Design

The company combines engineering, interior design, artistry and CAD to provide a market leading creative and problem-solving service.

If you have a complex project and are unsure how to proceed please contact us at the earliest opportunity and benefit from our initial free of charge design consultancy service. Within a very short time you’ll appreciate why so many repeat clients come to trust and rely on our design solutions and composite GRP expertise.

We use Vectorworks and Rhino enabling us to receive, import and export DWG and DXF drawing formats from many other CAD applications such as Autocad and Microstation. The versatile PDF format is used extensively to distribute information, particularly useful for those clients who don’t have easy access to the more specialist software or viewers.

The nature of our work means 3D modelling is a central component to our design processes. This is a useful tool throughout the contract, demonstrating to our clients, production facilities and site installation team how the proposed solution fits together.

As a consequence of this careful design process Design & Display Structures will incorporate a range of reinforcement materials for additional stiffening and to provide fixing grounds which enable third party connections. Some of these materials will be encapsulated, others attached directly to the GRP flanges. Reinforcing materials range from core mat and honeycomb through to plywood and steel strips of various gauges. In addition, GRP flanges and webs will play a critical part in the structural strength. The final design will be project specific to account for engineer determined wind, snow and live loads.

For those more technically minded:

VectorWorks offers a full range of 2D, 3D, production management and presentation capabilities for all phases of the design process. In addition to offering traditional CAD tools, VectorWorks goes beyond CAD and allows its users to design with real-world components. Users can sketch ideas with lines, arcs, and circles, then build and document designs with real-world objects, such as walls and windows, cabinets and stairs, plants and patterned walkways, lights and trusses, and more. The objects automatically display both in 2D and 3D views. VectorWorks 3D models can be generated out of 2D drawings, and vice versa. VectorWorks is able to communicate with other applications via DXF/DWG file translation and by importing and exporting a variety of file formats which include SketchUp®, 3ds, Shapefile/SHP, JPG, TIF, EPS, GIF, and BMP. Support for IGS, SAT, and STL allows users to send VectorWorks models to 3D printers and rapid prototyping machines.

Automatic data tracking capabilities allows users to generate schedules, reports and materials lists based on the information contained in a design.

Advanced graphics capabilities allow users to create client presentations and sketch rendering technology enables hard-lined drawings to take the appearance of soft, hand-sketched illustrations.

For more advanced 3D rendering capabilities, the plug-in RenderWorks provides both realistic and artistic effects. Some of the technology incorporated in RenderWorks includes radiosity, raytracing, solar animation, non-photorealistic rendering, volumetric lighting, physical lights and area lights, a library of more than 1,250 textures, advanced texture mapping, background images, free image props, atmospheric effects and Macintosh® and Windows® support for QuickTime VR.