Beth Williams MEng (Hons), CEng MICE

Twitter: @BethWilliamsSE

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/beth-williams-engineer

Beth is a Chartered Civil Engineer and Certified PassivHaus Designer, and associate at Build Collective, a bespoke engineering consultancy based in Bristol.

Beth has over 10 years’ experience in low-energy and low-carbon design and construction, focussing on timber frame PassivHaus buildings. Her project experience ranges from domestic extensions to new build sports halls and high security NHS facilities.

Alongside practice work, Beth is a visiting tutor at Bath, Cardiff and UWE architecture schools, and group leader for the AECB Bristol & Bath local group. Beth is passionate about making low-energy buildings simple to build, affordable and available to all.

‘Involving structural engineers in retrofit typically starts at the technical design stage, if we’re consulted at all. This usually leads to calls of the engineer ‘adding extra costs’ to the project, or making things ‘unnecessarily complicated’.

With this talk, I want to make the case for consulting with a structural engineer early in the retrofit design process, even if, at face value, the proposals don’t appear to impact the structure at all.

We’ll talk through structural considerations in a retrofit project from the big picture, like overall stability, through to the details, such as supporting windows and doors in the insulation zone. We’ll look at what a scope for a structural engineer might be on a typical retrofit project, and we’ll discuss the wider implications of retrofitting structures on things like building maintenance and design life.’

Book here