Bob Edwards introduced his son, Alex Edwards, a structural engineer who also holds a Masters Degree in Architecture. In 2001, Alex joined Arup, a multinational collective of engineering and sustainability consultants, designers, architects and experts working globally.
Alex has applied his knowledge to the design and construction of many structures across the globe including, footbridges, sports venues, buildings and even Giant Observation wheels. He is interested in innovation in design and construction, especially with regard to analysis techniques and to using new materials. To this end Alex has been heavily involved in a number of research projects.
He said that building design is driven by investors, tenants, and what customers and staff want. There is a need to shift public expectation of office buildings from what is fashionable to what is sustainable. Alex showed a graph of Global Carbon Emission and talked about how the industry wants to achieve zero emission by 2050.
Alex also showed a graph of two buildings, one built in 1980 and one in 2009, and the difference in relation to use of energy.
Alex’s points were:
- Building less and repurposing of old buildings as opposed to knocking them down. He showed us a number of commercial buildings that have been redesigned and reused.
- Build clever with new systems. Some buildings overseas have the air conditioning coming up through the floor.
- Build efficiently.
- Minimise waste – build off site and reconstruct on site and Alex showed us examples of this happening.
- Alex advised it will take a lot of hard work however to head in the right direction, with many technical challenges ahead.
Peter Grinter thanked Alex for his informative and most interesting talk.
Ros Virtue
