Based in Edinburgh, Hive Structural is a small-scale structural engineering business founded by James in April 2025. With design experience of over 2500 projects within the domestic, commercial, educational and council sectors, today James mainly works across conversions, extensions and new builds.
Q) What started your interest in structural engineering?
“I did the classic maths, physics and chemistry route at A-Levels and really loved physics. From this, I knew I wanted to do something that was related but on a more practical level. After completing a 5-year degree, I landed my first engineering job here in Edinburgh.”
Q) What propelled your decision to move on and set up a company on your own?
“There was a variety of reasons; of course, work-life balance but also the ability to control my own output and manage quality. When working in any large company where there are multiple people, teams and responsibilities, there will always be interfaces. Working solo means that all stages of a job will run through one person, me—that way, I know there won’t be any interface issues and I can have more confidence and control over quality."
“Human interaction is the main thing I enjoy, I like meeting people. As it’s domestic scale and the projects are small, sometimes they’ll take just a day to complete, sometimes a week. I always try to keep my jobs fairly local, so I cycle to most of my site visits.”
