Interview
It all begins with an idea.
What are your mission and values?
Mission and Values:
Sustainability - Measure the embodied carbon in all of our designs at our cost and aim to reduce by 25% over 5 years
Customer-focused – providing prompt, unbiased and straightforward advice.
Technology – Step out of the old-fashioned and use AI to fast-track our response.
Step out of our Silo and limit the impact our designs have on others. We want to play our part in making the overall design a healthy, sustainable, cost-effective, and beautiful space to live in.
Unique Selling Points: What makes your company stand out from other structural engineering firms? For example, do you have proprietary methods, specialised expertise, or a unique approach to client collaboration?
Our designs are carbon-neutral
We are responsive
We work quickly, accurately and efficiently.
We communicate clearly
Team Expertise: Can you share details about your team’s qualifications, certifications, or notable achievements? For instance, do you have chartered engineers or specialists in sustainable design?
I am a Chartered structural engineer with over 35 years of international experience. I have designed award-winning buildings in the UK, the Middle East, and Australasia. In addition to cost-effective designs, I am passionate about healthy and sustainable buildings.
Our designs can incorporate the principles of Passive House Design to:
Limit the thermal bridging of the structural elements
Provide Ventilation Options to improve the comfort and health of the internal environment
Maximise energy efficiency
4. Sustainability Focus: You mentioned reducing costs and emissions. Can you elaborate on specific sustainable practices, materials, or technologies you use in your designs?
Our designs are carbon-neutral
We provide an efficient cost effective structural design for your project
We measure the embodied carbon in all of our designs
We provide options to allow you to choose the design that works for your carbon and financial budget
We record the carbon embodied in our design and offset these emissions via Carbon Neutral Britain.
5. Client Experience: How do you ensure a great experience for homeowners? Do you offer personalised consultations, user-friendly project updates, or other client-focused services?
We pick up the phone.
We respond quickly
We work with you to understand your requirements and budget.
We give you the piece of mind that we are climate friendly.
6. Geographic Reach: Where do you operate (e.g., specific regions in the UK or nationwide)? Are there local building regulations or conditions you specialize in addressing?
We are based in Nottingham and work in the East Midlands area.
7. Additional Services: Beyond structural engineering, do you offer related services like project management, planning permission assistance, or collaboration with architects?
Structural Design
Structural Surveys
Low Carbon Design
Resolve Damp, Condensation or Mould Problems
Coming soon Energy modelling for optimal energy effiency
8. What Sets You Apart: Are there specific aspects of your service (e.g., faster turnaround, cost transparency, eco-friendly focus) that differentiate you from competitors?
Fast turnaround –
80% Proposals issued in 2 working days
85% Reports are issued in 3 working days
All calls answered either immediately or within 1 working day
Low Carbon Design
We calculate the carbon embodied in the structural elements of your project and offset this carbon in conjunction with Carbon Neutral Britain.
Condensation, Damp, Mould & Beer
It all begins with an idea.
Let’s do an experiment.
Take a cold can of beer out of the fridge (alternatively, a cold bottle of wine works just as well). Take it outside on a warm summers day and drink it.
Easy hey?
The Condensation forming outside the can explains relative humidity.
Relative humidity is the amount of water vapour present in the air compared to the maximum amount the air could hold at that temperature, expressed as a percentage.
For example, 50% relative humidity means the air contains half the water vapour it could theoretically hold at that temperature.
It measures how close the air is to being saturated with moisture, with higher values indicating more humid conditions. Temperature affects it because warmer air can hold more water vapour than cooler air.
The warmer summer air outside in Nottingham contains water vapour at around 70% relative humidity. 70% of the moisture it could theoretically hold. when this air hits the can the temperature drops so the relative humidity of the air reaches the limit of what it can hold (Relative Humidity =100%). At a relative Humidity of 100%, condensation forms.
The Dew Point defines the temperature at which this condensation forms.
https://www.accuweather.com/en/gb/nottingham/ng1-7/current-weather/330088
Today's weather forecast indicates that the dew point is 10°C (a warm beer). This means that condensation can form on any surface below 10 degrees.
In winter, Nottingham's average temperatures range from 2°C to 7°C. Due to the damp winter conditions, relative humidity is often high, around 80-90%. The dew point, which depends on temperature and humidity, is usually close to the external air temperature in such conditions.
Condensation & Mould in the house
It doesn’t really take condensation on a surface to grow mould. You just need high relative humidity, which easily happens at colder spots in a room. Always remember the maxim: cold spots equal mould spots. If a surface is colder than the room, the air right at the surface is colder and thus has high relative humidity. The nice, warm & dry air inside a typical home in Nottingham in the winter is 20°C and 50% relative humidity (RH). If a section in the corner of a room is 12°C, then the relative humidity is slightly above 80%, which is definitely high enough for potential mould growth.
Calculating whether or not you will get mould growth is complicated because it involves the materials, the amount of time spent in high relative humidity, and the moisture storage of the surface. But generally, if you avoid cold spots, you can avoid mould from interior moisture.
The way we heat our homes also affects this. If you heat your home intermittently, only when you are there, the risk of condensation and mould increases.
The tips to avoid condensation, damp and mould are:
If possible, you should heat your home to always be above 16 degrees
Ventilate your home - get lots of fresh air in
Extract moisture at the source - kitchens and bathrooms in particular
Any condensation analysis assumes you are:
1. Ventilating the building properly, i.e. a mechanical ventilation system with heat recovery or at least continuous extract is required and
2. no bulk water leakage into the assembly.
3. A constant temperature/humidity (20%°C 80%° RH)
Otherwise, it is impossible to predict what will happen, as conditions would depend on how the house is lived in.
if the entire building is always very humid, then mould can grow, no matter how well-designed the building.
If the roof/wall leaks, it doesn’t matter what you picked for assemblies – you will have issues.
If appliances or your shower leak, or the moisture is not extracted, you will have issues.
You should also consider that condensation does not just occur on surfaces. It can occur with a wall or roof, which is called interstitial condensation. As this condensation is hidden, it poses particular challenges in diagnosis and treatment.
Analysis Options
The Glaser Method
The Glaser method is a simplified, standardised procedure used in building physics to assess the risk of interstitial condensation (condensation within building components like walls or roofs) due to water vapour diffusion. Developed by Dr. Helmuth Glaser in 1959, it is outlined in standards such as DIN 4108 and BS EN ISO 13788:2012.
The Glaser method calculates temperature and vapour pressure at each interface for a wall with layers (interior plaster, insulation, brick). If the vapour pressure exceeds the saturation pressure in the insulation layer during winter, condensation is predicted. The method then checks if this moisture evaporates in summer to ensure the wall remains safe.
The method evaluates whether moisture accumulates in a construction under steady-state conditions and whether it can dry out, helping to prevent issues like mould growth or structural damage.
The Glaser method is rough and ready, Suitable for simple, low-risk constructions or preliminary assessments. It is best used as a screening tool to identify potential issues or confirm low-risk designs
BS 5250:2021 guides when Glaser is sufficient versus when WUFI (per BS EN 15026) is needed.
WUFI
We input the wall or roof assembly, internal conditions, external weather, and many other parameters, such as angle of inclination (or colour), into the simulation software. We usually simulate at least five years and estimate the moisture behaviour hourly. We can extract graphs showing the progression over time of the moisture content of specific elements, as well as temperature and humidity. We assess risks from moisture accumulation, such as mould, rotting of organic materials, corrosion and spalling.
Unlike the Glaser method, the software does not provide a simple pass/fail result.
Wufi is suitable for predicting where moisture might accumulate within a construction. It details what happens between layers of material, i.e., at the interface between insulation and a breather membrane.
The Glaser method considers what happens at each interface, but Wufi also simulates what happens throughout each layer. The effects of this can be significant where there are materials that can store moisture (and heat) and transport liquid water by capillary action (and other mechanisms). This might sound exotic and only for niche products, but it applies to standard materials such as brick and timber.
To summarise.
Damp and mould problems usually occur when internal conditions are cold and moisture isn’t managed effectively. There are analysis tools that can help us understand why condensation and mould issues occur despite a warm and dry interior.
The type of tool to be used depends on the situation