Structural & civil engineering consultancy · UK

Structures, designed
as a whole.

From concept to connections, detailing, fabrication and erection. Semantica designs structures that get built — not just analysed.

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Live engineering, in your browser. Drag loads across five bridge forms, tip a crane, bend a beam.

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01 · Our approach

“We don’t design in isolation. We design holistically: structures as a whole, covering every aspect: connections, fabrication, erection.”

Holism is the old idea that the parts of a system only make sense in terms of the whole — and a structure is exactly that kind of system. An analysis model, a connection detail and an erection sequence are not separate jobs: each one only works when it serves the whole. Problems are rarely solved by the same narrow thinking that created them, so we widen the frame before we sharpen the numbers.

Thinking in wholes is also how we design sustainably: material-efficient forms, details a fabricator can make without waste, structures that can be erected safely and maintained honestly. Services-led, Semantica takes responsibility for the whole structural story — so fabricators can price it, contractors can build it, and owners can rely on it.

02 · How we design

One continuous line,
from idea to installed.

Our design cycle keeps safety at the centre, and every stage feeds its lessons back into the detailing design strategy. Hover or tap a node to see how.

DETAILING DESIGN STRATEGY DESIGN DETAILING FABRICATION ERECTION SAFETY

Safety at the centre

Safety sits inside every loop of the cycle — from design through detailing, fabrication and erection — with calculations presented clearly enough for rigorous independent checking.

The cycle in practice — six stages, one responsibility

Concept

Choose the structural form before anyone falls in love with a shape. Load paths, spans, articulation and buildability are set here — so is most of the cost.

03 · What we do

Nine services.
Four industries.

Specialist structural input where it carries the most consequence — delivered with detailing, fabrication and installation in mind, never analysis alone.

Cable-stayed bridge at dusk, deck and stays lit from below

Industry 01

Infrastructure & bridges

Design, assessment and independent assurance for bridges and the structures around them — grounded in first principles and road-tested judgement.

01

Bridge design & assessment

New bridge design and assessment of existing assets. Analysis that establishes what a structure can carry, and advice on what should happen next.

  • New structures
  • Existing assets
  • Assessment
02

Special & engineering structures

Non-standard structures where geometry, loading or detailing sit outside routine building work — worked through from first principles.

  • Special structures
  • First principles
03

Inspection & structural assessment

Focused inspection and assessment that tells asset owners what condition really means — and where intervention is worth it.

  • Condition
  • Prioritisation
04

Independent design checks incl. Category III

Rigorous independent checks of structural designs — assumptions, analysis and details examined, findings reported so they can be closed out.

  • Category III
  • Independent review
Tower crane lifting a precast concrete bridge beam at sunset over falsework

Industry 02

Construction & temporary works

Engineering for the stages between drawing and standing structure — temporary works, lifting, steelwork and the connections that hold it all together.

05

Temporary works & lifting / erection engineering

Temporary works, lifting studies and erection engineering designed around the construction sequence — so the structure is stable at every stage, not just the last one.

  • Temporary stability
  • Lifting
  • Sequencing
06

Steel & concrete structures

Design and analysis of steel and concrete structures with careful material understanding and efficient, buildable detailing.

  • Steelwork
  • Reinforced concrete
07

Connection design for fabricators

Full connection design as a service to steelwork fabricators — moment, shear and splice connections designed, justified and drawn for the shop floor.

  • For fabricators
  • Moment & shear joints
  • Shop-ready

Industry 03

Gas & energy

Structural and civil assurance for the gas industry, keeping schemes compliant and moving.

08

G17/G35 approver & appraisal services

Approver and appraisal services against G17 and G35 procedures for structural and civil works on gas infrastructure — independent review that unblocks schemes rather than stalling them.

  • IGEM G17
  • IGEM G35
  • Approval & appraisal
Industrial filtration plant with dust hoppers, large ducts and yellow access ladders at dusk

Industry 04

Industrial process plant

Plant-side structural design where process, pressure and dust meet steel.

09

Dust explosion & filtration plant design

Hoppers, plenums and ducts — where most dust explosions actually happen — designed for deflagration from the outset. Filtration plant structures and their explosion resistance engineered together, not bolted on afterwards.

  • Dust hoppers
  • Plenums & ducts
  • Designed for deflagration
Bolted steel beam-to-column connection with fin plates and rows of bolts, under a grey sky

04 · Beyond analysis

We design for detailing, fabrication and erection — not just analysis.

A model that converges is not a structure that stands. Every Semantica design is carried through to the questions that decide whether site goes well:

  • Connections designed in, never left “by others”.
  • Details a fabricator can price — bolt access, weld positions, tolerances, transport splits.
  • An erection method that works — stability, lifting and sequence engineered before steel leaves the yard.
Request a proposal

Have a structure to design, check or get built?

Request a proposal

05 · The toolbox

Engineering you can play with.

Interactive models for anyone curious about how structures carry load — drag, tip and bend them live in your browser. Every tool is indicative and educational only: never use them for design.

Tool 01 · 3DBridge load explorer

Drag the load along the deck and watch the deflected shape, bending moment and shear update live. Switch forms to see how each one finds a different path to the ground.

Drag the load · orbit to look around

A beam carries everything in bending: moment peaks under the load, shear flips sign across it.

TensionCompression

Reference beam moment — kN·m

Reference beam shear — kN

Indicative only — not for design. Diagrams: simply supported 60 m reference beam, point load only, no self-weight. 3D shapes are exaggerated; colours show qualitative load paths, not calculated member forces.

Tool 02 · 3DCrane outrigger study

A mobile crane on four outriggers. Swing the load, push the radius, and watch the pad reactions shift — including loss of four-pad contact and the support-polygon overturning limit.

Orbit to look around

Four pads share the crane’s weight plus the moment from the hook load. The further and heavier the pick, the harder the near pads work — and the lighter the far ones get.

Pad A · front left—
Pad B · front right—
Pad C · rear left—
Pad D · rear right—

Stability: —

Indicative only — not for design or lift planning. Rigid base on four equal vertical elastic supports at (±3.4, ±3.0) m. Crane weight 400 kN at centre; counterweight 180 kN at 4.2 m opposite the hook. No boom weight, wind, dynamics, ground checks or load chart. Negative demands invalidate four-pad contact; redistribution is not solved.

Tool 03 · CalculatorSimply supported beam

Span, loads and section stiffness in — bending moment, deflection and maxima out, drawn live.

Loading

Bending moment

Deflection

Max moment
—
Max shear
—
Max deflection
—
Reactions
—

Indicative only — elastic theory, no self-weight, no load factors, no code checks. Not for design.

More tools on the bench

Span-to-form recommender

Tell it a crossing length; it suggests the bridge forms worth pricing.

Coming soon

Girder depth estimator

First-pass depth for steel and composite girders from span and spacing.

Coming soon

Section properties

Area, inertia and moduli for plated and rolled sections.

Coming soon

Bolted connection explorer

See how bolt rows, gauge and plate thickness trade against capacity.

Coming soon

Crane pad bearing check

From outrigger reaction to mat size on a chosen ground strength.

Coming soon

Deflagration venting primer

What Kst, volume and vent area mean for dust-handling plant.

Coming soon

Ready when you are.

Tell us about the structure. We’ll reply with a clear scope, a named engineer and a fee.

Request a proposal

06 · Start a conversation

Request a proposal.

A short note is enough — what the structure is, where it is, and when you need it. We’ll come back with how we’d approach it.

Or email us directly:
 

Semantica Consulting Ltd · Nottingham, United Kingdom

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