GCA was a key partner in the design and construction of this flagship zero-carbon project which created six terraced houses and three apartments.

The construction phase was completed in June 2011 but post-occupancy monitoring of energy consumption and generation will continue for two years to confirm that the zero carbon criteria have been met.

GCA was initially involved in an appraisal of the ‘brownfield’ site to validate the foundation design, the design of the drainage which incorporated rainwater harvesting, and the design of the underground heat store.

Sandbags.

GCA was contacted by the client at 2pm on Friday afternoon, Westminster City Council required calculations to validate the stability for erection of the Handbag.  The calculations where on the clients desk at 9.30 Saturday morning and the Handbag was erected as scheduled.

Derby-based GCA (UK) Ltd, one the region’s leading firms of consulting engineers, has announced the appointment of James Thomson as structural engineer.

James joins GCA from Birmingham-based engineering consultancy, Buro Happold, where he spent four years, first as a trainee engineer and then as a structural engineer and was involved in some major international projects.

James returns to his home city after gaining wealth of experience in the field of structural engineering. To date he has worked on a number of high profile projects, including the King Abdullah Finance District in Riyadh, The Cube in Birmingham, The Midlands Arts Centre in Edgbaston and The Camden Academy in London.

In these lean times it is nice that some areas of work are flourishing and we are delighted to be able to assist in providing technical advice on the suitability of your building to support Solar and Photo-Voltaic Panels for Domestic or Commercial applications. The structural engineering implications of fitting solar and photo-voltaic panels vary depending on the roof structure and its location, whether it be on a flat and single or multiple pitched roofs.

In considering the placement of these panels it is essential to consider the effects they may have on the building structure as a whole. Whilst the panels themselves are lightweight, consideration needs to be given on pitched roofs to potential overloading caused by the combination of solar panelling and snow loading, and on flat roofs of securing the panels to the roof to prevent wind stripping them off, acting as a sail which will cause the roof to lift off, or if counterbalances are provided cause the roof to collapse due to overloading.