Budget 2018: Extending Buildings Upwards – Without Planning Permission

Roof extension

In a bid to boost new house building in Britain the Government are proposing to relax the rules on planning to make it easier for people to build and/or extend. “we are proposing a new permitted development right to allow building up above existing buildings to promote new homes. This will bring particular benefits to […]

Spotlight on Becoming A Chartered Structural Engineer …

what is a structural engineer

Today I’m talking to Oliver Goodyear.. Ollie has been part of the team here at Michael Aubrey Partnership since 2011, starting with us as a Graduate Engineer. In January Ollie sat his Chartered Exams and we are thrilled that he passed first time! Ollie, Why Did You Study Engineering? “I’ve always had an interest in […]

Maintenance of External Fire Escape Staircases and Drill Towers

Fire Escape Structural Inspections

Today I’m talking to John Staves, our Managing Director about the issues of maintaining drill towers and external fire escapes and the need for regular structural checks. Why Are Regular Maintenance Inspections So Important? You have a safety obligation as an owner of that structure to maintain it in a reasonable way so that it […]

“Ask An Expert” @ Grand Designs Live!

Ask and expert Grand designs

Having attended the event as visitors for many years, we were thrilled when we were selected to appear on the ‘Ask An Expert’ panel at this year’s Grand Designs Live show. The event was held over 9 days at the impressively large north stand at ExCel in London’s docklands and covered over 5,000 sq foot […]

ISO 9001 Audit Passed For The Eleventh Year Running!

We are thrilled to have successfully passed our ISO 9001:2015 audit on 27 February 2018 for the eleventh year in a row. Dave Silcock, the Auditor was complimentary of all the systems and procedures and we passed the audit with no major or minor non-conformances. Talking about this year’s assessment John Staves said, “We are […]

John Staves Elected as Vice President IStructE

IstructElogo

We are thrilled to announce that our Managing Director John Staves has been elected Vice President to the Institution of Structural Engineers on 3 September 2018 (on his birthday!) John is a fellow of the Institution of Structural Engineers, and Treasurer of the Thames Valley Constructing Excellence Board. He also sits on the Resources Committee at […]

Structural Awards 2017 – 50th Year!

Structural Awards 2017 – a fantastic night celebrating the extraordinary work of Structural Engineers across the world!   The winners and commended projects were announced during The Structural Awards ceremony, held at The Brewery, London on Friday 17 November. The evening culminated in the presentation of The Supreme Award for Structural Engineering Excellence which was awarded to the […]

What We Learnt from Karren Brady …

Baroness Karren Brady is one of the UK’s most high-profile businesswomen and one of the regular judges alongside Lord Sugar on BBC1’s The Apprentice. Determined, hardworking, ambitious, passionate, positive Karren Brady has been called all of these and many more. Along with a select few business leaders, John Staves and myself recently received an exclusive […]

The New Telecoms Code – Are You Equipped?

Comms Code

With the new Telecoms code coming into force this Autumn John Staves gives his opinion on what this new code will mean for site owners. “I believe that the new Telecoms code will have an adverse effect on transactions; rather than easing the process which is the declared intent of the changes, site owners will […]

John Staves Chair IStructE BIM Conference 2017

Members of the Institution of Structural Engineers gathered in London last week for the Institution of Structural Engineers 2017 BIM Conference, “Moving towards BIM 2020 – Business as usual”. Institution of Structural Engineers Headquarters, Bastwick Street, London Delegates were welcomed by John Staves, Managing Director at Michael Aubrey Partnership. John talked about his passion for […]

BIM Conference 2017 – The Institution of Structural Engineers

BIM conference

We are thrilled to announce that our Managing Director, John Staves will be chairing The Institution of Structural Engineers 2017 BIM Conference. The conference will focus on the need for practising engineers to adopt BIM more widely and how to collaborate more effectively with architects and builders. Moving Towards BIM 2020: ‘Business As Usual’ Expert speakers will explore various […]

John Staves Talking “BIM” in the The RICS Journal

RICS BIM

“From Concept to Curtains” In the July/ August edition of the RICS Journal, John Staves, our Managing Director describes his first-hand experience of working with BIM (Building Information Modelling) in a small practice Here is a transcript of the article;- Our building information modelling (BIM) journey started in 2007 when we came across the modelling […]