星空传媒

鈥淒id I mention that we鈥檙e working in 拢$!kb* Ooh, I鈥檓 not sure if we can talk about that. I鈥檇 better check before you write it down.鈥�

Talking about his work is a frustrating exercise for Chris Bowes. The man who heads up TPS Consult鈥檚 counter-terrorism division flicks furtively through a thick presentation holding examples of his team鈥檚 work. 鈥淚 can鈥檛 show you that, I鈥檓 afraid. Or that. I can show you that, but you mustn鈥檛 mention the client.鈥�

That鈥檚 one of the problems when you鈥檙e in the business of designing buildings to be terror-resistant. TPS鈥檚 clients such as the Ministry of Defence and the City鈥檚 top financial institutions don鈥檛 want details of their buildings to go public.

What Bowes can reveal is that business is booming, if you鈥檒l excuse the expression. He鈥檚 had to take on two more members of staff in the past two years, boosting numbers to 16. September 11th 2001, when New York鈥檚 twin towers fell, opened new doors for Bowes鈥� expertise. 鈥淯ntil three years ago the majority of our work was UK-based: the Irish problem. Now it鈥檚 perceived to be much more of an international problem. We are working on government buildings and financial institutions around the world.鈥�

Bowes is particularly proud of the fact he has won a contract to design the cladding for the new building ,which will take the Twin Towers鈥� former plot. The US market is hard to crack because 鈥渢he Americans think they can do it all.鈥�

Becoming the best

So how do you become an expert in explosion engineering? Bowes, a civil engineer like all of his staff, started in 1993 designing bunkers for the military which could resist bombs. He worked for the government鈥檚 design body, Property Services Agency (PSA), until 1992 when a Tarmac/ Black & Veatch joint venture bought it. Tarmac 鈥� now Carillion 鈥� took full ownership two years later and it became Tarmac Professional Services (TPS). About half of Bowes鈥� team remain from the PSA days.

The team has unique expertise, says Bowes. 鈥淲e believe we are the best鈥�. It works closely with the MoD and has been in some term commissions for 12 years. It also has a wealth of data gathered over 40 years.

The workload began to shift from the late 1980s as IRA bombs went off around the UK. People started to ask for their buildings to be blast-resistant which meant the TPS designers had to gain expertise in glass rather than concrete. (Never say 鈥榖last-proof鈥�, by the way, 鈥渂ecause you can always build a bigger bomb,鈥� he says.)

The easiest way for TPS to work is to be involved in a building鈥檚 design from day one. Otherwise things can get expensive. For example, when TPS was brought in part-way through the design of a multi-storey financial building in the city, it found that the main computer room was on the first floor. A schoolboy error in explosion engineering terms, apparently. Put it a few floors from the top of the building so it鈥檚 a long way away from ground-level vehicle bombs. Otherwise you have to put ultra-thick walls around the room.

The designers may use hand calculations or computer models to work out how a building will behave in the case of an explosion. Occasionally, they even get to blow up mock-ups. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 where it gets exciting,鈥� says Bowes, 鈥渁nd also a bit terrifying because you have to prove that your calculation is correct.鈥�

But aren鈥檛 bombs a bit old-hat now? The risk of chemical attack and germ warfare are constantly in the news. That possibility has been around since 1995 when there was an incident on the tube in Japan, says Bowes, but it鈥檚 still quite difficult to carry out a chemical attack. TPS could design a building to be resistant to such an attack but the extra M&E expenditure could double the cost of a building. Making it blast resistant adds around 3.5% to the cost.

However, there are buildings where chemical attacks are being looked at, says Bowes. Which buildings, then? 鈥淓r, I鈥檓 afraid I can鈥檛 say.鈥�