Tower cranes look simple from the street: a slim mast and a long jib swinging concrete and steel across the skyline. What nobody sees is the real engineering magic – the support system that anchors that crane safely into the building. In this blog I’ll walk through how a tower crane support system works, using […]
Modern high-rise buildings rely on building maintenance units (BMUs) to clean glass façades and canopies safely. The challenge is always the same: how do you carry a heavy moving machine and its rail system without cluttering the architecture or overloading the canopy itself? In this project the answer was to hide the structure inside the […]
Steel catwalks look simple. In reality they are complex structural systems that must carry people, tools and equipment safely above busy plant rooms. This blog explains how a suspended steel catwalk at basement level is designed and checked, based on a full calculation package and ETABS model for a real project 1. What is a […]
Safe access to water tanks is not just an architectural detail. It is a structural safety system that must carry concentrated loads, resist corrosion and remain stable for the life of the building. This blog explains how a stainless steel cat ladder system inside a large water tank is designed, analysed and checked, based on […]
Introduction At Level 71 of The Landmark Tower in Abu Dhabi, the stainless-steel louver system demanded precise engineering to perform safely at extreme wind pressures. Aluminium & Light Industries Co. (Alico) carried out detailed structural calculations to verify framing adequacy, connection strength, and overall serviceability under critical load combinations Design Criteria and Standards Design Objective […]
The challenge Mid-tower, the original scheme relied on a 400 mm transfer slab with column lines punching through a constrained core. That approach was heavy, costly to prop, and difficult to build without programme-breaking deflection control. I proposed a strategic change: replace the column forest with blade walls and engineer a dedicated support system so […]
Understanding the Foundation Mystery Many people wonder what kind of base a building needs and how deep or big it should be, especially when faced with the Foundation Mystery. These questions keep coming up in people’s minds. Let’s unravel the foundation mystery by considering a straightforward example: imagine a small SUV car. With a weight […]
