Structural Engineers & Subcontractors

Ok, I've seen a fair bit of Structural Engineer beating going on within LinkedIn from various subcontractors lately and whilst I'm the first to admit the engineer probably had it coming I think I need to reset the line here a little so to speak.

A lot of the misunderstandings and confusion (and arguments) come from not understanding the roles and responsibilities of each party - that goes across the board, Structural Engineers too. And I'm going to lay it out now, because no one really laid it out for me and it helps when we're all on the same page.

So... lets start with the main image. The Institute of Structural Engineers, October 2010, Publication of 'Practical Guide to Structural Robustness and Disproportionate Collapse in Buildings', specifically I want to start with clause 2.13. Strategy.

""In all structures, and particularly in hybrid structures, there must be one designer who takes primary responsibility for assuring stability and robustness of the whole structure and who defines and documents the strategy.

This principle does not remove the need for other individual designers to take responsibility for the robust design of the various elements that make up the whole"

i.e. There should be one Structural Engineer either designing or checking every element that contributes to the robustness and stability of the building. Cue, the Subcontractor.

Specialist subcontractor design will generally fall under companies who offer their own systems or products such as timber frame and timber trusses, pile design, steel decking, steel fabrication, some balcony or masonry balustrade products for instance and each of these companies or products will generally have their own specialist engineer too. With me so far? Make sense?

Now then. To tie the main engineer and all these various subcontractor and material designs together we have the National Specifications (whoop!). And this is where the arguments start because no one ever reads these things.

We have the National Structural Steel Specification (NSSS), the NSCS (Concrete), the NSTS (Timber) and also the Specification for Piling and Embedded Retaining Walls (SPERW). Each of these documents cover design responsibilities, and workmanship and erection tolerances etc. i.e. the industry standards.

And I'm going to let you in on a secret guys, we appreciate that you're the specialists and you do the calcs and the details and the fabrication drawings etc. But erm... so do we? Most of us may have come from a specialist background too, we've read the same codes, guidance documents and done the same calcs you have so that we can check if what you're producing is correct or not - that's our job. You might be able to squeeze a bit more capacity in your design, but we'll know if you're in the right ball park or not.

We know what software you use because we've seen 6 lots of pile design in the last 2 months and know which software is good and which has its kinks. We know when its user error as opposed to software because we've already read each Green Book SCI guide and done the quick calc to know the steel connection works for instance. We do this, so that we can check every element of the building is robust, and safe and is constructed properly....for the end user.

Everyone always seems to forget about the end user, but that's who we're all here to serve ultimately and we'd do that better by getting on the same page once and a while. So please, Engineers, read the National Specifications and give the Subbies the correct information from the start, and Subbies read the National Specifications so you know what we're looking for in the checking process.

#refurbishment #design #london #structures #structuralengineering #construction #building #structuraldesign #structure