Fellows spotlight

Structural design at the heart of ship capability

Structural design is fundamental to the safety, performance and viability of any vessel. It embodies the ship itself, governing weight, survivability, durability and operability over decades of service.

James’s work ensures that structures are robust enough to withstand operational loads and damage, while remaining efficient and buildable. Getting this balance right is critical: over-design drives unnecessary cost and weight, while under-design risks safety, availability and mission success.

Advancing structural capability

As our structures and materials capability lead, James is responsible for developing our structural engineering capability, covering skills, tools, training and future technical direction. He sees continued growth in demand for advanced structural analysis as ships integrate more complex systems, alternative materials and new operational concepts.

Areas of focus include optimising analysis capability to support safer and more efficient designs, expanding composite design and analysis for both naval vessels and small craft, and improving understanding of structural response under complex loading scenarios. These developments help customers manage cost, reduce risk and unlock new design possibilities.

"Structural design underpins everything a vessel does - getting it right means balancing safety, performance and practicality over decades of service."

Fellowship focus: developing structural vibration capability

James’s Fellowship research focuses on advancing structural vibration analysis within BMT. Vibration plays a critical role in crew comfort, equipment performance and long-term structural integrity. Poorly understood vibration can lead to excessive noise, degraded system performance and fatigue cracking - often becoming difficult and costly to resolve once a vessel is in service.

The Fellowship provides the opportunity to develop deeper in-house expertise in local and whole-ship vibration analysis, including the interaction between primary equipment, supporting structure and sensitive systems mounted on masts.

By strengthening this capability, we can better integrate vibration considerations into ship design and equipment integration from the outset, rather than reacting to issues later in life.

Collaboration and progress

While the research is at an early stage, James has developed a clear roadmap for progressing vibration capability within the Structures and Materials team. The work builds on close collaboration across BMT disciplines and draws on his extensive experience in structural analysis, equipment integration and research-led consultancy.

As the programme develops, it is expected to create new opportunities to support customers and extend our specialist services in an area often under-represented in marine engineering.

Why the Fellowship matters

For James, the Fellowship is both recognition and opportunity. It recognises long-standing technical leadership within BMT and provides the time and support to pursue capability-building research that may take longer to mature than traditional project work.

The Fellowship also enables collaboration with other technical Fellows, helping identify new applications for specialist skills and strengthening our ability to deliver safe, innovative and future-ready ship designs.

Senior Principal Naval Architect

Want to learn more about James' role or the solutions we offer in structural design? Connect with him on LinkedIn.