The Best Buildings I Never Built!

In my career I've been lucky enough to be involved in building some truly extraordinary projects, of which I am so proud and humbled to have been a part of. However, there are some projects that never came to fruition for a variety of reasons that will always hold a special place in my heart. I was going to share a nice round 5, but I couldn't choose between a couple so there's a bonus in there!

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Melbourne Central

This one was a sad victim of the Building Appeals Board process in Melbourne, but it was really pushing the envelope of timber structures and vertical extensions. 10 floors of glulam and CLT office space, built in top of Melbourne CBD's busiest shopping centre. I got to work closely with the builder, design team and supply team to come up with different structural solutions, operations and maintenance procedures, and DFMA advice. Possibly the most fascinating area was the fire testing of glulam connections however. We did some world-leading tests of loaded glulam post and beam connections looking first at fire resistance level (FRL) but then moving onto parametric fire exposures and design for self-extinguishment. The results were absolutely fascinating and have changed the way I approach connection design for fire.

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Queen Annes Gate, London

This is slightly different to the others in that it's a project that actually started construction! Unfortunately when the GFC hit the client decided to pause the project so we never got to complete it. Working with Foster & Partners was a great experience and the project has a huge number of challenging structural elements to deal with, even earning me the runner up spot in the Young Structural Engineer Of The Year competition! Working with a very unique and delicate heritage structure to work out what we could do with it was fascinating, even involving a trip to the structural archives to uncover more about the unique 'beam and pot' floor system they used. One of the new structural elements to be introduced was a two storey helical stair which was going to be an almost impossibly thin steel box section with stone treads and a glass balustrade.

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New Wear Crossing, Sunderland, UK

A major road bridge competition entry won by an engineering firm with no background in road bridge engineering! This one had an interesting history and came to life during the GFC after being quietly put on the back-burner and I spent a happy 12 months trying to work out how on earth to build and maintain the thing! The design involved these two colossal curved pylons with stays on one side only (and post-tensioned within the tower on the other). Sadly it eventually got shelved for something a little less grand but probably a whole lot cheaper, but I still would have loved to see this thing come to life.

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Batman Avenue Bridge, Melbourne

This one was a competition entry for a pedestrian footbridge between Birrung Marr and the Australian Open Tennis Centre. Unfortunately we didn't win the competition but I thought our design was stunning and would have been an incredible asset to Melbourne. The design process was among the most fun I've ever had with a team, working with Dylan Brady and Dirk Zimmermann at Studio 505, and constantly challenging each other to push boundaries. We came up with some very innovative timber solutions utilising DFMA principles to develop a bridge which looks far more variable than its limited kit of parts might have suggested. I personally would have loved to have walked over this to go and watch the tennis!

Carlton Connect, Melbourne

There are two areas of engineering I have enjoyed most in my career, one is obviously timber but the other is adaptive re-use of existing buildings. There's something about the forensic side of examining old buildings and trying to work out how they might live a new life that appeals to me and it's always fascinating trying to mesh? new standards and requirements together with the old building structure and fabric and come up with something effective. This project included both the forensic side and the timber - win! A new braced steel tube to add in additional lateral capacity and lightweight timber floors for additional levels on top. Sadly our builder didn't win the tender but it would have been great!

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Punt Road CLT apartments, Melbourne

Another collaboration with Dylan and the team at Studio 505 this was an great example of where thinking differently with CLT apartment buildings can get you - no boring rectangular boxes here! With the material integrated in thinking from the start and understanding where it is most cost-effectively used they came up with a design with heaps of articulation and one that from the costings provided would have been cheaper than conventional. I think the developer ended up selling on the site on so it never came to fruition - a crying shame!

Do any of you have any stories of 'the one that got away' for projects that you wish could have been built? Please share below - I'd love to hear them!