engineering.
Brick, chic, and two basements – Norton Folgate bridges London’s past and future. Revived by British Land, it’s now a vibrant hub for businesses, blending fresh design with #Spitalfields’ spirit. Watch AKT II directors Steve Toon, Charles Ashton and associate Matthew Leeks discuss the process of its restoration.
Hello North America! After nearly two decades of creativity and award-winning engineering design in North America, we’ve landed.
On Wednesday morning, the Diriyah Biennale Foundation and The Ministry of Culture in Saudi Arabia announced the winners of the AlMusalla Prize 2024.
TTP Campus and Norton Folgate have both secured major wins at two industry awards this week, highlighting their contributions as innovative and sustainable building projects in the UK.
At AKT II we pioneered studies into topology optimisation both through digital design tools and practical examples.
Awesome & Hot! A disused iconic department store in South London is reborn as a stunning office and retail space.
Watch AKT II directors Valentina Galmozzi and Gary McKee explain how W.RE and the project team, led by Stiff + Trevillion, saved this stunning venue from obsolescence and made it relevant again.
The built environment, encompassing infrastructure, buildings, and public spaces, is pivotal in fostering resilient communities. It not only provides shelter and facilitates connectivity but also strengthens community bonds. Thoughtful design can mitigate climate change impacts, promote sustainability, and enhance the quality of life, making resilience an attainable goal for all.
The construction of UCB’s new headquarters campus has reached a significant milestone with the topping out of the main building, marking the completion of the structural framework.
AKT II’s bioclimatic design team has contributed to the multiple success of recent planning outcomes on key projects across the UK. We achieved this through our diverse service offerings, including wind microclimate analysis, daylight, sunlight and overshadowing studies, and outdoor thermal comfort and air quality assessments.
Last week, AKT II welcomed students from around London and the South East as part of the Open City Accelerate programme.
Botanic Place is a landmark commercial development that introduces a host of industry-leading green and smart features in addition to a BREEAM Outstanding specification, as part of Cambridge’s vision to become net-zero by 2030.
The “grandparent of skyscrapers”: We supported Historic England and Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios to regenerate this more than 320-year-old mill complex, considered to be the world’s first iron-framed building. Find out from the project team how our approach goes beyond simple conservation, and allowed the mill to gain another life.
AKT II’s restoration of the world’s first cast-iron-framed building, in partnership with architect FCB Studios and client Historic England, has now topped the 2023 Brick Awards: receiving the overall Supreme Award, Craftsmanship Award and Sustainability Award.
One Park Drive is the 205 metres tall signature residential tower of Wood Wharf – Canary Wharf Group’s new district – and AKT II’s first collaboration with architects Herzog & de Meuron. In this film the project team shows how we navigated reclaimed land, a multitude of floor plate layouts, tight facade tolerances and more to deliver an exceptional addition to London’s skyline.
Earthquakes, floods and hidden measures – we worked alongside Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios and local practice SHATOTTO on the masterplan for the new Aga Khan Academy in Dhaka. AKT II directors Ricardo Baptista and Alessandro Margnelli explain why the engineering can be best described as an ‘iceberg’: seemingly straightforward above ground, but buckets full of challenges underneath.
The transformative regeneration on the Old Street Roundabout – designed by KPF for developer Endurance Land – absorbs an existing mid-rise 1980s structure within the delivery of a multifunctional new high-rise programme that introduces community facilities, pedestrian permeability and streetscape activation.
This landmark 35,000-square-metre scheme – which is designed by architect Stanton Williams, as UCL’s largest single building to date – forms part of the masterplanned East Bank cultural, innovation and learning cluster at London’s world-famous Olympic legacy development zone.
The award is recognised as the London Design Festival’s “highest accolade bestowed upon an individual who has distinguished themselves within the industry and demonstrated consistent design excellence”.
This temporary pavilion – exhibited during the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale – showcases a novel waste-based construction product that’s made with the excess mud from Venice’s canals. It’s altogether led by architect Urban Radicals together with AKT II and material designer Local Works Studio, and with funding from the consultancy group Tyréns. Find out from the project team how it all came together.
This month, our technical director David Watson and our design director Gerry O’Brien have together appeared in the UK’s Building Magazine to share some of AKT II’s latest carbon thinking.
This new, sculptural footbridge – which is designed by architect Counterspace Studio, with support from the City of Vilvoorde and the local cultural organisation Horst Arts & Music – draws conceptually from the complex relationships of the region’s migrant communities.
Shrewsbury Flaxmill Maltings is the world’s first cast-iron-framed structure. Built in 1797, the cast iron’s ‘cutting edge’ technology gave rise to modern-day steel construction, and hence this building has been named the ‘grandparent’ of modern high-rise construction.
In their article for the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), AKT II design director Christopher Blust, technical director David Watson and associate Charlotte Robinson lay out the long and challenging path to saving this icon of the Industrial Revolution and extending its life into a third century.
This Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) centres on improving the accuracy of physical wind-tunnel testing through the application of novel neural network (AI) technology.
AKT II’s co-founder and design director Albert Williamson-Taylor has been made the inaugural president of Open City: a global educational and built-heritage charity that’s dedicated to making the built environment more open, accessible and equitable.
The 2023 summit – the first to be held in-person in London in four years – encompasses a diverse conference and exhibition programme that responds to this year’s theme of ‘connecting communities’. AKT II has supported it in multiple ways …
Plans for Red Hall have been given the green light with building work set to start in the summer.
Congratulations to architect Shahed Saleem, the V&A museum and the Diriyah Biennale Foundation for installing the inaugural Ramadan Pavilion – in partnership with Ramadan Tent Project – over the weekend.
Albert has been awarded the Institution of Structural Engineers’ 2023 Gold Medal for his unique and outstanding contribution to the advancement of structural engineering.
A 1950s office block and pub in the heart of the city has been unanimously approved by the City of London.
‘Building 1’, an 18-storey sustainable office building that will be located on the south side of Blackfriars bridge has been unanimously approved by Southwark council earlier this month.
