About Richard Anthony Johnson
Experienced, passionate engineer

A Consulting Civil and Structural Engineer, practicing in the Fens, North Cambridge, Norfolk and Lincolnshire. I've specialised in residential propeties, particularly traditional structures and seem to do a lot of Barn conversions and victorian/ georgian propeties- probably because of being based in prime farmland, which historically would have been wealthy during the 19th and early 20th century.
Personal favourites include designing for the older buildings, particularly restorations or conversions. Having had hands on experience, I've got good grounding in NHL, putty and slaked limes, their uses in mortars, renders and plasters. I have a good understanding of breathabillity, cold bridging and structures with solid masonry walls, have extensive experience in underpinning works, preventing differential settlement due to structural alterations and determining the root cause of movement in buildngs. I'm experienced in designing with timber for beams, columns, posts, floor joists, rafters, stud walls and racking walls. I've designed oak King Post, Queen and Fan trusses, hand cut purlin roofs (even resolving forces correctly!) and lots of roofs for Orangeries.
I know my way around structural steelwork design, inluding their connections, welding, grade strengths and finishes. I've managed to produce structural designs for historic buildings in and around the Fens, working in Wisbech, Downham Market and Kings Lynn. I've even worked breifly on The Bishop's Palace at Ely cathedral. Currently, Im consulting on a project for a 13th century Church over near Huntingdon.
My background includes post graduate specialism in Concete and I design raft foundations, beams columns, slabs and piled foundations. The great thing about the Fens is that there's no true bedrock so piled foundations have to be skin friction, rather than end bearing.
The bad side about the fens is the poor soil conditions- it used to be marshland and before that, an estuary- or the inlet to the sea at least! That mans that pretty much every project needs a geotechnical survey so I've become quite conversant at geology over the years and have a good grounding in foundations, shrinkable soils, volume change potential, Atterberg limits (Pasticity index), sulphates in CLAYs and building on PEAT. Specifying the type of foundations and the grade concete for the foundations is pretty straight forward once all those aspects are known.
Featured articles and news
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EPC changes for existing buildings
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Committing to EDI in construction with CIOB
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Government Grenfell progress report at a glance
Line by line recomendation overview, with links to more details.
An engaging and lively review of his professional life.
Sustainable heating for listed buildings
A problem that needs to be approached intelligently.
50th Golden anniversary ECA Edmundson apprentice award
Deadline for entries has been extended to Friday 27 June, so don't miss out!
CIAT at the London Festival of Architecture
Designing for Everyone: Breaking Barriers in Inclusive Architecture.
Mixed reactions to apprenticeship and skills reform 2025
A 'welcome shift' for some and a 'backwards step' for others.
Licensing construction in the UK
As the latest report and proposal to licence builders reaches Parliament.
Building Safety Alliance golden thread guidance
Extensive excel checklist of information with guidance document freely accessible.
Fair Payment Code and other payment initiatives
For fair and late payments, need to work together to add value.
Pre-planning delivery programmes and delay penalties
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High street health: converting a building for healthcare uses
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