Having only moved to Manchester in 2018, I am still a relative newbie to the city and feel like everything the city has to offer is exciting. Over the years I have dipped in and out to visit friends and attend gigs but living here now and particularly working in our sector where we can, and do, genuinely make a difference to the city’s fabric is highly rewarding.

The 10 years prior I spent in London which gained me broad experience within the industry with one of the industry’s leaders in structural design. Whilst at AKTII, I helped deliver a wide range of projects from bespoke cut and carve residential developments of listed Victorian terraces to large scale commercial redevelopments with multi-level basements, such as Bloomberg’s 2018 RIBA Stirling Prize winning new European Headquarters. Whilst my project experience spans a wide spectrum with regards scale and budget, the common denominators would always be the intricacy, complexity and detail.

A short post as research assistant at ETH Zurich allowed me to work with Philippe Block and his team. The research they do on creating complex geometries from pure structural forms – shell, funicular and dome structures – is unparalleled and still to this day provides me with inspiration on efficiency in design.

I am passionate about travel, participating and watching sports, outdoor pursuits and music, and am a bit of a cavalier DIY’er – perhaps even a carpenter in another life. Our baby boy keeps me very busy in my downtime.

Our two cats, who shall remain nameless (!), still surprise me with their agility, incredible balance and general composure again all adversity.  Apart from the hoover of course! I am always in awe.

In the words of Sigmund Freud, “Time spent with cats is never wasted.”