Simple Works, a structural engineering practice founded by four friends, has won the first Engineer Pitch and will now be commissioned on a live project for developer HUB.

Judges, chaired by HUB’s CEO Robert Sloss, praised the practice's pitch that proposed a circular approach to building materials to reduce emissions and to avoid material shortages.

Simple Works director Laura Hannigan who delivered the three-minute pitch said:"The pitch focused on not just targeting solutions for an individualHubCap building, but a systems solution looking to address a circular material loop across multiple buildings in their portfolio around a centralised material database.”

 This is the first pitch for engineers and highlights the critical role they play in retrofit and low carbon development.

HUB said: "We heard about digital tools, urban mining, circular economy, alternative materials, delivering innovation... and even a call to focus less on innovation and more on implementation. Importantly, there was a clear desire to collaborate, music to HUB's ears.

HUB asked participants to come up with ideas for repurposing commercial buildings to provide low-carbon homes, the focus of its new venture, HUBCap.
 
The seven engineering practices pitching their ideas in front of a live audience were: Simple Works, London Structures Lab, Heyne Tillett Steel, Morph Structures, Civic Engineers, Webb Yates and Symmetrys. You can read more about the practices here.

Caption The judges and winner (L to R) Robert Sloss, HUB, Annalie Riches, Mikhail Riches, Laura Hannigan, Simple Works, Damien Sharkey, HUB, HattieHartman Architects' Journal, and Wolf Mangelsdorf, Buro Happold.

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