The Leaning Tower of Nevyansk and ‘Old Sable’ (Russia Wrought) Iron

The following is an article written by Lloyd, having visited Russia this past Summer.

At the start of August, I was lucky enough to be invited to visit Russia by a Structural Engineer who I have spoken with for the past 4years. Given the language barrier, visiting sites of interest came to be good ice breakers during the week!

One particular place has stuck with me and that is the town of Nevyansk in the Sverdlovsk Oblast, highlighted in the map above. During the back end of the 17^th Century, Peter The Great pushed for Iron production in the Ural Mountains (known for being rich of precious ore and stones) which kicked started what has been called the “golden age for Russian Iron” – Nevyansk being the first, and then largest production town in this era.

In 1702, the town, with its surrounding plants and factories, were town handed over to the Demidov family. To which 28 years, a tower was commissioned close to the towns’ reservoir. The purpose of the tower was for administration and also development in iron production (in a secret laboratory!).

Seemed appropriate to me, a developing town getting a name for itself across Europe and Asia for its’ high quality and quantity of Iron production – it needed a central base. Although, mystery lies in the second phase of the tower construction. 

To this day, it is still unclear why this second phase was constructed. As you can see from the photo above, the “Lean” in the “Leaning Tower of Nevyansk” comes from subsidence in the first phase. The second, renaissance-style phase is constructed slightly more vertically from the tower below.

There are many myths that come with how or why this subsidence came about. One is that the prison cellar to the tower was used to forge counterfeit coins, and on alert of a government inspection, the entire cellar was flooded, which over time drained washing parts of the sub-grade away creating the lean. Another is Nikita Demidov was such a fan of Italian Architecture (…I’ll give you one guess), he commissioned the tower to have a purpose lean, to which the second phase was then built vertical-at-best in effort to counteract any further settlements.

I’d discovered a number of Structural and Architectural wonders during my tour (that I could write pages about), so here is a brief list;

• One side of the towers wall construction was over 1.0m thick (with an entrance to the secret laboratory (calm down, I’m getting to that) within.
• Early use Iron rod ties through the entire width of the tower with visible spreader plates outside – can be seen around the first phase permiter.
• The first recorded use of a composite beam/flitch plate can be found on the top floor - two standard wrought Iron joists with an ‘Old Sable’ Iron joist between.
• Benjamin Franklin designed the first lightning rod in 1752 – the Towers’ lightning rod was built in 1732.
• The first section of the second phase contains a ‘whispering hall’ – the exact same symmetrical dome as that in St. Pauls Cathedral, London.
• Nikita Demidov eventually sold the tower and its surrounding mines (including 25 silver mines) to an American buyer, who accepted the price made, but demanded a full breakdown of where is money was going. The entire tower including all its assets (except one item) was priced at 4207rubels – the British made clock (designers unknown) that still runs today: 5000rubels.

It is a shame that the designers of the tower are also not known, though I am sure they were well respected for this remarkable tower – or drowned in the cellar.

The main point I have wanted to share with you, having read this far, is the global influence this town and its’ factories had on construction methods in the 18^th century onwards. 

Here is the only original iron door that leads to the secret laboratory between the first and ‘second’ floor. It was in this lab that the Wrought Iron ‘Old Sable’ was developed.

This advancement in Iron production from this small town had word spread of its quality across all of Europe and Asia - the ‘Old Sable’ (marked with a small Sable) has been used to construct: the roof of the White House, Washington;  the internal frame of the Statue of Liberty, New York; the roof tiles of the Palace of Westminster, London and the Eiffel Tower, Paris.

'Ponderosa' - Timber frame and steelwork give rise to new home in Pakenham

Close to completion is one of the many projects we're working on with John Stebbing Architects. A new modern house located in the village of Pakenham - a mix of timber and steelwork framing has been used to form an open plan living space with unobstructed views. 

Morrish nominated for prestigious STEM Award

(The original article can be found here)

It gives us great joy to share the news that we have been nominated for a STEM award for our work with local events, schools and all things STEM! We are very proud of what we do through being STEM Ambassadors and like to do all we can to support and encourage young people into STEM careers. We help through a number of ways via school & STEM events, aswell as providing work experience opportunities. If you're interested in helping, we greatly encourage you to visit the STEM Ambassador's website to see how you can get involved. 

Jon and Nathan will be representing Morrish at the award ceremony, to be held at the House of Lords in October. We keep our fingers crossed and hope they return with the prize. 

Period Homes Event a huge success!

Thank you to everyone that came to see us last Sunday at the Period Homes Event at The Apex in Bury St Edmunds. The event has been highly praised from those in attendance aswell as those exhibiting. We had a lovely time speaking to people and finding out about their projects and seeing how we could help.

Period Homes Event at the Apex is a resounding success, paving the way for a second event next year. 

Drawing crowd of several hundred from the town and it’s surrounding villages, but also attracting visitors from Cambridge, Ipswich, Newmarket and even Bedfordshire, Harwich and Poole! The first Richard Green Period Homes Event, at The Apex in Bury St Edmunds exceeded the expectations of visitors and exhibitors alike…

 “We knew there would be a really positive response, because we were driven to bring the best experts together to answer our clients many questions about living in, renovating and restoring their period homes. Exhibitors went to a great deal of trouble to provide information, interactive and well-presented stands and it really paid off. We were really pleased to welcome the Mayor of St Edmundsbury, Councillor Terry Clements as well as a range of other councillors and business representatives who came to see us all in action!… We have already booked Sunday 30^th September 2018 for the second event, which will be even bigger and better.” (David Sayer, Director at Richard Green).

If you missed us, no worries, please feel free to get in touch to see how we can help!

Period Homes Event this Sunday in Bury St Edmunds

Morrish Consulting Engineers will be attending The Richard Green Period Homes Event this Sunday. 

"The largest gathering of period home owners, enthusiasts and specialists in the Eastern Region, this exclusive show will bring together the best professionals in the field, enabling exhibitors to showcase their skills and for local homeowners to meet the professionals and craftsmen in person.

As the acknowledged experts for period homes, based in the historic and beautiful town of Bury St Edmunds, we look forward to welcoming you and sharing our extensive experience and  specialist knowledge."

We'll be located on the first floor mezzanine area - please do come and say hello and have an informal chat on how we maybe able to help you with any of your future works! 

Updates Galore!

You may have noticed recently that the website is slowly being updated. If you head over to our team page, you can see a rundown of the current team with new pictures coming soon! We've also been having a revamp of our social media channels and if you've got Linkedin, Twitter and/or Facebook please check us out.

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We'll be updating this page more frequently aswell as posting lots of photos via our social media channels, so please follow us wherever you can.

ICE Lunchtime Presentation:

Nathan and Lloyd recently successfully presented their first joint ICE lunchtime presentation at the newly converted John Peel Centre for Creative Arts, which was also the subject of the presentation.

Jonathan’s school trip:

Jonathan has been involved with a number of local schools as a “STEM” (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) Ambassador showing the students how structural engineering is a key part of most things around us. He recently spent a morning at Howard Community Primary School year old pupils all about pin-jointed trusses and bridge girders.
Nathan and Lloyd are now both “STEM” ambassadors and will be undertaking similar workshops to Jonathan.

Noah’s Ark, Children’s Hospice, Barnet

Noah’s Ark is a project to provide terminal ill children and their families with a stress free and relaxing environment.
The building once completed will provide accommodation for the children and their families.

The project is funded by public donations.
Morrish and Partners have provided structural and civil engineering services during the planning and tender stages of the scheme as well as full construction drawings and design work to enable the project to be built.

The scheme included SUDs features such as green roofs, swales, ponds etc. and has a split level ground floor due to the site levels and the design includes a semi-basement construction, central courtyard and there are areas around the main building to provide a tranquil, relaxing and stress free environment for the children and their families, these include a garden of contemplation, meadow jetty, wetland area which includes the surface water attenuation ponds, which have been designed as dual purpose to provide attenuation for the surface water and leisure facilities for the hospice and the adjacent environmental centre, there is also a woodland walk and boardwalk which has an elevated walkway amongst the existing tree canopies, the walkway structure involved the careful design of screw piled foundation so that the existing tree roots were not harmed.

Nathan’s BSc. (Hons)

Nathan has successfully completed his BSc degree in civil engineering, passing with honours.
He recently attended the presentation ceremony at the Corn Exchange in Suffolk with his proud family in attendance to see him receive his degree.

Historic Cupola Building, Bury St Edmunds

Morrish and Partners were called in to provide advice on the structural stability and safety of the building remains following a major fire, which damaged a large part of the listed building.

Robert Price provided advice and temporary works design for the scaffolding/façade retention which been shrouded in a bespoke screen printed image of the original building.

Saxon and Roman Court, Residential Extra Care Facility in Peterborough

In partnership with Kier Construction we are providing full structural and civil engineering services for a design and build project to provide 79 extra care units within the city of Peterborough for a housing association.