The Building Archives

In less than a week, we will be hosting our next collective meeting - this time at Elliott Wood's offices which are at The Society Building. The event will showcase a number of projects which demonstrate reuse, refurbishment and innovative thinking on 3 separate projects & is recommended for engineers at all levels to attend! We look forward to seeing you all on Thursday 27th March. https://lnkd.in/eggDa8gy

We’ve expanded our database with thousands or new drawing records. You can now explore archive lists from Foggo Associates and Clark Nicholls Marcel (CNM) on The Building Archives. Foggo Associates shaped London’s skyline in the 90’s with building including 280 Bishopsgate and 60 Queen Victoria Street, which is currently undergoing a retrofit by Sheppard Robson and Parmarbrook. CNM’s archives feature a range of projects from the 5 Harbour Exchange Square in Docklands to The Harlequin Shopping Centre (now Atria Watford). Explore our growing list of archival drawings at https://lnkd.in/epH7EtuU Image 1: 60 Queen Victoria Street,1999 Images 2 & 3: The Harlequin Centre under construction in Watford, 1990. Credit: Watford Observer

We created The Building Archives to facilitate the reuse of existing buildings by connecting engineers & building owners with structural drawings. These drawings help designers understand existing structures and the implications of any proposed alterations. Our platform is growing, and we invite other practices to join and host their own drawings for free! What information do we hold on the platform? We ask for your archival information to help researchers and structural engineers find your drawings. The minimal information we require (though more is always better!) includes: 🗺️ The address 🏢 Building name or a description of the drawings Interested in joining The Building Archives? Get in touch at info@thebuildingarchives.org to learn more.

Our digital archive is growing! Archive lists from Foggo Associates and Clarke Nicholls Marcell (CNM) will be uploaded to The Building Archives in January 2025. Foggo Associates' archive list includes landmark buildings 60 Queen Victoria Street and 1-5 Bond Street, while CNM's holds structural drawings of London workplaces including 50 Finsbury Square and 101 Moorgate. Would you like to make your structural drawing records easier to find? Get in touch to learn how you can freely host your company's archive list on The Building Archives.

Henry Burling recently spent "Five minutes with…" David Taylor to explain how The Building Archives is helping to connect structural engineers with the owners of archival structural drawings. Read their conversation at https://lnkd.in/eQy5HT_j

The Building Archives is featured in the August edition of The Institution of Structural Engineers’ The Structural Engineer (spot us on page 7). To centralise and simplify access to historical structural drawings, we're inviting other engineering practices to host their own list of archives on the platform, free of charge. Explore the archives at https://lnkd.in/eqxC5Rm8

The launch of The Building Archives platform was just the first step. To make a bigger impact and facilitate reuse, we need to encourage cross-industry collaboration and knowledge sharing. That’s why we’re inviting other engineering practices to host their archive data on The Building Archives for free. No hosting charges, no transaction fees. As the record owner, you maintain ownership of your archives and sales process, with enquiries going directly to your inbox. We welcome enquiries from engineering practices to host their archive lists on The Building Archives. Get in touch at info@thebuildingarchives.co.uk #EngineeringaBetterSociety #StructuralDrawingsArchive #TheBuildingArchives Elliott Wood

The Building Archives is built on the foundations of the famous Bylander Archives, a legacy of the acclaimed structural engineer Sven Bylander. Bylander's pioneering work in steel-framed structures, including The Ritz & Selfridges, has had a lasting impact on British construction standards. He was also a founding member of The Institution of Structural Engineers, originally known as The Concrete Institute. We are honoured to carry forward Bylander's legacy with the creation of The Building Archives, a digital platform designed to facilitate the reuse of existing buildings. Explore The Building Archives at https://lnkd.in/eqxC5Rm8 #thebuildingarchives #engineeringabettersociety Elliott Wood

Introducing The Building Archives, our digital platform to facilitate the reuse and preservation of our architectural heritage. As engineers, we understand the value of understanding an existing structure before embarking on refurbishments and retrofits, or even demolition. However, locating archival drawings can be challenging, often stored across various private and public archives, leading to time-consuming searches and inquiries. Our platform simplifies this process by making information easily accessible and searchable by map or list. The Building Archives currently houses over 90,000 structural drawings from existing and historic buildings across the UK. But for our industry to transition from demolition and replacement to reuse and adaptation, we must collaborate. That's why we're sharing our digital platform with the industry. We're inviting engineering practices to freely host their own list of archives on our platform, with the aim of creating a comprehensive and centralised digital marketplace for structural drawings in time. Explore our archive at https://lnkd.in/epH7EtuU Elliott Wood #engineeringabettersociety #adaptivereuse #archive #heritagebuilding