Our first ever Fight Club saw seven of the UK’s leading structural engineering practices pitching their vision for practical engineering solutions to tackle the climate crisis, to an audience of construction professionals.

It was clear there was a great deal of alignment on many issues; the value of collaboration, the need to share learning, prioritising the reuse of existing buildings, emphasising creativity, innovation, design and big ideas, and of course creating time within the design life of a building to seek solutions. 

The hottest topic centred on defining the optimum materiality of the super structure: lumber, metal, stone or concrete?

What seemed evident is that there is an absence of agreement on how carbon is calculated, where it should be taxed and whether or not sequestration can be taking into account, creating confusion and a lack of coherency.

The atmosphere was raucous and expectant, the pitches broad, political, provocative and in parts argumentative.

The event proved the appetite to come together to address the concerns of our industry, and was t be the first of many.

Massive thanks to everyone involved in the event, and particularly to the structural engineers who took part:

Tom Webster | Webb Yates

Laura Batty & Tom Watson | Heyne Tillet Steel

Hugh McGilveray + Duncan Walters | Eckersley O’Callaghan

David Watson | AKTII

David Illingworth | London Structures Lab

Angela Crowther, Chris MacNicol + Simon Welbirg | ARUP

Andy Downey | Elliot Wood

Hosted by Morris+Company since 2021, #FightClub is a fun, fast-paced, and friendly grassroots debating initiative. It brings together experts from different fields to go head-to-head, tackling contemporary crises in front of a live, participatory audience.