People · Podcast guest
Chris Atkins
Ahead of the Curve: Engineering a Greener Tomorrow, ft. Chris Atkins from Symmetrys
Chris Atkins is founder and Managing Director of Symmetrys, structural and civil engineers, on low carbon design and steel reuse.
- Current role
- Managing Director
- Practice
- Symmetrys
- Location
- London
Conversation
The thinking behind the work.
Episode 0197 · Architecture Social
Ahead of the Curve: Engineering a Greener Tomorrow, ft. Chris Atkins from Symmetrys
As our industry grapples with the urgent need for sustainability and effective ESG initiatives, Symmetrys is at the forefront, championing proactive, intelligent design.
Explore episode moments
Use the timestamps below to find each moment in the full episode.
- 05:00 · Chris Atkins' early career and international experience · Audio only
- 10:00 · What structural and civil engineers bring to the design team · Audio only
- 15:00 · Symmetrys projects, awards and the Ferris wheel discussion · Audio only
- 20:00 · Sustainability, collaboration and sharing knowledge · Audio only
- 25:00 · AI, report writing and how engineering tools may change · Audio only
- 30:00 · Practice life, software shifts and closing reflections · Audio only
Selected work
Selected work.
Southwark, London, United Kingdom
Roots in the Sky
An unbuilt Southwark workplace proposal retaining a 1960s structure beneath a hybrid steel and CLT frame and rooftop urban forest.
Explore the project ↗Southwark, London, United Kingdom
Great Suffolk Street
A sensitive refurbishment of a Grade II-listed Southwark warehouse using reclaimed steel from a demolished Broadgate building.
Explore the project ↗Hampstead, London, United Kingdom
Hampstead Mansion Block
Structural and civil engineering for a six-storey later-living apartment building above two basement levels in Hampstead.
Explore the project ↗Other public work
Eglon House ↗
A four-storey Primrose Hill live-work residence engineered within the perimeter walls of a former recording studio.
Lavender Hill ↗
Nine contemporary homes arranged around a planted courtyard on a constrained former engineering works in Clapham.
About
The story so far.
The person behind the work.
Chris Atkins is the founder and Managing Director of Symmetrys, the structural and civil engineering practice he established in 2006. A chartered structural engineer (CEng MIStructE), he has worked in the profession since 1986, with earlier experience across South East Asia, the Middle East and the UK at firms including Ove Arup, Hyder, Bechtel and Dewhurst Macfarlane.
At Symmetrys he has built a practice known for considerate, responsible design and a strong sustainability agenda, from low carbon structural design to the FerrousWheel steel reuse tool developed with London South Bank University. He values long term relationships across the built environment and a workplace where the team has a genuine voice, reflected in the practice's move to employee ownership.
In this Architecture Social conversation, Chris talks about why sustainability in engineering has to be proactive rather than reactive, how reused steel and retained structure can cut embodied carbon, and what it takes to build a practice culture worth staying for.
Watch or listen to the full conversation in the Architecture Social CPD: Cutting Embodied Carbon in Structural Engineering with Symmetrys.
The practice
Symmetrys
Symmetrys is a north London structural and civil engineering practice focused on low carbon design, steel reuse and considerate structures.
Architecture practice · Greater London
Expertise
What I bring.
- Current role
- Managing Director
- Practice
- Symmetrys
- Location
- London
- On the podcast
- 1 episode · 2024
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