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As Buro Happold, Whitbybird and Adams Kara Taylor rush to turn themselves into giant multidisciplinary corporations 脿 la Arup, Techniker remains a 19-strong, pure and simple structural engineer. A traditional practice, then, but one that produces inspired buildings, footbridges and furniture.

Needless to add, Techniker鈥檚 purist set-up suits those working there. 鈥淣owadays, kids look for the biggest, most complicated computer model to work out the structural design,鈥� says Matthew, the architect and engineer who established the practice in 1993.

鈥淏ut, it鈥檚 usually quite a simple building underneath. I believe in the old-fashioned notion of the elegance of mathematics. All too often, a nice solution falls out of this approach.鈥�

For Nick, a multidisciplinary practice didn鈥檛 live up to the hype. 鈥淎fter qualifying at Bath university, I joined Buro Happold,鈥� he recalls. 鈥淪tructural and services engineers sat next to each other, but they didn鈥檛 really get to know each other. It was a strange atmosphere.鈥�

Outsourcing to cheaper nations is another engineer鈥檚 wheeze that is rejected by Techniker. 鈥淚n my previous job, we outsourced reinforced-concrete detailing to the Philippines,鈥� says Tom. 鈥淏ut it didn鈥檛 work. Translating the phraseology was much more complicated than we had expected. And they weren鈥檛 familiar with British Standards 鈥� we spent so much time describing something really quite simple.鈥�

Elaine says the problem of outsourcing can be solved by video-conferencing. This also makes flying redundant, which in turn addresses what, for her, is the biggest moral issue of the day 鈥� carbon dioxide emissions.

Talking of making a better world, the team give their verdict on Gordon Brown as PM. Nick鈥檚 not overly impressed: 鈥淚 find him dull.鈥�

But Kevin is more positive. 鈥淗e鈥檚 distanced himself from the spin that Tony Blair was famous for.鈥�

Matthew concurs: 鈥淗e鈥檚 managed to get out from under Blair. Just like Ken Shuttleworth got out from under Foster.鈥�

In the middle of the Rugby World Cup, the conversation picks up the oval ball and runs with it.

鈥淚 could have been a rugby player,鈥� says Nick. So why isn鈥檛 he?

鈥淥n one night out with the team, we had this rule that if you talked to a woman before 10 o鈥檆lock, you had to fill up your shoe with beer and drink it. It was just as unpleasant as it sounds. That was one of the reasons I gave up playing rugby at uni.鈥�

He also failed another crucial teambuilding test. 鈥淥n my 21st birthday, I had to drink 21 pints. I only managed 17.鈥�

Well, it鈥檚 nobody鈥檚 birthday but we鈥檝e beaten Nick鈥檚 score easily at the Apple Tree 鈥�