Issue four of our broadsheet is now available. Share is the theme — move forward, embrace the challenges! ......

Read about our new position centre stage in the global market, our work in the renewable energy sector and success in the recent London Flugtag. There are profiles of recent projects and of engineers from all parts of our network ... order a copy now >
or download a pdf version [ 1.8Mb ]

Design work is finished on the Arts Alliance mobile venue, a gigantic demountable event structure, designed by our engineers working with Norwegian architect Various and specialist contractor ESS. Our 3D modelling technology was invaluable in achieving the complex design.

The light-weight steel, aluminium and inflatable fabric tube structure encloses an area larger than a football pitch but fits into 30 shipping containers when demounted. It's designed to be erectable using only the resources available in developing countries.

Read all about the structural design, described step-by-step by our engineers at www.bdonline.co.uk

TRADA has been running a 75th anniversary celebratory research competition with the aim of awarding £75k for a collaborative research venture between the winner and TRADA Technology. The joint winners were announced late December, and two RWB entries made the final shortlist. The first was to produce a design chart manual for timber framed structures in the UK and the second, to promote the use of timber panels as alternative to concrete floors. Both proposals stem from our own ongoing research into timber and composite timber building techniques.

Kevin Hares and Oliver Neve, students of the University of Bath and RWB undergraduates, have received commendations in the IStructE Model and Full Scale Testing Awards 2008. The awards are designed to develop awareness of the potential of physical testing as part of the design process, and are open 3rd and 4th year students. Kevin's paper is entitled Plane Sections Remain Plane? and Oliver wrote on Shear Connectors for Thin Topping Timber-Concrete Composite Floors.

The Institution of Structural Engineers has awarded the Ramboll Whitbybird-engineered Spire of Hope at St Anne's Cathedral, Belfast, its 2008 Small Projects Award. The BBC W1 Project, phase one, was commended in the Commercial/Retail category.

The Arts Alliance mobile venue (see above) has won the top Spark Award, alongside projects by significant international design names. The winners were announced in San Francisco on Friday 3rd October and Various Architects' founders Jim Dodson and Ibrahim Elhayawan accepted the award.

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The Sheffield University Resource Centre has won three RIBA regional awards. It has been named both Building of the Year and winner of the Gold Award at the RIBA Yorkshire White Rose Awards ceremony.

We are please to announce that Trinity Hall College postgrad accommodation has won a 2008 Spirit of Ingenuity award from RIBA East in the Home Award, schemes over £250k section. Congratulations to all the team.

Congratulations to our marketing team: they have been named Best In-house Marketing Team in the 2008 Construction Marketing Awards organised by Construction News, for work carried out this year to consolidate and promote the company brand. The judges looked for consistent success over a number of campaigns and activities, plus demonstrable success in meeting business objectives, commenting, "This is a really great entry, demonstrating the planning and execution process at its best". The award was collected in London by members of the current team — Helen Shea, Jennifer Osborne-Zdaniuk and Gina Gregory — and Janet Coan, head of communications during the campaigns.

Following an initative by colleagues at RWB and Ramboll Denmark, it was decided to sponsor teams of young Ramboll engineers to enter the 2008 IStructE International Design Competition. Three teams came together from offices across the group, including from Russia, Lithuania, Finland, Denmark and Ramboll Whitbybird. The brief was to invent a legacy use for the new Olympic stadium and its site in a major city: London. The idea of the competition is to encourage ingenuity, imagination and inventiveness in young structural engineers.

A team of 25 walkers led by our Manchester office recently set off on the Three Peaks Challenge — to climb the UK's three tallest peaks in succession in 24 hours. The team hiked Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowden, covering some 25 miles on foot and a total elevation of 3407m.

The idea came from RWB director Lee Leston-Jones, who was seeking a fundraising activity to commemorate our inspirational former colleaugue Martin Tovey, who passed away suddenly in 2005, aged just 31. Everyone finished the hike within 28 hours and their stirling efforts raised over £5,000 for the British Heart Foundation.

Our geotechnical engineers have undertaken a highly unusual 24MN kentledge pile load test at the Yas Island site of the The Ferrari Experience, a super-scale theme park being developed 30km north east of Abu Dhabi.

Although ground conditions in UAE are well-understood, the sheer scale of the Ferrari complex (6,500+ piles) encouraged the search for pile optimisation. The test resulted in the shortening of the length of each pile by up to 2m, reducing the the amount of drilling required by a length of 9km and saving 95MN of concrete. Well worth the effort.

Ramboll Whitbybird Chairman, Mark Whitby, has been inducted into the British Construction Industry Hall of Fame, set up on the 21st anniverary of the BCI Awards. The idea is to recognise individuals who have led teams at the highest level and driven successful projects recognised by the awards programme in those 21 years.

Our façades director Will Stevens is a key speaker at the forthcoming NCE Facade Engineering: Benchmarking Performance; Driving Innovation conference to be held on 22-23 January 2009 in London. He will present on "The effects of complex geometry on façade design and construction". For conference information, see www.ncefacades.com