Gerry O'Brien
Design Director and Co-Founder
BEng(Hons), CENg, FICE
Gerry spent 8 years working for Arup post graduation from The University of Edinburgh in 1990. In 1999 Gerry joined a nascent engineering consultancy Adams Kara Taylor (more commonly known as AKT), before becoming one of the 5 founding directors of AKT II as it grew to become one of the UK's most respected and successful design engineering consultancies numbering 350 people and with offices in Manchester, Copenhagen, Cambridge and Toronto. Gerry was a critical component to establishing the Manchester and Toronto offices.
As a Principal and Design Director at AKT II Gerry had responsibility for winning a significant amount of the projects that the company would deliver. He was a Board Director since 2011 until recently, and was responsible for creating AKT II Envelopes, the façade engineering group within the studio which this year celebrates 10 successful years of trading. Before leaving AKT II he established the Climate Adaptation Team bringing together the Bioclimatic, Flood Engineering, Civil, Facade, Structural and Geotechnical skills of the practice to enable a holistic consultancy response to the pressing issues of climate emergency.
Gerry worked with the cohort of Technical Directors within the business to produce research and innovation strategies for the practice to invest in. As the most senior member of the Design Cultures group within the studio he worked with a number of the other Design Directors to introduce a program of crits, talks and guest speakers to enrich the creative discourse across the business outside of the core technical skills of the studio.
It was in recognition of his deep seated interest in design that he has elected to be a Trustee of the Architecture Foundation, where he remained in role for 5 years before stepping down in 2024.
Over the last few years he has member of the judging panel for the British Council of Offices as well as other prestigious design awards such as the Architecture Today Awards and the American Institution of Architects.
As part of his role at AKT II Gerry interfaced with a number of academic institutions in the practices of both Engineering and Architecture. Across the years this fruitful interface saw him lecture and attend crits at the RCA, AA, UCL, Bath and Harvard where he assisted Hanif Kara in his design engineering course at the Graduate School of Design.
Work
Gerry has been a consistent driving force in the delivery of key projects, including a vast range of buildings, complex infrastructure projects and bridges.
In his role of Design Director Gerry has led the teams delivering projects of exceptional complexity. He has a wealth of experience in tall buildings, City centre office developments and the remodelling of existing built assets. At 100 Liverpool Street and South Bank Tower we see exemplar outcomes in what can be achieved when reworking existing buildings, delivering up to 42% additional net area by exploiting every element of latent capacity whilst avoiding the need for costly foundation strengthening. He has recently delivered the 58 storey, 212m-tall residential tower by Herzog and de Meuron at wood wharf and at 1 Nine Elms the structure of the twin towers is nearing completion. Other landmark tall buildings in his portfolio includes the Generali Tower in Milan delivered alongside Zaha Hadid architects.
The recently completed development at Royal Mint Gardens near the Tower of London saw a large mixed use, residential led development constructed over the DLR and Network Rail viaducts carrying tracks to Fenchurch Street Station.
At AKT II, Gerry has collaborated with some of the world’s most prestigious architects, including David Chipperfield, Herzog de Meuron, Norman Foster, RSHP, Grafton Architects, AHMM and Zaha Hadid, on projects that range from small-scale private residential blocks and footbridges, to huge masterplanning and large regeneration projects worth several hundred million pounds.
Having delivered residential, offices, life sciences, bridges, stations, airports, stadia, theatres and cultural buildings he has experience in every typology presented across the industry. He has delivered projects within many countries, benefitting from his exposure to diverse approaches to construction and cultures.
Gerry’s flair for design and technical strength have contributed to him becoming one of the best known engineers in the UK, with close relationships with Clients, Architects and Project Managers which have allowed him to secure billions of pounds of construction work over his career.
Contact Gerry
Email: go@agentia.design
Call: +44 7903 880229