Structural & Civil Engineers · Ipswich & Cambridge
We design the frame you can see, and the foundations, drainage, roads and levels you can’t. One coordinated team of structural and civil engineers means fewer consultants to manage, fewer clashes on site and earlier answers on what your site can take.
What We Design
Most projects need a structural engineer and a civil engineer. Ours work as one team, so the foundations are designed with the drainage in mind, the site levels suit the structure, and you get one coordinated set of drawings.
The structure you see: frames, floors and roofs, designed to respect the architecture and drawn so it can be built.
Frames, floors and roofs in steel, timber, masonry and concrete, plus specialist systems such as structural glass and SIPS panels.
Bring us in before the design is fixed and we can streamline the structure, test feasibility for conversion or adaptation, and make real savings.
A full package of calculations, CAD drawings and details for construction, coordinated with the rest of the design and suitable for Building Regulations.
Most projects start with a site visit. We also survey existing buildings to assess cracking or suspected structural failure.
Props, excavation support and stability during construction, thought through early rather than left until the last minute on site.
The engineering nobody sees once it is built, and the part that most often decides a project’s cost.
Every foundation type, from traditional trench fill to pile and beam and hybrid systems, plus basements and retaining walls.
We scope the right investigations, organise and oversee specialist geotechnical contractors, then design the foundations around the results.
Where ground is poor we look for the leaner answer, such as vibration ground improvement in place of piling, or a king post wall in place of sheet piles.
In-house civil engineering since 2025, coordinated with the structure from the first sketch.
Foul and surface water systems, SuDS, attenuation storage, water quality and pumping stations, with value engineering built in.
Site-specific flood risk assessments and strategies that meet planning conditions and can unlock difficult sites.
Private developments, adoptable roads and estate infrastructure to local authority standards, NHBC, DMRB and best practice.
Cut-and-fill strategies and ground profiles that balance the site, use material efficiently and keep preparation safe and buildable.
Hard and soft landscaping, boundaries and surfaces that are practical, attractive and accessible, for private and public schemes.
Water, gas, electricity, telecoms and drainage connections, planned and coordinated with the site layout and statutory requirements.
Three strategies to cut embodied carbon. The earlier we join, the further we can go; the green leaves show where.
From RIBA Stage 3. The design and materials stay the same, but every element is engineered to its optimum use with lower-carbon alternatives specified.
From RIBA Stage 2. Everything in Strategy 1, plus suggested material changes, such as timber in as many forms as possible.
From RIBA Stage 1. We help shape the layout and materials from inception, so the structure suits low-carbon materials instead of fighting them.
Not sure which services you need? Send us what you have and we will tell you.
Case Study · North Weald Airfield
Engineers are often teased that you could land a helicopter on what they design. For Essex & Herts Air Ambulance, that was the brief. We were the structural and civil engineers for its new airbase from inception to completion: a two-storey hangar, offices and visitor centre on an exposed airfield.
Minimal falls and trace heating keep the landing area clear of frost and snow. Foul and surface water are both attenuated on site.
Cellular beams and a 15 m lattice truss keep the hangar floor clear for aircraft, with curved principal beams forming the curved section of the roof.
We assessed wind loading for the building’s shape, its exposed airfield location and the downdraft from helicopters landing beside it.
“Knowing it was all for such a vital community service made it incredibly fulfilling.”
Selected Projects
Schools, homes, workplaces and public buildings across East Anglia and beyond, each with the structure above ground and the engineering below it designed to work together.
Education and Public
A landmark for the South Seafront regeneration. Moment frames carry 7 m of full-height glazing with no bracing in the view, on a slab designed for uplift if the tide floods the site.
East Suffolk Council · Plaice · Barnes Construction
Education and Public
The structure is the architecture: an exposed external steel frame with decorative bracing and sway frames, and thermal breaks so the steel never cold-bridges.
Newmarket Academy · Wincer Kievenaar · SEH French
Homes and Housing
70 low-carbon council homes to Passivhaus standards. One block is piled where the ground was poor, the rest sit on traditional foundations, and a cellular tank attenuates the surface water.
Cambridge City Council · Feilden+Mawson · Hill
Education and Public
A SEND unit in timber frame and exposed steel, piled to protect tree roots, with cantilevered decks that keep load off a historic wall.
Diocese of East Anglia · Hoopers · TJ Evers
Homes and Housing
52 homes beside the A14 on poor ground. Vibration ground improvement allowed shallow foundations instead of an expensive piled solution, and an 85 m king post wall holds the slope.
Terrasite · Wincer Kievenaar · Redbourne Homes
Commercial and Industrial
A long-span frame with a cantilevered corner canopy, a retaining wall redesigned from sheet piling to king posts, and drainage with attenuation and a deep pumping chamber.
Ipswich Borough Council for Lidl · Whittam Cox · Brooks and Wood
Heritage and Conversions
A glulam kitchen extension to a 15th to 17th century timber-framed house, made off site for precision, with cantilevering beams over a frameless corner window.
Private Client · TAS Architects · RC Mumford
Heritage and Conversions
A 450 m² medieval barn on the verge of collapse. We designed emergency stabilisation, then a two-storey green oak frame to carry the old roof and a new first floor.
Private Client · Acorus · Charles Clarke and Son
Homes and Housing
Most of it is underground: a tunnel-access car park, a bowling alley and a pool with an underwater viewing panel, built inside contiguous piling around the existing house.
Private Client · ABS Essex
Commercial and Industrial
A racking warehouse with portal frames spanning over 30 m, three storeys of offices and a refurbished marketing building, on a site with changing levels.
Sealeys · Wincer Kievenaar · Barnes Construction
Heritage and Conversions
An agricultural building converted into a home: its original steel arches restored and reused, the existing substructure retained, and a glazed steel entrance to bring in light.
Private Client · Self-Build
Commercial and Industrial
A first floor that seems to float: a steel frame with large cantilevers, balanced on an inclined post with fixed bases, under a roof of tight-radius curved glulam beams.
Orwells Furniture · KLH Architects
How We Work
Superstructures was founded in 2011 by a designer who became a chartered structural engineer, and it still shows. Four habits shape every project, from a kitchen extension to a 52-home development.
We respect the architecture. Structure is expressed where it should be seen and hidden where it shouldn’t, with drawings and details that make the design intent clear to everyone who builds it.
Our director, Mark Hayward, started out building roads on site, so our details are built to be built. If an issue comes up during construction, we aim to be on site within 48 hours.
“You could land a helicopter on that” is something engineers hear about steel for a single-storey extension. We size every member to work hard, which saves material, money and carbon.
Structures and civils in one team, working openly with architects, contractors and services engineers by phone, email, video or on site, from the first sketch to completion.
“In a relatively short time, the firm has been able to develop its business in many markets and have an excellent client retention record.”
Lower Cost, Lower Carbon
Every structural decision gets harder to change as the design develops. Choose your RIBA stage to see what is still on the table, and which of our three lower-carbon strategies you can still use.
This is when engineering saves the most. We can test whether a site works before you commit, from flood risk and drainage to levels and ground, then shape the structure around the materials rather than the other way round.
We compare frame and foundation options, prepare the flood risk assessment and drainage strategy a planning application needs, and can still change materials, such as timber in place of steel.
We optimise every beam, column and foundation towards its working limit and coordinate with the architect and services engineers, so nothing is oversized and nothing clashes later.
Full calculations, CAD drawings and details for Building Regulations and construction. We still look for value, as when we redesigned a retaining wall at Lidl in Ipswich from sheet piling to king posts.
Site inspections, temporary works design and quick answers when something unexpected turns up. We aim to be on site within 48 hours if an issue arises.
Our sustainability team went back to a 67 m² cart lodge designed in steel and concrete in 2021. Timber studs, a glulam ridge beam and concrete with 50% GGBS took the structure’s embodied carbon from 8.68 to 5.83 tonnes CO2e: a third less, on one small building.
Carbon factors from the IStructE Structural Carbon Tool. Every lower-carbon suggestion on a concept we issue is marked with a green leaf, and the saving is shown on your final drawings.
Homeowners and Self-Builders
You don’t need to be a developer to work with us. We engineer kitchen extensions, barn conversions, listed buildings, basements and one-off homes, and we explain each step in plain English.
Most projects start with a look at the site or the existing structure.
We design the structure and foundations and prove them by calculation.
CAD drawings and details for your builder, suitable for Building Regulations.
We stay on hand while it is built, and visit if something unexpected turns up.
The Team
Chartered and incorporated engineers, civil engineers, apprentices and the people who keep it all running, in Ipswich and Cambridge, with every senior engineer listed below.
Director
BEng (Hons) CEng MIStructE MICE
NHBC Approved Timber Frame Certifier
Founder
BSc CEng MIStructE MICE
Founded Superstructures in 2011
Associate
BEng (Hons) CEng MIStructE
IStructE Commendation, 2017
Senior Structural Engineer
BSc (Hons) CEng MIStructE
Chair, IStructE East Anglian Regional Group
Senior Structural Engineer
MEng CEng MIStructE
IStructE Commendation, 2023
Senior Structural Engineer
IEng AMIStructE
Over 20 Years in Structural Engineering
Principal Civil Engineer
Drainage Strategy and Earthworks
Marketing and Business Development
Client Relationships
Civil Engineer
BSc IEng MICE
Structural Engineer
BSc IEng MICE
Structural Engineer
BEng
Graduate Structural Engineer
BSc
Senior Apprentice
Leads the Sustainability Team
Apprentice
Apprentice
Apprentice
Administrator
Accounts Administrator
Our Offices
In 2026 Superstructures became part of Zenon Group, the international engineering and construction group. We are still headquartered in Ipswich, our Cambridge team is on Regent Street, and your contracts and points of contact stay the same.
What is new is the reach: Zenon’s MEP, modular and sustainability specialists across the UK, Canada, the USA and Europe, for larger and multidisciplinary projects.
About Zenon GroupClydesdale House
1-5 Queen Street
Ipswich IP1 1SW
95 Regent Street
Cambridge
CB2 1AW
Careers and Apprenticeships
We took on our first apprentice in 2019, and our degree apprenticeship programme now lets young engineers earn while they study. Our first apprentice reached Incorporated Engineer status five years after leaving sixth form, a route that usually takes far longer.
“If we want great engineers tomorrow, we have to invest in them today.”
To apply, send your CV and a covering letter to info@super-structures.co.uk.
From the Team
Why investing in young people became one of our smartest business decisions.
From road-building sites to the air ambulance hangar at North Weald.
Same Ipswich team, with the resources of an international group behind it.
Questions
Can’t see your question? Call Ipswich on 01473 217959 or Cambridge on 01223 653016.
We design the parts of a building that hold it up: the frame, floors, roof structure and foundations. We prove them by calculation and issue drawings and details your builder can work from, suitable for Building Regulations.
Yes. Our in-house civils team designs drainage and SuDS, highways and access roads, earthworks and ground modelling, external works, utility infrastructure and flood risk assessments, all coordinated with the structure.
As early as you can. Before the design is fixed we can streamline the structure, test whether a site works and offer the widest choice of lower-carbon options, which is where the biggest savings are.
Yes. We work on everything from single extensions and listed buildings to 70-home developments, schools and commercial buildings, and we bring the same thorough approach to each.
Mostly across East Anglia, from our offices in Ipswich and Cambridge, and further afield when clients need us, with projects in St Albans, Oxford, London and the Midlands.
Yes. We survey existing buildings to assess crack damage or suspected structural failure, and we have carried out emergency stability surveys after a fire and on a medieval barn close to collapse.
Yes. Temporary works are often overlooked or left too late. We think about how a structure will be built, used and eventually demolished, and design the temporary works to suit.
Yes. We offer three strategies depending on your RIBA stage, from optimising every element to designing the structure around low-carbon materials from day one, and we show the saving on your drawings.
Drawings or sketches if you have them, the site location, what you are planning to build and when you hope to start. Send what you have through the form and we will ask for anything else.
Start a Project
A few details help us match you with the right engineer and prepare a fee proposal. Prefer to talk it through? Call us.
