Read more about how our Structural Detailers were able to build a model that helped the client to meet a more practical way of fabricating a complex structure.

Area of expertise: Transportation

Challenge

Our client is the UK’s market-leading structural steel company, offering world class engineering and design excellence. They are one of the largest structural steel business in the UK, employing 1,400 people. For decades they have been shaping skylines and delivering the modern built environment.

This particular project involved delivering a detailed design model of a profoundly complex and challenging steel structure, the Emirates Air Line: a cable car link across the River Thames in London, England.  

Our expertise in handling complex 3D geometry and our ability to deploy software to achieve the required project output meant that we were the perfect partner for this project. 

Solution

Our expert Structural Detailers were able to build a model that helped the client to meet a more practical way of fabricating such a complex structure with the materials they had at their disposal. Our design was unique in its approach and concept: the towers were formed from steel ribbons, held in place by a helical tie which corkscrews up the inside of the structure.

Results 

Our in-depth knowledge of the deployed software and a proven history in handling complex 3D geometry allowed us to build a model that ultimately won the Global Steelwork Modelling Award issued by the software producer. 

We have an almost unmatched familiarity with both the capabilities and limitations of the software we as an industry use. This depth of knowledge, together with an aptitude for lateral thinking and an inventive approach, allowed us to deliver a model and the necessary output which others might not have thought possible. Our expertise ultimately allowed the structure to be built successfully.