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Representative Profile

Director Alex Baalham’s considerable creative energies are focused on project design and delivery. He works on buildings from start to hand over, and his track record in the leadership of teams delivering successful outcomes reflects his ability to develop effective engineering solutions.

Alex joined Whitby Wood in 2018, after many years as a project director at Ramboll UK. He is a vital contributor to the development of the practice as a flexible, responsive team, able to make productive decisions and implement them efficiently.

His practical interest in digital design and in new ways of working with digital tools is part of this approach. He sees huge potential for digital tools to free up engineers’ time, enabling them to focus on achieving design solutions specific to the brief, and on construction efficiency.

Past projects include a number of steel frame, long span, column-free commercial buildings in London, including the London Fruit & Wool Exchange (320,000 sq ft), Creechurch Place (two basements + 18 levels) and Moorgate Exchange (two basements + 12 levels) — all three included research into floor dynamics and physical testing against theoretical results.

Other projects include buildings R3 and R6 (concrete frame) at Kings Cross Central, the Three Quays project beside the River Thames, 5 Hanover Square (jointless brick facade) near Oxford Circus, and Waingels College (CLT construction) in Berkshire. Technical projects have included the design of a grid shell roof using parametrics, and the commissioning of new digital tools that make design with steel easier.