details of
directors

After graduating from Oxford in 1980, Robert trained on site with Costains and in the London design office of Ove Arup. After gaining Chartered status in 1985 he worked with RPT and with Travers Morgan where he was an Associate in their Newcastle office before setting up his own practice. He has also been elected a Fellow of both the Institution of Civil Engineers and the Institution of Structural Engineers.

Robert initially trained in offshore works on the Thames Barrier, and then large-scale roadworks. In buildings, he was involved with the design of the National Hospital for Nervous Diseases in Great Ormond Street, and the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank headquarters. In bridgeworks he designed steel and concrete structures in the UK and the Middle East and was one of the first consultants to become involved with bridge maintenance. He has assisted many counties with bridgeworks, including Yorkshire County Council, Hereford and Worcester, Surrey, Lancashire, Northumberland, Sunderland City and York City.

In recent years he has developed an interest in historic structures and is one of only a score or so chartered engineers who has gained membership to the Institute of Historic Building Conservation. He has particular knowledge of the effects of foundation movement on historic buildings.

Work on historic buildings has given an insight into engineering in the pre-industrial world, and Robert has been promoting the use of low or negative carbon structures as one means of combating climate change. He has set up GreenBeams.com to save British hardwoods for storage and structural use rather than for firewood and is promoting the use of timber windmills to supplement high-tech approaches.

Papers, Presentations and Book Contributions

• 'Solid Timber - Problems and Advances in the Use of Local Ethical Materials', Lecture for IStructE and Teeside University
• ‘Case Studies in Negative Carbon Structures’, Lecture for ICE North Seminar
• ‘Structural Design for Grade II* Fulwell Windmill’, Lecture for IStructE and IHBC
• ‘Foundation Monitoring Techniques: Are they all they are cracked up to be?’ Proc. 3rd Int. Conf. Forensic Engineering, 10-11 Nov 2005, p119 (Institution of Civil Engineers)
• ‘Movement Gauges: direct monitoring of foundations’, The Structural Engineer, Volume 84 Number 6, 21 March 2006
• ‘Refurbishment of Grade I St Michael’s And All Angels, Newburn after Fire’, Lecture for IStructE
• ‘Refurbishment of High Rise Tower Blocks’, Series of lectures for ICE, IStructE, and IBMM
• ‘Structural Aspects of Historical Buildings’, Lecture for IStructE
• ‘Surveying, Ch 7’; ‘Structural implications, Ch 8’, in M Tutton and E Hirst (eds), Windows – History Repair and Conservation (Donhead)

Joe graduated from Imperial College in 1979 and has worked in Structural Engineering since then, mostly on the design and construction of building structures. He has been elected a Fellow of the Institution of Structural Engineers and was Chairman of the Northern Counties Branch for the years 2004 to 2006.

Joe also gained experience on the Thames Barrier. He trained “under agreement” with Cleveland Bridge and Dorman Long where he gained experience in design, fabrication and site erection of steel structures. This included some landmark bridge and power station projects. After six years working on the contracting side, he transferred to consulting and has worked for Bullen & Partners and White Young Consulting Engineers. During this period Joe had overall responsibility for several significant projects including retail developments both in the city centre and out of town, hospitals and industrial developments.

In 1998 Joe joined Robert Thorniley-Walker and founded Structural & Civil Consultants. As a director of this company Joe has been involved with both large and small projects, particularly for Local Authorities and for Steel Fabricators. These have included multimillion-pound works to schools and steel designs for major buildings such as power stations, factories, warehouses, car dealerships and steel manufacturing facilities. Some of these designs were for the overseas market.