As he would proudly put it, Mario is “SD employee number 2”. He joined the team soon after the practice was established and has a lot of fond memories of the early days, working closely with Andy and Mike to get the practice off the ground – it was a challenging but rewarding time in his working life!

Mario is originally from Portugal and has developed an extensive experience as a structural engineer both in the UK and in his home country over the years.

Interested in construction from a very young age, Mario developed a fascination for dilapidated buildings and their hidden potential early on. This, paired with a passion for maths and physics, led him to choose structural engineering as a career path. Refurbishments are among his favourite projects to this day.

Mario is a true teammate – he makes a point of engaging with everyone involved in the project and spends a lot of time nurturing the relationships within the team. “A great design happens when the team is all working together toward the same goal”. He loves working closely with architects and coming up with creative solutions to help them bring their visions to life.

He is also a strong advocate for environmentally friendly engineering solutions and hopes that collaborating closely with contractors and clients will lead to more sustainable schemes being designed.