Over the past two years that I have worked at Bramhall, I have had the pleasure of working alongside Clarence. He always has wisdom to bestow upon me every time that I am in his office and he truly is the quintessential renaissance man. I had the opportunity to sit down and talk to him about one of his hobbies - other than engineering of course!

What got you interested in wood working? I took wood shop in junior high like all boys of my generation. I still go back there in my mind when I hear a power tool or smell fresh cut wood. I always wanted to make furniture or a larger craft, but lacked the time and the money for tools. As I got older and became an "empty nester," I had time to turn my attention to other things. That is when I decided to buy a table saw, I kept it in the box for a year. I was afraid to use it. You need to know what you are doing or you will hurt yourself, I'm still waiting on the more time and more money part though!

Is wood working something that relaxes you? I enjoy working in my woodshop. When I am out there working on a project I am often listening to the radio, working on a project and thinking about my family.

Where do you draw inspiration from to craft your projects? I used to read a lot of woodworking magazines, but as time has progressed I can find many ideas on the web.

Is there a particular item that you've made that really sticks with you? I really enjoyed making the mantle shelf for my daughter-in-law. I was tentative about cutting every piece of wood, afraid that I would make a mistake, but it all turned out ok.

Do you think that your engineering background plays a role in your expertise with wood working? Yes, seeing 3D objects and breaking it down to a plan and parts list is fun. I really haven't had time do what I would like to do...I have a million ideas in me, or I should say that I've borrowed from other real wood workers.

Bramhall provided a host of Low-Impact Development solutions in a compact urban space for the historic St. Casimir Church in Cleveland, as well as grant coordination for the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District’s 2016 Green Infrastructure Grant. The project features permeable pavement and bio-retention to reduce runoff, and will be completely funded by the Sewer District grant. Read more about the church's green infrastructure initiative here. 

Bramhall provided limited civil engineering and land surveying services including lot split, lot consolidation, storm sewer design, on site storm water management facilities, storm water pollution prevention (SWP3) documents, public road widening (Long Road), culvert design, waterline design, utility easements and utility coordination.

​Jamie recently joined the Bramhall team as a member of our Transportation Services section.  Jamie’s background is primarily in the design and construction of transportation projects for public agencies.  With over 13 years of experience, Jamie has participated in a variety of projects, from interchange upgrades to safety projects to recreational trail and sidewalk installation.  Jamie will be primarily responsible for all aspects of roadway design on projects for the Ohio DOT and the Local-Let program.  Jamie is a registered as a P.E. in the State of Ohio and is also a Certified Professional in Erosion and Sediment Control.  Please join us in welcoming Jamie to the BRAMHALL team!  

Drag racing has been a part of Stephen's entire life, from watching his uncle and dad race, until he was old enough to start racing himself. At the age of 11 years old, he began his racing career. His first car was a junior dragster with 5 horsepower (hp) Briggs and Straton engine that wasn't the belle of the ball by any means, but he was hooked.

Once he was on the cusp of ending his junior career, his dad surprised him with a bigger motor that produced more horsepower, changing his 1/8 mile speed to 9.2 seconds at 60 miles per hour. His junior dragster days ended when he turned 17.

The following season he jumped into the adult program and raced his dad's 1972 Chevy Nova for a couple of years. His dad decided to sell the Nova and they bought a hard tail dragster. They put a Nova's motor in the dragster and man, did that thing fly! It took his 1/4 mile speed to 9.3 seconds at 145 miles per hour. Two years later they upgraded motors to a 427 Dart Little M Block that was producing 650 hp at the flywheel (in other words, real fast). This picked them up a whole second in the 1/4 mile to 8.3 seconds at 160 miles per hour.

Stephen's current project is a new swing arm dragster with a mono shock, which will allow him to compete at different tracks that aren't as smooth as Summit Motorsports Park in Norwalk, Ohio that he currently races at. He tried to debut the new dragster at the 2016 spring warm-up at Summit but, alas, the car was not quite ready. Although the new dragster currently isn't performing as good as he'd hoped, his passion and drive for the sport are one that no car can pass. 

Join us in congratulating three Bramhall team members who have reached significant professional milestones:

• ​Tom Baldwin, engineer, passed the State of Ohio Professional Engineering Exam. Tom is a graduate of Toledo University (2010) with a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering.
• Jamie Talpas, drafter, recently graduated from ITT Technical Institute with an Associates Degree in Drafting and Design.
• John DeChant, surveyor, passed the state of Ohio Fundamentals of Surveying Exam. John is a graduate of Akron University (2014) with a Bachelor of Science in Surveying and Mapping.

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Bramhall provided design, EPA permit coordination and construction management for a $500,000 expansion and upgrade to the Sheffield-Sheffield Lake Schools waste water treatment plant. Timeline was everything, as the plant had to be back on line for the start of the 2015-2016 school year.

Bramhall provided site engineering and foundation design services for the Northfield Oldcastle Building Expansion 2015. Elements of the project also included building coordination, building foundations and equipment foundations.

Bramhall provided site, foundation, and structural engineering for the Shelly Materials W. 130th St. aggregate yard. The project also involved coordination with railroad, local and state agencies.

In the late days of June one of our co-ops embarked on a journey to Guatemala to change the life of a family - little did he know he would be the one returning changed. Patrick Sours, a senior civil engineering major at The Ohio State University, traveled to Panajachel, Guatemala with OSU's Humanitarian Engineering Scholars Program. 

Colaboración Guatemala worked with families on five different projects: (1) gray water recycling, (2) comparative study of cook stoves, (3) comparative study of solar lanterns, (4) comparative study of water filtration systems, and (5) STEM education. Within these five different projects, the students were able to chose which project they wanted to focus on. Patrick chose the analysis and installation of cook stoves for Mayan families based on their needs.

Before the group could get to the meat of their work, they had to research the skeleton - what are the characteristics of a cook stove? Once the students had this understanding they identified factors that would influence the final decision of which stove would be installed. The parameters were discussed with Mayan families and are listed based on the factor the families considered most important - safety, availability in Guatemala, fuel efficiency, cost, size, and the ability to produce warmth. After researching four different cook stoves and interviewing multiple families, the group decided that the Chispa Hogar was the best option. Due to the group's research and hard work, 8 Guatemalan families received new cook stoves.