Send the forces.
Get the connections.
Delegated connection design to Eurocode 3, modelled and checked in IDEA StatiCa, with a calculation report for every connection.
What you are actually buying
A designed, checked and documented connection you can fabricate against — and a calculation report the engineer of record can approve.
The responsibility split is clean. You send the member forces; we return designed, checked and documented connections. The engineer of record retains responsibility for member design and the overall structure.
The work is carried by £1,000,000 of professional indemnity insurance, so the design is signed off by somebody who stands behind it.
What we need. What you get.
Stages 01–04 are the connection design service. Detailing the checked connection into a fabrication package runs from the same model as an additional service, available on request.
Design information
Member sizes, connection forces or a load schedule, structural GAs and the specified execution class.
Gap check
Incomplete forces are flagged before design starts, rather than assumed.
Design
Standard joints to the SCI Green Book; non-standard analysed in IDEA StatiCa.
Calculation report
A report per connection type, ready for submission to the engineer of record.
Detailing On request
The checked connection carried into Tekla and onto the fabrication drawings.
What actually gets checked
Standard cases are designed to published capacities. Where geometry or loading falls outside them, the joint is analysed rather than assumed.
Non-standard joints are analysed for
Stress & strain
Equivalent stress & deformation
Stiffness
Member capacity
Buckling
Joint resistance
| Standard | What it governs |
|---|---|
| EN 1993 | Eurocode 3 — steel design and connections |
| SCI Green Book | Simple joints to Eurocode 3 |
| NSSS 5th Edition | Working practice for the detailing that follows |
Standard simple joints are designed to the SCI Green Book — Joints in Steel Construction: Simple Joints to Eurocode 3.
What it looks like
The analysis model, the checked joint and the steel it becomes — all from the same practice.
Designed to be
fabricated.
A connection that passes its checks but cannot be welded, bolted or erected is not a design. Ours are drawn by the people who detail them.
Design and detailing that cannot drift apart
Most fabricators run connection design and steel detailing as two separate supply chains, then spend programme time reconciling them.
- Connection designer sits outside your programme
- Detailer interprets a design somebody else produced
- RFIs bounce between designer and detailer
- Approval cycles wait on a third party
- Calculation report and drawing can disagree
- Same practice designs the joint and details it
- Same geometry, same bolts, same welds
- Fewer RFIs between designer and detailer
- Faster approval cycles, inside one programme
- What the report describes is what the drawing shows
Where the line sits
Delegated design only works if everybody knows who owns what. This is the split, in plain terms.
OD3 owns
The connections themselves — designed to Eurocode 3, issued with a full calculation report, and backed by £1m professional indemnity insurance.
The engineer of record owns
Member design and the overall structure. We design to the forces and member sizes their design provides.
Nobody assumes
If the forces we receive are incomplete, we flag the gaps before design starts rather than filling them in ourselves.
Sectors and use cases
Steel fabricators
- Delegated connection design on tender or contract
- Standard joints to the SCI Green Book
- Non-standard joints analysed in IDEA StatiCa
- Calculation reports for the engineer of record
Main contractors
- Connections for frames, alterations and extensions
- New steel tied into existing structure
- Design and detailing carried by one party
- Approval submissions handled through the cloud
Architectural metalwork
- Balcony and screen support connections
- Repeating fixing details across a block
- Interfaces with cladding, glazing and slab edges
- Connections designed around visible finishes
Plant, process & machinery
- Support steel, platforms and machinery frames
- Baseplates and holding-down arrangements
- Connections into existing plant structures
- Non-standard geometry analysed, not assumed
What lands in your inbox
The design and its calculation report are standard. Carrying the checked connection through into a fabrication package is an additional service, available on request.
The connection design
Designed to Eurocode 3, ready for the engineer of record to approve.
Calculation report
A full report for each connection type, issued with the design.
IDEA StatiCa checks
Stress, strain, stiffness, buckling and joint resistance on non-standard joints.
Issued through the cloud
Models, reports and approval comments move through Trimble Connect.
Fabrication package On request
The checked connection detailed in Tekla, with drawings, NC files and lists.
Setout & verification On request
The same model driving robotic total station setout and as-built checks.
Deliverables are the design itself plus a calculation report for each connection type, ready for submission to the engineer of record for approval.
Everything else OD3 does
Connection design sits inside a single digital thread — the same model that carries your designed connections flows into detailing, NC output, setout and verification without being rebuilt.
Connection Design
Delegated design to Eurocode 3 in IDEA StatiCa, with full calculation reports and PI-backed sign-off.
Steel Detailing
Tekla fabrication packages, workshop and erection drawings, NC/DSTV output and material lists.
Survey & Reality Capture
Trimble X7 scanning, measured building survey, point-cloud-to-Tekla and as-built verification.
BIM & Digital Construction
Scan-to-BIM, federation, clash detection, MEP and plant coordination, digital twins.
Cladding & Facade Detailing
Cladding, facade and secondary steel detailing, coordinated against the frame before fabrication.
Digital Estimation & Take-off
Model-based take-off and tender estimation from drawings or a Tekla model.
Construction Set-Out
Robotic total station setout direct from the model, holding-down bolts, grids and as-built sign-off.
Project Delivery
4D planning, RAMS administration, bid visuals and construction technology, delivered on Redpen.
The questions clients ask first
Who carries design responsibility?
We do, for the connections themselves — designed to Eurocode 3, issued with a full calculation report, backed by our £1m professional indemnity insurance. The engineer of record retains responsibility for member design and the overall structure.
What do you need to start?
Member sizes, connection forces or a load schedule, the structural GA drawings, and the specified execution class. If forces are incomplete we flag the gaps before design starts rather than make assumptions.
What software do you design in?
IDEA StatiCa for connection analysis and design checks, with the connections modelled in Tekla Structures for detailing. Because both happen in-house, the checked design and the fabrication model never drift apart.
Can you handle non-standard connections?
Yes. Standard simple joints are designed to the SCI Green Book; non-standard geometry or loading is analysed in IDEA StatiCa, with checks for stress and strain, equivalent stress and deformation, stiffness, member capacity, buckling and joint resistance.
Do you work outside Northern Ireland?
Yes — connection design is delivered remotely across the UK and Ireland. Models, calculation reports and approval comments move through Trimble Connect, so location has no effect on programme.
How is the design issued?
Through Trimble Connect, so there is no courier-and-markup cycle and your engineer always has the current issue.
One digital thread,
one accountable party
Designers who detail steel
The connection that passes its checks is the connection that appears on the fabrication drawings.
No third-party dependency
No waiting on a connection designer who sits outside your programme.
Technology we build ourselves
A practising consultancy and a software company. The tools on your project are the ones we use daily on our own.
Send us your loads.
Member sizes, connection forces or a load schedule, the structural GAs and the execution class. You get a fixed price and a return date — and if anything is missing, you hear about it before design starts.
+44 (0)28 7957 8300 · info@od3.co.uk · od3.co.uk/contact · Download as PDF