Built Environment

Our 20+ team of built environment experts includes a core group of civil and structural engineers together with experts in architecture, geotechnical engineering, flooding & hydrology, fire engineering, and acoustics.

As with all Hawkins investigations, we excel in providing a rapid response and high quality reports to assist our clients in understanding the technical issues of a case and the cause of the incident or defect. Our reporting is flexible, ranging from preliminary appraisals to full CPR35 compliant reports to suit the client’s needs.

Our Built Environment expertise

Acoustics & Vibration

While the field of acoustics and vibration engineering might seem a narrow one, the number of issues that might arise as a result of failing to consider it is large.

Architecture

The role of the architect sits at the heart of the building industry. In many projects, the architect is responsible not only for the design of a building, but also for the coordination and management of that design and the team

Building Defects & Regulations

A building defect can be described as any deficiency or shortcoming in the performance or function of a building that prevents it from satisfying statutory or user requirements. Building defects fall broadly into three

Civil & Structural Engineering

Whether it is a subsiding foundation, a collapsing structure or a flooding drainage system, it can be hard to understand at first glance what part of a large system has gone

Drains, Sewers & Septic Tanks

Few of us like to think too much about how wastewater or surface water run-off from their home, workplace or business gets to a place of treatment and/or safe disposal to the environment. But, when the infrastructure that either

Fire Engineering

The potential consequences of decisions regarding fire protection design, construction and management have been highlighted by recent fires in high-rise residential buildings in the UK, as well as the rest of the world.

Flooding & Hydrology

Flooding is the most significant disaster risk in the UK. Flooding is estimated to cost the economy about £1 billion per year. More frequent, more intense storms resulting from climate change, and inappropriate developments in

Geotechnical Engineering

Geotechnical engineering is the branch of civil engineering that deals with soil, rock, and underground water, and their relation to the design, construction, and operation of engineering projects. Nearly, all civil engineering

Glass & Glazing Systems

Architectural glazing has become increasingly prominent in commercial, retail and residential developments over the last 30 years. Hawkins has extensive experience on cases in this area and are well equipped to rapidly

Health & Safety

Construction and demolition work is inherently dangerous and despite many improvements to the management of health and safety in the industry, accidents still happen. The factors that influence the occurrence and outcome of a

Highway Engineering

The condition of roads and highways, their drainage, layout or the routine maintenance of them is often blamed as being the cause of an accident or as having been a contributory factor. Sometimes this is true, but not always and

Quantum & Delay

Successful project and construction management is dependent on getting cost, time, quality and safety correct. Getting the scope of any repair, or project, and the construction methodology correct are critical to assessing the

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Why Hawkins?

Hawkins is an industry leader with proven expertise and practical experience, married with a real awareness of our clients’ needs.

“Clients come back to Hawkins because of our honesty and integrity. Our subject matter experts have sound technical knowledge and expertise, married with a real commercial awareness of what our clients need. Hawkins provides a rapid response, giving quick accurate advice and communication of the evidence in a way our clients can act upon.”

Dr Andrew Prickett, Managing Director, Hawkins

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Investigations Into Steel Structure Failures Part I: Failure Mechanisms

Steel is one of the most commonly used construction materials, due to its wide availability and good strength-to-weight ratio, both in tension and compression.

23.11.2020
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Investigation of Wind Induced Failure of Buildings and Structures

Whether it be wind, snow or rain, the weather can have a significant impact on buildings and infrastructure, causing structural damage or flooding.

26.08.2020
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Water Damage in Basements – Part I: Ingress

Basement construction has become more common, both in new developments and beneath existing buildings, as basements provide an increased floor area for the same footprint of the main, above-ground building.

11.02.2020
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Improving Building Investigation Efficiency with Targeted Survey Systems

Sometimes building owners, asset managers or maintenance teams have to face a harsh reality when it comes to managing, maintaining and monitoring their assets. For example, what if a Housing Association has discovered cracking in the render of the external wall insulation system on some of their 1000+ properties? If the cracking is caught at an early stage, it could be easy and inexpensive to repair, but if left exposed to the elements unchecked, the repair bills could be costly. A different example could be a portfolio manager who has just acquired hundreds of properties across a low-medium seismicity zone (i.e. risk of earthquake). Could it still be considered negligent to not assess the risk of these buildings collapsing during a foreseeable earthquake? In some situations, it would not be acceptable to simply survey a sample of the buildings, as it is possible that these surveys could miss the buildings with the most significant damage. With these types of investigations only a review of every building will suffice; however, sometimes resources, availability and costs are limited so a full investigation cannot be carried out on every single building or asset.

11.10.2018
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Acoustics – When Buildings Fail

Acoustics - When Buildings Fail. Acoustics engineering is often referred to as “the dark art” by those in the design and build industry.

19.07.2018
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Fires In Heritage Buildings

The British are known worldwide for our love of tradition, which goes hand in hand with our fascination with heritage buildings. Varying enormously in scale, complexity and construction, heritage properties are buildings of special architectural or historic interest; but they were often originally constructed with no consideration of fire.

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