Date: 17th April 2019

London compete in Tough Mudder for Marie Curie

On Friday 12 April, 13 brave staff from our London office competed in the Tough Mudder Challenge to raise awareness and money for Marie Curie.

The 5km Challenge had them racing through a series of obstacles at Finsbury Park in North London. Thankfully the weather was on their side and the rain held off, helping the lucky 13 reach the finish line together.

All monies raised will go to Marie Curie who help people living with any terminal illness, and their families, make the most of the time they have left.

#CurtinsCare

Date: 17th April 2019

Curtins’ staff awarded with industry Fellowships

In March this year, our Technical Director Phil Hughes was made a Fellow of the Institution of Structural Engineers, bringing our total number of Fellowship qualifications to 10.

Fellowships are the highest grade of membership for the Institution of Civil Engineers, Institution of Structural Engineers and Chartered Institute of Highways and Transportation, and are awarded to Engineers who have made a significant contribution to their profession, recognising their high level of knowledge, ability and experience.

Within Curtins, our Fellows include:

Stephen Beggs, Technical Director BEng (Hons) CEng FICE
Dan Evans, Executive Director BEng (Hons) CEng FISTructE
Phil Hughes, Technical Director BEng (Hons) CEng FISTructE
Paul Menzies, Executive Director BEng (Hons) CEng FISTructE FFB
Neil Parkinson, Executive Director BEng (Hons) CEng FIStructE FICE
Matt Price, Associate BSc (Hons) MSc TPP FCIHT
John Risley, Technical Director BEng (Hons) CEng FICE
Alex Vogt, Technical Director BSc (Hons) MSc FCIHT
Nic Webb, Technical Director BEng (Hons) CEng FICE

Date: 8th April 2019

David Wiggins presents at the BLF Traditional Mortars Symposium

Senior Engineer, David Wiggins will be presenting at The Building Limes Forum’s Traditional Mortars Symposium in York on Tuesday 11 June.

An industry highlight, the symposium will bring together over 30 experts in the field of conservation, heritage and hot mixed lime mortars to share knowledge, research and experience from around the world.

As Curtins’ leading CARE accredited conservation engineer, David has significant experience working with traditional and historic buildings. His work centres around the care and repair of architectural and civil engineering heritage structures, and he is actively involved in research and development pertaining to the technical conservation of masonry.

For David, the York Symposium follows in a long list of technical lectures, seminars and published articles on this, his specialist knowledge. His lecture will include research on the drivers for masonry decay, the inadequate performance of cement mortars and why, and the technical characteristics and advantages of lime mortars.

The Symposium is intended to allow the informed specification, mixing and confident use of earth-lime and hot mixed lime mortars, as well as demonstrating their historic prevalence, usefulness and enhanced performance characteristics. For more information on the symposium visit https://www.buildinglimesforum.org.uk/events/york-symposium/

Find out about our Conservation and Heritage specialism by clicking here.

Date: 4th April 2019

Our Leeds office turns 30!

It’s been an amazing 30 years since we first opened our office in Leeds, so last Friday we had a party to celebrate!

Over the past 3 decades our team has grown to more than 40 staff offering the full complement of our 7 specialisms and providing state of the art facilities for new hospital buildings, schools, universities, offices, leisure complexes, housing and more.

The team in Leeds continue to deliver the high levels of client satisfaction, innovation and added value that are at the heart of who we are at Curtins. In addition, they have always been prepared to go the extra mile when it comes to supporting our nominated Curtins charities or celebrating our diverse community.

That is why we treated them to an 80s themed party. Fitted out with a bar, cocktail maker, band, magician and a photobooth, the party was the perfect way to thank the team for their hard work and dedication over the years.

Here’s to the next 30!

Date: 21st March 2019

Rachel Ivers flies to Beijing to lecture at the Gengdan Institute

Rachel Ivers, our Senior Transport Planner in Dublin, has flown across the world to the Gengdan Institute (BGD) in Beijing to teach at the university. For three weeks, she is taking up an invited position a guest lecturer covering two areas of specialism. These are:

• SSPL3019 Transport and Urban Development for third year students; and
• SSPL2019 Development Management for second year students

In addition, Rachel will share her experience and learning as a practising transport planner with the students.

Rachel qualified as a Spatial Planner and attended Delft University of Technology, a leading European engineering university, to undertake her masters in Transport, Infrastructure and Logistics. From experience gained working abroad, she has transferred her knowledge to a wide range of sectors both in Dublin and internationally.

Alongside her work at Curtins, Rachel is vice-chair of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport’s (CILT) Policy Committee and sits on the committee of the Transport Planning Society (TPS).

The opportunity was presented through Rachel’s previous Head of School in Dublin Institute of Technology (now TUD), who is now co-ordinating the BSc Spatial Planning course at BGD in collaboration with TUD.

For both Rachel and her team at Curtins, it’s an exciting chance to share expertise with a Chinese university. We wish her a very successful trip!

Date: 13th March 2019

AABCO pledges to support Curtins Care fundraising

Reinforced Concrete detailing firm, AABCO have admirably stepped forward and pledged to support our nominated Charity of the Year, Marie Curie through contributions from their drawing costs. 5% of each drawing fee will be donated directly to Marie Curie to help fund the charity’s care and support of people living with a terminal illness.

We are aiming to raise £15,000 for Marie Curie. An ambitious target that has been made more achievable thanks to the support and collaboration of AABCO, who came forward voluntarily to contribute to the cause.

AABCO are a company of global engineering experts for reinforced concrete. Since 1994, they have worked on some of the largest and most challenging projects, using state-of-the-art collaborative software to serve clients up to 10 times faster.

Rob Melling, Chief Executive at Curtins, said:

“Caring for families, individuals and communities is vitally important to us at Curtins. Every year we pledge to support a worthy charity and I’m delighted that AABCO are collaborating with us to help provide vital funding to Marie Curie.”

Marie Curie’s vision is for a better life for people and their families living with a terminal illness. Their Nurses care for people in their own home, when they need them most, day or night. They have nine hospices across the UK, providing round-the-clock, specialist care at the heart of communities. Last year, they provided support for more than 50,000 people across the UK.

Date: 13th March 2019

Curtins’ team help fill the gap in Transport Planning education

Our Principal Transport Planner, Irene O’Riordan shared her knowledge of Transport Planning with a class of bright, first year Civil Engineering students at Brighton University on Monday 4^th March.

Irene is a member of the Industry Advisory Board at Brighton University and was invited to provide a transport lecture to fill the gap in the Civil Engineering course’s curriculum. In addition to Irene, George Plant from our London Office also sits on the Advisory Board as a Structural Engineer (and Brighton University Alumni).

Irene’s lecture provided the students with an introduction to Transport Planning, why it is important, the stages of a project’s development that Transport Planners are involved in, and some real-life case studies and project examples. Students also learnt about the ways that transport is changing. Irene presented them with the concept of autonomous vehicles and how these innovations will ultimately impact design, land use, economies, safety and legislation.

It is likely that Irene will contribute to further lectures as the university aims to maintain an aspect of transport planning within the course. We hope that this continued contact will inspire students from Brighton to join our team in student placements or graduate positions.

Date: 12th March 2019

Curtins appointed on 450 new homes scheme

We have been appointed to deliver the civil infrastructure, structural and geotechnical engineering designs to construction on this 21-hectare greenfield site comprising 450 quality homes for L&Q Group near Leamington Spa.

L&Q are keen to make this their national flagship development. As such quality has been paramount throughout the design process. We have been brought on to ensure the delivered scheme is of the required standards – utilising complex 3D ground models to coordinate proposals and communicate our intent amongst the design team.

Tom Leake, Associate at Curtins commented, “This is an exciting project delivering high quality residential units in a complex and challenging, yet picturesque site. The project is giving us a great opportunity to continue our excellent working relationship with L&Q and expand our offering in the residential sector, and to further expand on our existing infrastructure teams.”

The project team also includes Boon Brown Architects. Work is expected to start on site in this summer.

More information here.

Date: 5th March 2019

STEM Ambassadors run workshops in Manchester primary school

Five of our STEM Ambassadors were at St Catherine’s RC Primary School last week running 3 engineering-inspired workshops for Year 4 students.

In teams of 5, we had classes of 30 building the tallest tower possible out of playing cards; building bridges out of materials such as cereal boxes, wooden dowels, pipe cleaners and tapes; and creating giant Jenga towers.

To complete the session, the Ambassadors held a mini competition with all of the teams. The students enjoyed the different activities, and Jenga was by far the loudest and most competitive!

We hope to repeat the workshops in the future with different year groups.

Date: 4th March 2019

Inspiring young women to fulfil their potential

As part of International Women’s Day, on 6th March we will be supporting a brilliant Inspiring Women’s Day Event at Auto Trader in Manchester with championship boxer, Stacey Copeland through her Pave the Way programme.

90 selected students from 8 schools across Manchester will hear from inspirational speakers working in a variety of male-dominated sectors. Six speakers will share their stories and valuable career advice with the students, and will include our Engineer Niamh McCloskey, Nathan Dyke, the Head of Diversity and Inclusion at Auto Trader, Dawn Coward from Ryder Architects, Lawyer, Michelle Garlick, Pamela Jones from Evans Excavation and Sue Patterson from Morgan Sindall.

The event will also get the students involved in a number of engaging hands-on activities and workshops designed to expose the young women to new careers, build confidence and introduce them to positive role models.

We would like to thank photographer, Nigel Maitland who has photographed six of Manchester’s female role models for a photography exhibition as part of the event. The portraits include our Structural Engineer, Nushma Juwaheer and Geo-Environmental Engineer, Jess Bailey.

The schools taking part in the event are Parrs Wood, Levenshulme High, Deans Trust Ardwick, Harrop Fold, The Kingsway, Hazel Grove High and Ashton-on-Mersey.

You can follow us on social media for updates on the event. Twitter @CurtinsConsult, Instagram @wearecurtins and LinkedIn @Curtins.

#pavetheway #internationalwomensday #IWD2019 #balanceforbetter