Lee Wingate
Standing in the vast open space of a new, beautifully designed building can be breath taking. The aesthetic factors that contribute to shaping a buildings architectural identity are easy to see and appreciate. But how often do we think about the structural engineering of the new buildings we stand inside? How often do we think about the essential work undertaken to ensure structural challenges such as The Shard, The Millennium Stadium and The Burj Khalifa in Dubai stay standing?
Lee Wingate, associate structural engineer at Meinhardt has spent the past 18 years, in his words, “fighting gravity”.
Since his graduation from Coventry University with a first in the Building Structures BEng course Lee has worked on a number of buildings, which he is fiercely proud of and passionate about.
“It’s difficult to convey the level of complexity of the work we do,” he explained. “But we need, as structural engineers, to communicate this well to clients to ensure they understand the challenges we face in making their buildings happen.”
Lee explains that his and Meinhardt’s experience is in the structure of towers.
“I’ve been involved in the structural engineering on 12 buildings over 25 storeys high,” he said. “But the 200m plus towers are the ones that are really interesting because they’re very complicated and challenging.
“We need to be able to control the accelerations at the top of a tower, to avoid the feeling of movement. Each tower has a structural cove to support it, the higher the tower, the greater the pressure on minimising movement.
“As structural engineers, we can stiffen up around that structural cove without affecting the architectural design. This is where structural engineers are worth their weight in gold”.
Lee returned to Coventry University in 2009 to lend his structural engineering expertise to The Hub, the modern, multi-functional student union at the heart of campus, which opened in 2011.
“So often the work of a structural engineer is covered up, the hard working structural bits are hidden away,” explained Lee as he wandered around the completed building for the first time earlier this year.
“In The Hub the architect has left everything exposed. This means users of The Hub can see what we have done, how the building works, and essentially, how it stays up.”
The same concept was applied at Sainsbury Laboratory University of Cambridge, which Lee was involved with from conception to construction.
“Our brief was to create and develop a world class science venue in Cambridge. Just like The Hub, in terms of structural engineering this building is an excellent example. The engineering gymnastics used to build the laboratory are all on display through exposed concrete.
“I worked with cement and concrete chemists on this building to achieve the structural and aesthetic finish we wanted. I couldn’t have envisioned 18 years ago at university that I’d be working with such a wide breadth of people on projects including chemists, architects, artists and interior designers.”
Lee truly believes his time at university set him up perfectly for the career he now has.
“University taught me how to be successful at research and development, and gave me the skills set to realise there is no single solution to the projects I work on. We are constantly looking at physics, gravity and complex problems. The learning never stops.”