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Cass Hayward Celebrates 40 Years in Business

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On the first of January this year Cass Hayward Consulting Engineers celebrated their 40 years of designing bridges.

The Chepstow firm was founded in 1983 by chartered engineers Phil Cass and Alan Hayward who had previously been at international steel bridge builders Fairfield Mabey as General Manager and Chief Engineer respectively.

The designers set out on their own to build on their personal reputations for promotion of competitive bridge designs and started with a small team in rented offices above Barclays Bank at the central square in Chepstow. Timing was key, and with infrastructure investment driving the UK economy in the early years, Cass Hayward’s popularity with Civil Engineering Contractors brought specialist bridge design commissions for major construction projects.

These included the M25 London orbital road, the M74 motorway in Scotland and London Docklands Light Railway. The team expanded to meet the growth in demand and the Partners invested in new premises in Welsh Street purchasing adjoining four story Georgian houses – York House and Castledale overlooking the castle dell in Chepstow.

Sadly Phil Cass died prematurely in 1985 but Alan Hayward carried the Practice on with new Partners joining after 1986 and he retired in 1999 He remains active as a Consultant today, at the age of 83 and his astonishing enthusiasm for engineering is as strong now as when he started the firm.

Cass Hayward’s fine reputation is earned from their unique blend of design flair, construction knowledge and commercial nous derived from the considerable experience of senior personnel.

Traditionally design consultants in the UK operated with arms-length relationships with Civil Engineering Contractors but Cass Hayward’s expertise was attractive to constructors looking for a competitive edge in design and including more thorough consideration of on-site activities and constraints. From the outset their bridges were economical and practical to build and offered shorter programmes with reduced site risk. The very first commission was for a redesign of the wide bridge to carry the new M25 dual carriageway over the Great Western Main Railway Line.

Their alternative solution allowed construction over the tracks using 17 low weight steel beams instead of 48 heavier concrete beams such that smaller cranes were used for a shorter period with the railway closure significantly reduced. Cass Hayward’s construction experience meant they were, unusually among Consultants, able to offer design of temporary as well as permanent works which enabled them to work more closely with construction planning teams meaning proactive hands-on involvement in the development of construction methodology. This approach and its associated skills have been maintained throughout the forty years and continue to this day.

Many of the exemplar bridges feature designs driven by construction method and many design awards have been won for projects where the judges are impressed by innovative and technically demanding construction techniques devised by Cass Hayward.

Today modern procurement preferences are for Design & Construct forms of contract so that nearly all design houses are now most commonly engaged by Contactors in a role that has been familiar and comfortable to Cass Hayward for forty years. This long experience is recognized and valued by contractors throughout the UK. Another prevailing trend is for Design Consultants to merge and become part of large multidisciplinary corporations but Cass Hayward has remained “pocket-sized” with a team of 30 that is sufficient resource for projects up to £100m in value but compact enough to ensure a personal service to its Clients.

Over 40 years the firm has had three generations of Partners running the business all of whom have had direct roles with Clients for all projects and those that are now Consultants remain active in Cass Hayward’s activities. Recruitment is always for engineers enthused by design and development of staff within the ethos of the firm ensures that the expertise is not diluted. Consequently Cass Hayward’s commissions are always delivered by the “A” team.

The projects experience of Cass Hayward is extensive so a concise selection of exemplar designs is difficult to compile and the reader is directed to the website www.casshayward.com for a more comprehensive illustration.

Business News Wales