Friday, 3 January 2014

January Sole Soaking!

In this era and at the beginning of 2014 most city people will look out of their windows and only see man made objects, generally these are designed by Structural Engineers, Civil Engineers and Designers with only a few traces of the natural world present; an odd tree, a few blades of grass or a few patio pots are the only items which link them back to their roots. The day-to-day existence of most city dwellers is totally dependant on the performance of utilities infrastructure companies.

The extreme wet and windy weather patterns over the Christmas period within the British Isles has clearly demonstrated this point. The weather and environment factor is not an isolated phenomena but a global problem which Governments need to correctly understand and stop merely trying to pay voting lip service to and thereafter allow the financial institutions to carry on in a myopic manner.

In the modern world unless social/environment models significantly change it will become more difficult and much more costly to live on Planet Earth. Where will the prosperity come from to support this? The developed world's economic model based on continual growth cannot work in the longer term and the sooner that the G20 countries recognise this, the better the quality of life for the general public.

Societies must become more aware of holistic ways of life and must become more self governing and respectful of the piece of Planet Earth which they are inhabiting but benefit from knowledge sharing and accessible good global database stores. Humans must also learn, as the population density grows even further, to design places of habitation which provide homes for other forms of nature. Bees, birds insects alike need to be recognised as important species with which mankind cannot in the long term survive without, or do we evolve into machines and become extinct?

The time has come to be truly respectful of Planet Earth and all that dwell within its sphere. We need to learn to harmonise the needs of all and try to understand the Grand Design and from this learn to design respectively and sustainably. Resources are finite and we need to use them carefully and wisely.

Monday, 29 October 2012

Employment Vacancy

MLDE are looking to recruit a Civil / Structural Engineering Graduate with about two years post-University experience. In the first instance please send through a letter of introduction and CV for consideration, contact details can be found here.

Monday, 15 October 2012

Tellisford Mill - Nominated for LABC National Building Excellence Award

Tellisford Mill, near Bath, Somerset, which MLDE acted as Civil and Structural Engineers for, has been entered into the Local Authority Building Control, National Building Excellence Awards final. The awards ceremony will take place in London during November.

This follows on from the Regional Award received by the project in June 2012 in the LABC South West Building Excellence Awards in which Tellisford Mill won the “Best Small Commercial Building” Award.

The project, which involved the installation of a new 55kW micro-hydropower turbine producing clean, renewable energy and restoration of the mill to its original purpose incorporating contemporary accommodation/office spaces, also received four awards in Mendip District Council’s, Mendip Building Excellence Awards in March 2012.

Tuesday, 24 July 2012

Pegasus - Prince of Wales attends memorial dedication at the National Memorial Arboretum

The Prince of Wales was joined by hundreds of current and former paratroopers and guests to officially unveil sculptures at the National Memorial Arboretum, Staffordshire on 13 July 2012.

Prince Charles attended the ceremony at Alrewas to unveil the memorial which was sculpted by Charlie Langton and Mark Jackson. MLDE were commissioned to engineer the memorial plinth and the structural stainless steel armature to support Pegasus.

Pegasus at NMA - Prince of Wales with Sculptors Charlie Langton and Mark Jackson

The memorial combines two bronze sculptures, a paratrooper, sculpted by Mark Jackson, standing alongside the winged horse Pegasus, ridden by Bellerophon, the official symbol of the Parachute Regiment, and is dedicated to the soldiers of the Parachute Regiment and associated airborne units. The sculptures were cast by Castle Fine Arts Foundry.

Thursday, 22 March 2012

Tellisford Mill - Mendip Building Excellence Awards

MLDE were in attendance at Mendip District Council’s, Mendip Building Excellence Awards on Friday 16th March 2012, for the project Tellisford Mill which MLDE acted as Civil and Structural Engineers for. The results for this project were :

> Best Commercial Building Under £1 Million - Winner
> Best Extension or New Build in a Historic Context - Winner
> Best Sustainable Development - Finalist
> Best Vernacular Building - Finalist

The ambition of Clients, Rachel Feilden and Anthony Battersby (Founder members of Mendip Power Group) were realised with the installation of a new 55kW micro-hydropower turbine producing clean, renewable energy and restoration of the mill to its original purpose incorporating contemporary accommodation/office spaces.

The Architects for the project were Klaentschi and Klaentschi and construction was carried out by local contractor Randall of Beckington.

Tuesday, 7 February 2012

Aardman Animations HQ, Bristol - Feature Staircases

Aardman Animations new HQ, based in Bristol, has a feature article within Hot Dip Galvanizing Magazine.

MLDE designed and engineered a pair of new bowstring double flight feature staircases to provide a central focus to the atrium space. The building was designed by Alec French Architects for Aardman Animations.

Please refer to our website for more details of these elegant staircases.

Wednesday, 25 January 2012

Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas

MLDE would like to wish all their existing and new Clients a Happy New Year.

MLDE have carried out works to many Listed Buildings and properties in Conservation Areas, Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, etc. and to reflect this a new page has been added to the website entitled Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas

An interactive Google Map has also been included on the page and we have begun to indicate some locations on this map of projects worked on by MLDE that are Listed or in Conservation Areas, with the intention of adding more to this over the next few weeks and completing the map.

mark lovell design engineers

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Structural and Civil Design Engineering Consultants based in Devizes, Wiltshire