuente del Jarro This two-storey factory building designed for very heavy occupancy loads is an example of how efficient use of materials can be achieved by an elegant structural solution.
The use of flat tension plates to the underside instead of clevis connected tendons reduced the height of the truss over the travelling crane by 100mm shortening the building.
Architect Fernando Olba Arquitectura y Urbanismo Photography Steve Webb
Splitting the trusses into V shapes reduced the span of the floor slab. The top chord of the steel structure is buried in the concrete so the two elements are acting compositely. These made a 30% saving in steel and reduced the quantity of suspended concrete in the building by 50%.
- 12 -
- 13 -
05 / L’ Argens Bridge This 30m span pedestrian suspension bridge was designed to be very lightweight and low impact. The impossibility of access for a mobile crane meant that the bridge needed to be manually erected. This constraint drove every aspect of the design. It was fabricated in 15 sections made up of a perimeter frame with crossing bars at varying angles forming
the shell. The sections and supporting cables were transported to the South of France, near Toulon and assembled using a zip wire to haul them across and fix them in place one by one.
flexibility of the supporting cables meant that during construction the bridge form evolved as each new section was installed.
The mesh infill on the balustrade stiffens the bridge and makes every element act as part of the primary structure. The light weight of the structure and
Designer Webb Yates Engineers & John Horton Fabrication: John Horton Photography John Horton
- 14 -
06 / Wimbledon College of Art A new sustainable studio building for Wimbledon College of Art was designed as a simple, flexible enclosure with excellent natural light and ventilation. The client’s ambition was to create an exemplar building achieving BREEAM Outstanding. An exposed timber and concrete frame was developed in close
collaboration with the architect and services engineer. This provided a structure with large thermal mass which in turn enabled the building to be naturally ventilated. The combined effect of an excellent envelope performance combined with other sustainability measures such as orientation, natural
Client University of Art London Architect Penoyre & Prasad Photography Tim Crocker
Awards NLA 2016 Ashden Prize winner BREEAM Awards 2016 Education & Health shortlisted Structural Timber Awards 2015 Best Education Project & Engineer of the Year shortlisted Green Apple Awards 2014 winner - 15 -
ventilation and renewables gained this the second highest BREEAM score in the world as part of its design stage assessment. A truly holistic achievement.
07 / Midden Studio Midden Studio is an artist’s studio located on the Kintyre coast. Due to its location, the studio was designed to withstand more extreme weather conditions than a building in the UK would usually be designed for, including very high wind and snow loads.
The building sits on top of a Victorian midden wall with the new structure formed entirely from timber. Both the walls and the roof are formed from stressed skin panels, enabling the corner of the building to cantilever over the stream
which runs across the property incorporating a soffit window and without using any structural steel members.
Architect Studio Weave Photography Johnny Barrington - 16 -
08 / Second Home Hanbury Street Webb Yates Engineers have worked with SelgasCano to transform a former carpet factory in Shoreditch, creating a collaborative workspace featuring transparent walls, feature staircases and a living facade. A large opening was created between two floors to link the spaces and form a centrepiece. Within this space, a folded steel
plate stair was hung using 10mm diameter rebar. The rebar was positioned using a randomised algorithm to ensure it crossed past itself enough to keep the whole stair stable, creating a chaotic look while still being carefully calculated. The clear acrylic internal walls were carefully set out so that they were curved enough to stiffen them and
Client: Second Home Architect Selgas Cano Photography Agnese Sanvito
- 17 -
create the winding corridors and rooms between. They were matched by the new faรงade, consisting of sheets of acrylic curved the opposite way to either dome out of or arc into the building. Erection of the supporting steelwork for this faรงade was all done from within the building so no scaffolding was required at all.
09 / Formby Stair Webb Yates Engineers designed this breath-taking two-storey stone staircase that springs from one landing and is completely unsupported as it sweeps through 320 degrees to the next. The shape of the stair was elegantly sculpted to maximise impact by making the edges of the treads as thin as possible, while along the central spine two post-tensioned cables hold the entire stair together. The stair works by threading the two cables through the 22 individual treads for each flight. These cables were then tensioned hydraulically to 150kN each in order to keep the 6.6 tonne stair stable. The assembly can be likened to a string of blocks on a string that only becomes a solid structure when the string is pulled tight enough, though add to this the helical shape of the stair and many other complex forces come into play and must be overcome.
In order to allow the stone to be the primary structure of the stair, multiple indepth 3D analysis models were built to calculate the flow of stresses through the stair at each stage of its construction. Coupled with this both scale models and full-size tests were done to ensure the predicted analysis results matched the actual behaviour of the stair.
Designer Webb Yates Engineers / Stonemasonry Company Contractor Stonemasonry Company Photography Agnese Sanvito - 18 -
10 / Gatwick Premium Drop-off This project involved the design of a single storey canopy structure and alterations to the existing road layout to facilitate a new premium drop off at the North Terminal at Gatwick Airport. The drop-off introduced a new two-way traffic flow to an existing confluence of airline passenger and staff vehicles, buses, retail deliveries and pedestrians.
A new canopy was located on top of an existing concrete ramp structure and is formed from a series of 11 steel frames with fabric panels spanning between the frames. The canopy spans the width of the ramp, providing shelter for passengers as they get out of their cars, and then gradually narrows to form a walkway into the terminal building.
- 19 -
Webb Yates Engineers were responsible for the design of the structural and civil works, including design of all structural steelwork and connections and a new road layout at the base of the ramp.
Client Balfour Beatty Construction Services Photography Agnese Santivo
11 / Barretts Grove Client Ecore Construction Ltd Architects Amin Taha Architect Photography Agnese Santivo
This new residential building is slotted into a Victorian terrace in Dalston. It comprises six storeys of flats above ground and a single storey basement flat with lightwells to the front and rear. A comprehensive understanding of the materials involved was required as well as careful detailing in order to leave the loadbearing elements exposed.
- 20 -
The concrete basement was constructed in underpins of various shapes and sizes to fit with the structure above. The superstructure is cross-laminated timber (CLT) panels spanning up to 6.0m with various voids for the stair and services. The staggered masonry faรงade is decoupled from the rest of the building to allow it to move separately. Each of these materials serves a different purpose; acting and moving in their own way but together they form the seamless combination of structural form and architectural vision.
12 / Pump House The client’s flat is located within a Victorian pump house building that has been converted into flats. Their requirement was for a new mezzanine structure to be installed within their existing, very tall, living room.
We worked with the interior designer to create a structure that would require no over cladding and give character to the space. The adopted solution uses a repeated cast iron plate for both the floors and the balustrades that acts as a
Architect Fabric Space Photography Agnese Sanvito
- 21 -
torsional plate. The ribs in the plates are provided for strength in locations of maximum bending stress. The repetition of the same form reduced molding costs and made cast iron a feasible solution for this small intervention.
13 / Clerkenwell Close 15 Clerkenwell Close is a mixed use 6 storey building with a stone faรงade. What may appear at first glance as a traditional concrete frame clad in stone has a little surprise in store for the keen eye. A closer inspection of the columns will reveal ammonoids, drilled wedge holes and saw grooves indicating that part of the story has not been told. In fact concrete columns and clip on stone has been rejected in favour of a simple system of solid stone load bearing columns.
The columns are designed to minimise the size and required workmanship as far as practical. An iterative approach to the design allowed each column to be designed and sized for the specific load carried by the column i.e. a higher load leads to a larger column. In addition, the finish of the stone is left largely as it was when it was cut from the quarry; split naturally along the bedding planes of the stone, providing a contrast between the natural rough edges and lightly worked smooth edges.
The 6 above ground floor plates consist of thermally broken flat slabs perched on the stone columns, with the stability largely provided by the concrete core. The sequence of construction was key to the success of the project. Limited working space meant that the concrete frame had to be fully constructed on props prior to installing the load bearing stone faรงade.
Architects: Amin Taha Architects Photography Agnese Sanvito
- 22 -
AWARDS
2016 Structural Timber Awards : Amesbury School Visual Arts Building , Education, shorlisted
2014 Green Apple Awards: Wimbledon College of Art, winner
2012 RIBA Stephen Lawrence Prize: Hill House Kent, shortlisted
Structural Awards: Formby Helical Stair, Small Projects, shortlisted
Natural Stone Awards: DeVol Showroom, for Craftsmanship, highly commended
Hackney Design Awards: Hackney Marshes Centre, winner Ada Street, shortlisted
BCO Awards: Unilever Leatherhead, shortlisted
BRMCA Award: LGW North Terminal South Void Infill, for Excellence in Customer Services, winner
Structural Awards: American Express Community Stadium, shortlisted
AJ Small Projects Awards: King’s Wood Super Kingdom, shortlisted
Hackney Marshes Centre, shortlisted
2008 Structural Awards: for Industrial or Process Structures, Fuente del Jarro, commendation
Midden Studio, Small Projects, shortlisted NLA Ashden Prize: Wimbledon College of Art , winner RIAS/RIBA Awards: Midden Studio, shortlisted
Structural Awards: L’Argens Bridge, for Pedestrian Bridges, shortlisted
BREEAM Awards: Wimbledon College of Art , Education & Health, shortlisted
AJ Awards: Golden Lane, for workplace, winner
RIBA London Awards: Bermondsey Street, shortlisted
RIBA South Awards: Colts, shortlisted
London Planning Awards : Hackney Marshes Centre, Best Project Five Years On, winner
2013 NLA Awards: Golden Lane, for Conservation & Retrofit, winner
2015 Structural Awards : Central London Stone Stair, Small Projects, shortlisted Structural Timber Awards: Wimbledon College of Art, Best Education Project & Engineer of the Year, shortlisted IStructE Young Structural Engineering Professional Award : Alex Lynes, winner AJ Small Projects Awards: Smith at CDW 2014, shortlisted Civic Trust Awards: Virginia Water Pavilion, winner Smith at CDW 2014, commendation
The Sunday Times British Homes Awards: Cliff House Kent, shortlisted
Concrete Awards: Hackney Marshes Centre, certificate of excellence RIBA South East Regional Awards: Hill House Kent, winner
2007 AJ Small Projects Awards: Pembridge Mews, shortlisted Bavaria Road, shortlisted
Kent Design & Development Awards: Hill House Kent , Environmental Design, winner
2006 Wood Awards for Small Projects: Bavaria Road, winner
RIBA Awards: Hackney Marshes Centre, National Awards, winner
Design Week Awards: Unipart Dome for Temporary Exhibition Structures, winner
Civic Trust Awards: Hackney Marshes Centre, winner
AJ Retrofit Awards: Golden Lane, shortlisted Murray Mews, shortlisted
RICS Awards: Hackney Marshes Centre, commended
RIBA London Regional Awards: Ada Street, winner
2011 Structural Steel Design Awards: American Express Community Stadium, winner
RIBA North West Regional Awards: Mann Island, shortlisted RICS Awards: Cow Bridge, highly commended AIA UK Excellence in Design Awards: Hackney Marshes Centre, Best Community Building, winner - 23 -
2009 Structural Steel Design Awards: Unilever Leatherhead, certificate of merit
2010 BCO/Property Week: Rethinking the Future Competition with Child Graddon Lewis, highly commended
London Office Webb Yates Engineers Limited T | 020 3696 1550 W | www.webbyates.co.uk E | info@webbyates.co.uk A | 48-50 Scrutton Street, London, EC2A 4HH Regd in England & Wales No: 5393930 Birmingham Office Webb Yates (Midlands) Limited T | 012 1501 6210 W | www.webbyates.co.uk E | info@webbyates.co.uk A | 5th Floor East Wing, Trinity Point, Halesowen, West Midlands, B63 3HY Registered in England and Wales No. 6813435 Dubai Office Webb Yates & Esther T | +97 14 277 8740 F | +97 14 277 8958 W | www.webbyates.co.uk E | dubai@webbyates.com A | Suite 503, Building 12, Bay Square, Downtown Dubai, Business Bay, Dubai, U.A.E., POB 3147 - 24 -