CREATIVE ENGINEERING -1-
They are skilled, committed and inventive. Their attitude to creative design collaboration mirrors our own. They are always willing to put in the time and effort to push the solution beyond the normal and the obvious and achieve something really special.’ Alan Stanton, Stirling Prize winning architects Stanton Williams -2-
PHILOSOPHY We have enjoyed significant growth in recent years and are pleased to announce our presence in the GCC where we trade as Webb Yates & Esther – Engineers...
Webb Yates Engineers was established in 2005. The aim of the founding directors is to create a practice that combines ideas and imagination with technical rigour to create artful and inventive structural designs. We believe that the pursuit of sustainable and efficient structures does not prevent them from being attractive and economic; indeed quite the opposite. Central to our philosophy is an enjoyment of the collaborative creative process. Our team relishes working with architects, designers, builders and other engineers - where possible developing flourishing working relationships; where appropriate, challenging boundaries and finding fresh approaches.
A love of the possibilities of materials informs the best of what we do. As well as mainstream construction materials, such as steel and concrete, we work with a wide selection of other materials which has expanded our knowledge and exercised our ability to approach unusual problems and solve them in a practical and considered way. We believe that a deep understanding of the process of making things is essential to good design. Working through the act of building is at the heart of how we find efficient structures. We also like to work with specialist fabricators and manufacturers so that we understand how things are put together at a detailed level.
The best projects are often those that can be treated holistically. Every project and every client needs to be understood to uncover the aspirational and commercial drivers behind a job before approaching the design. Whether you are a contractor, developer or architect, Webb Yates Engineers always begin projects with pen and paper, rapidly outlining key options for discussions and evaluation. Once this is done, we love to work with design technologies that make the process more efficient.
...From our offices in Dubai we look forward to offering our approach to design in this most exciting of markets.
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OUR TEAM Matthew J. Esther Managing Director (Dubai)
a broad project base to produce elegant designs that always have buildability and construction in mind.
Matthew is a Chartered Engineer with international experience in the design, management and construction of a range of building types that include tall buildings, long span structures and stadia. He has held senior positions with large multi-national engineering firms for over a decade and draws on
He is committed to the advancement of the structural engineering profession and has served as a Vice-President of the Institution of Structural Engineers and as Chairman of the Institution’s Regional Group in the UAE. He has lectured on the Chartered Membership Exam preparation course in the
Steve Webb
including Wembley Arena and the Turning Torso tower in Sweden, a 58 storey residential tower with a dramatic twisting form achieved with a hybrid steel and concrete frame.
CEng BEng (Hons) EurIng FICE FIStructE MSFE
CEng BEng (Hons) MIStructE
Director Steve started his career as a site engineer for the Jubilee Line Extension, gaining first-hand experience of site issues and subterranean construction in London. He went on to work at Whitby Bird, Sinclair Knight Merz and Santiago Calatrava, where he worked on prestigious projects
Andy Yates CEng MBA BEng (Hons) BSc (Hons) MIStructE FGS Director After graduating from the University of Dundee Andy worked for Whitby Bird and Capita Symonds where he gained significant experience on a wide range of public and private developments including Sadler’s Wells Theatre Redevelopment,
He founded Webb Yates Engineers with Andy Yates in 2005. Here Steve has designed a variety of innovative structures which have seen the practice win numerous awards.
Chipping Norton Leisure Centre and Tusmore House. Andy also worked as a volunteer engineer in Ethiopia for 2 years, assisting the local Education Bureau with their ambitious school building programme. Since founding Webb Yates Engineers in 2005, Andy has worked on a number of prestigious and awardwinning projects including -4-
UAE and lectures regularly at local universities. Matthew’s key project experience includes Trump Tower, DIFC Lighthouse, Icon Hotel, Anara Tower, the Esfahan Convention Centre, Hellinikon Olympic Stadium, Millennium Dome, Wembley Stadium, Hertfordshire University Campus, Thames Barrier Park, Abu Dhabi Plaza and the One & Only Resort in Bahrain.
These include the Fuente del Jarro factory in Spain which incorporates V-shape trusses as part of the steel and concrete composite long span solution. Steve has a broad knowledge of structural materials and is experienced designing with a range of construction technologies. Steve is interested in combining imagination with technical rigour to create artful and inventive structural designs.
Mann Island, Hackney Marshes Centre, Brighton and Hove Albion FC Stadium and Heathrow Airport Olympics Portal. Andy’s key engineering specialisms are the analysis and design of reinforced concrete structures, buried concrete structures, especially in contaminated land, and temporary demountable structures.
Mohamad Khodr Al-Dah CEng MEng ACIArb FIStructE
Director | Partner Mohamad graduated from Oxford University and has experienced life both as a consulting engineer and a contractor having worked for Arup, Bovis Lend Lease, Atkins and Engineering Contracting Company (ECC). Although his passion is in the renovation of historical buildings, his key project
Rob Delahunty
experience lies in the design of new buildings such as the Dong Deumun Centre in Korea, Unilever House in London, Nottingham Trent University, Los Faros de Panama, St Regis Cairo, Cardinal Place Victoria in London. Mohamad was the founder and head of the Real Estate Appraisal Centre in Dubai Land Department and is currently the Director of Technical Affairs where he
the Grade II listed UCL Cruciform Building.
CEng BEng (Hons) MIstructE
Associate Director Rob has 22 years experience as a structural engineer. He started his career at Powell Tolner & Associates, and went on to work for Allott & Lomax and Capita Symonds where he undertook a range of projects from large scale residential projects to historic building refurbishments, including
Tom Webster CEng MEng MICE MIStructE
Associate Director Tom started his working life in AECOM in 2005 where he has worked on a wide range of structural engineering projects. During that time he has developed a strength in the parametric modelling of structures, and has been instrumental in developing these techniques within the practice. Tom was a founding -5-
Rob joined Webb Yates Engineers in 2006 and has worked on several significant schemes, including Sheffield University student accommodation, refurbishment of the Institute of Engineering Technicians, and the Olympics Temporary Terminal building at Heathrow Airport. Rob has developed
member of the Aecom Sports Structures team and lead structural engineer for the design of FC Spartak Moscow Stadium (Otkrytiye Arena), Rio 2016 Olympic venues and Al Wakrah Stadium for the Qatar 2022 Fifa World Cup. Now with Webb Yates Engineers Tom is one of two Associate Directors responsible for the delivery of projects across the company. Tom combines his
oversees the survey and area measurements for Dubai. In addition to his engineering career. Mohamad is an active member of the Institution of Structural Engineers and was elected as Chairman of the UAE Regional Group for 2016 and represents the UAE Region on the Institution Council.
specialisms in temporary structures, ranging from structural inspections of stages for concerts and other public events, off site construction techniques and airports projects. He is currently running several projects at London Heathrow which require a high degree of co-ordination, not only with designers but also with airport operations and security.
advanced analytical capability with a thorough grounding in practical engineering design and project management gained in a variety of sectors including sports and leisure, commercial, transportation, government and industrial facilities to ensure the architects and clients visions are realised.
TEAM’S EXPERIENCE 01
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01 Paragon Development, Brentford: Andy Yates was responsible for the structural design of this development which included an 18 storey block. 02 Pioneer Point, Ilford: Steve Webb was the project engineer responsible for the design of this 35 storey residential development. 03 Turning Torso, Malmo: Steve Webb was the engineer responsible for the design and construction of this 54 storey residential
building.This landmark structure has an innovative and complex structural form whilst maintaining a striking visual appearance. 04 Spartak Moscow Stadium: Spartak Moscow Stadium is a 45,000 seat stadium in Moscow, Russia.The roof consists of parallel trusses spanning 220m with a lightweight infill designed to support high snow loads and a large temperature variation. 05 Esfahan Convention Centre, Iran: Matthew J. Esther was the engineer for
this 250,000Sqm mixed use development which includes a Convention Centre, Hotel, Shopping Mall and Residential Units. At its centre is a hemispherical auditorium with its geometry governed by a series of concentric tilted spherical surfaces.When complete it is set to become Iran’s parliament building.
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06 American Express Community Stadium, Brighton: The stadium is a bowl form with a three tier west stand and single tier stands to the other sides.The roof form is designed to imitate and blend into the local undulating topography with a curved cylindrical form.The elegant and efficient roof spans across the whole stadium with a mere 100kg/m² of steel. 07 Dongdaemun Design Plaza, Seoul: Mohamad worked on the design of
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the DDP situated in the heart of the Korean capital Seoul.The challenge was to design a museum floor as a 40m canteliver whilst minimising deflections, vibrations and steel. The geometry was extremely challenging as well with most of the design done via the 3D software Rhino.The building acts as conference centre/museum/arts hall/design museum and has a BUA of 86,000 m2. 08 House for Mr & Mrs Kalogiannis, Athens, Greece: Matthew took on this
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private commission which required a very close collaboration with the Architect / Client in order to achieve this bold expression of structure throughout the building fabric. This very modern statement which stands out against the more traditional settings of the Athenian suburbs and was selected as Greece’s entry for the Mies van der Rohe awards in 2013. 09 Store Street, Manchester: Andy Yates was responsible for the scheme design
and preliminary analysis of this 36 storey residential development proposed for central Manchester. 10 Al Wakrah Stadium, Qatar: Al Wakrah Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup Stadium is a 45,000 capacity cooled football stadium and associated mixed-use and sports Precinct. Includes 230m span stadium roof and glulam timber spanning over 70m.
TEN PROJECTS
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01 / Khor al Raha, Abu Dhabi Khor Al Raha Courtyard Apartments is designed to create a living community that enables a sustainable, efficient and natural way of life with clear benefits to the project stakeholder including the developer, owner and occupiers of the community that this building serves. The building has been thoughtfully positioned within the constraints of the plot and oriented to maximise physical and visual connections to the surroundings and views.
The common approach of a double loaded corridor has been challenged and drawn apart creating a courtyard. The functions of corridor and courtyard are overlaid to create a naturally ventilated external space which provide circulation via shaded walkways and bridged voids. This naturally cross-ventilated ‘gorge’ is functional, environmentally friendly and lies at the heart of the community it creates.
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The building is located on the bank of a man-made canal and is engineered to achieve simplicity of construction and integration of services. The layout of the apartments required large clear floor spans to enable the living experience that is central to the architectural theme for the project. This was achieved using post-tensioned concrete floor plates supported on an arrangement of vertical elements that are positioned in a manner that integrates the structure within the fabric and function of the building on all levels, from the fundamental layouts of the apartments to the circulation in the basement carparks.
Client Private Architect JT + Partners Area 26,000m² Status Design Complete Date Completion 2018
02 / Hackney Marshes Centre Providing changing rooms for Hackney Marshes sports pitches, this award-winning community hub also includes a cafe, teaching space and office accommodation. The architects were looking to respond to the surrounding green urban environment in both the elongated form and the “rugged� industrial external materials.
The weathered steel panels include shutters and panels and will develop and evolve their finish. The gabion walls - recycled concrete from a demolition site in Wembley - are both vandal resistant and provide a framework for climbing plants.
Internally the structure is exposed throughout and defines the architecture. The resulting spaces have clarity, robust finishes and provide an economic structure appropriate to this type of building. The external cladding is principally weathered steel panels and gabion walls, chosen for robustness and to reflect the building’s surroundings.
Client Hackney Borough Council Architect Stanton Williams Photography Hufton + Crow - 10 -
A private house with a standardised timber-frame system and a feature oak roof structure which combines the benefits of a prefabricated system alongside the stunning visual effect of a wellcrafted exposed structure.
03 / New Oak
The floors are of trussed joist construction and the walls are constructed with OSB sheathed stud. The units were factory fabricated, brought to site and erected, and function as stressed skin diaphragm elements to support the large cantilevers at the eaves.
Client Private Architect Waind Gohil Photography Conrad Cherniavsky
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The main feature of the double height central living space and gallery is a stressed skin roof supported on a lattice of new oak beams. This needed to support itself in a clear span from the walls on all four sides. One side of the roof was propped against the other with thin timber poles. The location of these poles was determined from stress analysis of the strapped rafters. The roof was assembled on the ground on site and then lifted into position.
04 / Mann Island Webb Yates Engineers undertook concept design and structural analysis for these challenging concrete framed buildings on Liverpool’s historic waterfront. The project consists of two blocks of residential units reaching up to 14 storeys high with retail space at ground floor level. The blocks are of an angular form, designed to appear as solid masses hovering above the ground with the retail units as lightweight, transparent spaces. To enhance this effect, the residential superstructures cantilever out beyond the retail areas by up to 16m.
The structural design had a significant number of constraints including from the overall architectural form, column coordination between the various levels and usages, and window locations. The structural solution developed to overcome these constraints included multi-storey shear walls and concrete Vierendeel truss sections, together with more traditional concrete walls, beams, columns and slabs. For the analysis of the structures we undertook a powerful finite element analysis of each block as a single entity including taking account of creep effects, shrinkage, axial shortening and build sequencing.
Client: BAM / Bingham Davies Architect: Broadway Malyan Value: ÂŁ45m
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05 / Cow Bridge Cow Bridge provides single lane traffic, cycle and pedestrain access to Hackney Marshes over the river Lee. It replaces a previous concrete bridge structure that had been closed to traffic because of inadequate shear reinforcement in the main span and had abutments that were too steep to comply with current DDA requirements for pedestrians.
Webb Yates Engineers’ solution was to retain the existing abutments and reduce the climb up the ramps with the use of hard landscaping. The old concrete central span was removed and replaced with a lightweight elastometric composite steel deck. A new lightweight pedestrian and cycle bridge was slung along the side of the bridge at a lower level. A vibrant lime green colour was chosen to accentuate the simple economic form of the structure.
Client LB of Hackney Designer Webb Yates Engineers Photography Agnese Santivo
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06 / Wimbledon College of Art A new sustainable studio building for Wimbledon College of Art designed as a simple, flexible enclosure with excellent natural light and ventilation. The client’s brief required that this should be an exemplar building for the University’s portfolio with the building achieving BREEAM Outstanding.
An exposed timber and concrete frame was developed in close collaboration with the architect and services engineer. This provided a structure with large thermal mass. This in turn enabled the building to be naturally ventilated while giving it a pleasing aesthetic appearance.
The prefabricated glulam beams were carefully detailed in conjunction with the specialist timber contractor in order to achieve the sleek visible connections. These support pre-fabricated concrete roof panels which provide both the enclosure and large thermal mass.
The combined effect of an excellent envelope performance combined with other sustainability measures such as orientation, natural ventilition, renewables gained this the second highest BREEAM score in the world as part of its design stage assessment. A truly holistic achievement.
Client University of the Arts Architect Penoyre & Prasad Photography Tim Crocker
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07 / Gatwick Premium Drop-off Webb Yates Engineers were responsible for the design of the structural and civil works of this canopy structure and alterations to the existing road layout to facilitate a new premium drop off at London Gatwick Airport’s North Terminal.
The canopy is located on an existing concrete ramp structure and is formed from a series of steel frames with fabric panels between the frames. The canopy spans the width of the ramp, gradually narrowing to form a walkway guiding passengers into the terminal.
Client Balfour Beatty Construction Services Photography Agnese Santivo
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08 / Formby Helical Stair Webb Yates Engineers designed this breath-taking two-storey stone staircase that springs from one landing and is completely unsupported as it sweeps through 320 degrees to the next. The shape of the stair was elegantly sculpted to maximise impact by making the edges of the treads as thin as possible, while along the central spine two post-tensioned cables hold the entire stair together.
The stair works by threading the two cables through the 22 individual treads for each flight. These cables were then tensioned hydraulically to 150kN each in order to keep the 6.6 tonne stair stable. The assembly can be likened to a string of blocks on a string that only becomes a solid structure when the string is pulled tight enough, though add to this the helical shape of the stair and many other complex forces come into play and must be overcome.
In order to allow the stone to be the primary structure of the stair, multiple in depth 3D analysis models were built to calculate the flow of stresses through the stair at each stage of its construction. Coupled with this both scale models and full-size tests were done to ensure the predicted analysis results matched the actual behaviour of the stair.
Client Private Designer Webb Yates / Stonemasonry Company Contractor Stonemasonry Company Photography Agnese Sanvito
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09 / Unilever Leatherhead Webb Yates Engineers designed the feature steelwork package for this office building, including various atria, faรงade engineering and the design of an innovative stressed skin profiled metal deck roof.
Roof beams were designed in metal sheeting to form units in a 3D form. The sheeting forms a shear diaphragm, unifying corner angle sections such that they become a stiff, triangular, box-like truss.
The brief for the atrium roofs was to achieve something visually arresting in an otherwise fairly reserved building. The structure needed to span 18m and be stiff enough to support glazed infill.
Client Landid Architect dn-a Photography Timothy Soar
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10 / Fuente del Jarro Client Solera Architect Fernando Olba Arquitectura y Urbanismo Photography Steve Webb
A two-storey factory building designed for very heavy occupancy loads, this is an example of how efficient use of materials can be achieved by an elegant structural solution.
The use of flat tension plates to the underside instead of clevis connected tendons reduced the height of the truss over the travelling crane by 100mm shortening the building.
Splitting the trusses into V shapes reduced the span of the floor slab. The top chord of the steel structure is buried in the concrete so the two elements are acting compositely. These made a 30% saving in steel and reduced the quantity of suspended concrete in the building by 50%.
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AWARDS
2016 Structural Timber Awards : Amesbury School Visual Arts Building , Education, shorlisted
2014 Green Apple Awards: Wimbledon College of Art, winner
2012 RIBA Stephen Lawrence Prize: Hill House Kent, shortlisted
Structural Awards: Formby Helical Stair, Small Projects, shortlisted
Natural Stone Awards: DeVol Showroom, for Craftsmanship, highly commended
Hackney Design Awards: Hackney Marshes Centre, winner Ada Street, shortlisted
BCO Awards: Unilever Leatherhead, shortlisted
BRMCA Award: LGW North Terminal South Void Infill, for Excellence in Customer Services, winner
Structural Awards: American Express Community Stadium, shortlisted
AJ Small Projects Awards: King’s Wood Super Kingdom, shortlisted
Hackney Marshes Centre, shortlisted
2008 Structural Awards: for Industrial or Process Structures, Fuente del Jarro, commendation
Midden Studio, Small Projects, shortlisted NLA Ashden Prize: Wimbledon College of Art , winner RIAS/RIBA Awards: Midden Studio, shortlisted
Structural Awards: L’Argens Bridge, for Pedestrian Bridges, shortlisted
BREEAM Awards: Wimbledon College of Art , Education & Health, shortlisted
AJ Awards: Golden Lane, for workplace, winner
RIBA London Awards: Bermondsey Street, shortlisted
RIBA South Awards: Colts, shortlisted
London Planning Awards : Hackney Marshes Centre, Best Project Five Years On, winner
2013 NLA Awards: Golden Lane, for Conservation & Retrofit, winner
2015 Structural Awards : Central London Stone Stair, Small Projects, shortlisted Structural Timber Awards: Wimbledon College of Art, Best Education Project & Engineer of the Year, shortlisted IStructE Young Structural Engineering Professional Award : Alex Lynes, winner AJ Small Projects Awards: Smith at CDW 2014, shortlisted Civic Trust Awards: Virginia Water Pavilion, winner Smith at CDW 2014, commendation
The Sunday Times British Homes Awards: Cliff House Kent, shortlisted AJ Retrofit Awards: Golden Lane, shortlisted Murray Mews, shortlisted RIBA London Regional Awards: Ada Street, winner RIBA North West Regional Awards: Mann Island, shortlisted RICS Awards: Cow Bridge, highly commended AIA UK Excellence in Design Awards: Hackney Marshes Centre, Best Community Building, winner
Concrete Awards: Hackney Marshes Centre, certificate of excellence
2009 Structural Steel Design Awards: Unilever Leatherhead, certificate of merit
RIBA South East Regional Awards: Hill House Kent, winner
2007 AJ Small Projects Awards: Pembridge Mews, shortlisted Bavaria Road, shortlisted
Kent Design & Development Awards: Hill House Kent , Environmental Design, winner
2006 Wood Awards for Small Projects: Bavaria Road, winner
RIBA Awards: Hackney Marshes Centre, National Awards, winner
Design Week Awards: Unipart Dome for Temporary Exhibition Structures, winner
Civic Trust Awards: Hackney Marshes Centre, winner RICS Awards: Hackney Marshes Centre, commended 2011 Structural Steel Design Awards: American Express Community Stadium, winner 2010 BCO/Property Week: Rethinking the Future Competition with Child Graddon Lewis, highly commended
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Webb Yates & Esther - Engineers Suite 503 / Building 12 Bay Square / Downtown Dubai Business Bay / Dubai UAE T + 971 4 562 0517 F + 971 4 455 8556 E: dubai@webbyates.com W: www.webbyates.com