Matthew Gorton Hargreaves
BSc CEng MICE MIStructE
Director of Design and Construction
GORTON GLOBAL LTD
M: +44 (0)7795 560321
E: gortonglobal@yahoo.com
He is a Chartered Civil and Structural Engineer with over 40 Years’ experience in all aspects of the built environment and has worked all over the UK, Middle East and Australia.
He is a Principal Civil and Structural Engineer involved in design and construction with an extensive portfolio of prestigious projects around world.
The Hargreaves dynasty involvement in building construction extends well back into the 1850s with Matthews great grandfather Thomas and grandfather Alexander Gorton along with great uncle Johnny Maclaren all being Artisan plasterers working on major houses, as one of the best in his trade Alexander was recruited to travel to the USA and work on the renovation of the president’s residence The Whitehouse DC, 
due to the importance of the work and the highest quality required Alec was rewarded extremely well and earned enough in three years to establish his own company on his return to England. Matthews’s father benefited from his father’s time in the USA after the First World War as he was able to send Thomas to Manchester University to gain a degree in Architecture. He also bought a large plot on the North Blackpool Queens Promenade which was designed and developed by Thomas into a block of 5 large luxury hotels of which four were sold, the family retaining the ‘The Doric’. The hotels are still today the most popular in Blackpool due to the forwarded thinking design of Thomas.
The Second World War interrupted Thomas’s career as he joined the RAF and trained to fly mosquito aircraft. Resuming his career after the War he won a Competition with George Grenfell Baines for the design of the Parliament Building in South Rhodesia which allowed them to set up a practice in Preston ‘Grenfell Baines and Hargreaves’ (incidentally many of the architects and draftsmen they employed were polish ex-servicemen). The period after the war saw great national optimism and GBH were involved in major projects such as the new towns of Peterlee and Newton Aycliffe, they were also architects for the 1951 Festival of Britain on the south bank in London and designed the ‘Power and Production’ pavilion.
GBH expanded steadily over the following years and Later Became Building Design Partnership, however Thomas felt he lost some of the client interaction and left to establish a smaller practice to concentrate on his love for Religious buildings, and revitalize his own birth town Blackpool.
Blackpool was booming after WWII as the only holiday option was to stay in the UK as Europe needed serious rebuilding, on of Thomas’s favourite projects was the major upgrade of the Winter Gardens with a splendid new opera house, probably the largest stage in the UK with an audience capacity of 3000.
The success of this move kept him in the drawing office until his late 80s clients still knocking on his studio door.
Growing up Matthew was always in his father’s studio watching dad design and often arguing about style and even the minutest of details. Summer Family Holidays involved touring Europe for at least 6 weeks mainly camping, the summers always seemed better in the 60s and 70s.
Having gained several A levels at grammar school Matthew was off to The University of Bath, School of Architecture and Building. This course was revolutionary as it was truly multidisciplinary, with the Architectural, Structural and Mechanical Students attending various lecturers together and working on joint projects, this proved to be a real advantage after graduation.
Luckily Matthew joined LG Mouchel Engineers in Bath with a handful of his classmates. Training with LGM was exceptional as although being a small office projects were spread over the whole of the southwest of England, District hospitals and health centres in Plymouth, Torbay and Bath, Water projects in Weymouth, Witney and Bridport, Feed mill projects in Stroud and Sharpness. Matthew was responsible for many of the smaller projects and visited the weekly driving through the unspoilt SW countryside. After 4 years with LGM it was now time for the next phase and having become a chartered member of the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1980 he moved to BDP in Preston, where he earlier had industrial placements from University.
The main projects at BDP were major Hospitals and Shopping Centres, Matthew worked on Ealing Broadway re-development as lead structural designer for the offices and high street part of the project, this was this first of the new model of joint venture fast-track models which are now the norm.
Working in a truly disciplinary team together with the Investors, Local authority, major Contractors and artisan subcontractors was truly invigorating, especially as the BDP team was lead by brilliant architects such as Francis Roberts, Gerald Sanderson and Richard Elsdon. A major part of Matthews projects were for local authorities and included sheltered housing, sports halls and stadia. The continuing work for all the BDP UK offices was of course hospitals which continually expand and develop, the biggest example being Leeds St James as from 1972 to 1989, Matthew has worked on the Medical and Dental Schools, Nurses accommodation and the Energy Centre.
Whilst working at BDP Matthew was privileged to work on two major private projects.
- The New RC St Mary Magdalen Church Penwortham with Architect Francis Roberts; this church was extolled by HRH Prince Charles in his book ‘A Vision of Britain’.
- The Jamea Masjid mosque Preston with Architect Thomas Hargreaves
Always looking for a new challenge Matthew re-joined LG Mouchel this time in Manchester as lead structural engineer for two Major Hospital Projects, St Luke’s in Bradford and Westmoreland General. After successfully finishing the construction of these projects he established his own practice “Clitheroe Consultants” and worked for a variety of clients all over the UK. Projects included Bridge design and Assessment, Canal Restoration, Hotel Conversions and Extensions, Commercial properties, and private houses.
Dubai a new beginning. Early in 2000 Matthew moved to Dubai to manage a small branch expert office of a Bahraini company, which specialised in structural steelwork and reinforced concrete detailed design and production of production drawings, clients were Major Contractors, Government Utility companies and specialised suppliers of Tensile structures, Facades and Feature Timber structures.
Key Projects were Al Ghurair centre redevelopment, Etisalat Tower, Lexus Tower, Irrigation and Seawater Pipeline design, Stadia floodlighting, Dubai Autodrome Infrastructure and support buildings.
A unique project was an enormous Falcon Free Flight enclosure for a Dubai Prince.
Soon after arriving in Dubai he joined JASC (Jebel Ali Sailing Club) whose membership of expat sailors from all over the world held club, national, and world regattas almost every week of the year. Matthew was soon inducted into the race management team and trained as a safety boat pilot. It was through this intensive involvement with the racing sailors that he was invited to join Halcrow Consultants to become Head of the Structures department for the entire Middle East region regularly visiting other Gulf States for major projects.
Major clients include Dubai Government, Abu Dhabi Government, Sharjah Government, Qatar Foundation, DUCAB (Dubai Cable Factory), Union Properties, DIFC (Dubai International Financial Centre), Air Products, Qatar Navy, ADSB (Abu Dubai ship building), Dubai Ports and Customs, Dubai International Airport, Sharjah International Airport, and Abu Dhabi International Airport.
The highlights of his time with Halcrow were the design and construction of the Sheik Khalifa Mosque Abu Dhabi, 
Airbus A380 Hangars for Omani Royal Flight in Seeb Oman, Emirates Maintenance Centre Dubai Airport and Abu Dhabi Airport; a Massive Ship Construction Hall for ADSB and new Cable Factory in Abu Dhabi for DUCAB. Minor projects; but nevertheless complex and interesting were Royal flight terminals in Muscat and Abu Dhabi, Arts Academy in Sharjah, and Camel breeding centre.
Dubai operates a 3 year visa system for expats so it is very common to change jobs at the end of the visa which usually results in a salary increase and a more senior position. After his spell with Halcrow he joined Khansaheb Engineering Contractors as Design and Build coordinator for 2 high profile projects.
Wafi Centre expansion including the iconic Raffles Hotel an extremely complicated Pyramid shaped Hotel in Egyptian style.
Dubai Festival City Hillside Housing situated onto of a manmade hill. Working with a team of world-class Architects Engineers and a contractor committed to delivering the highest quality project was indeed a delight.
During the first decade of the 21st century opportunities to work on truly amazing abounded, again Matthew was offered an exciting position from one of his friends at the Sailing Club, the Development Director at Perseus World a multi island development on Dubai’s latest mega development “The World”. He was responsible for the design management and procurement of the $500 million development involving production of business plans for the resort development including apartments, townhouses, villas and the hotel.
The development of the initial two islands comprised harbour and marine works together with comprehensive utilities supply of desalinated water electricity generation, waste water treatment and recycling, district cooling, vacuum refuse system etc. The project was intended to be undertaken utilising the partnering approach to minimise procurement times, reduce risk and control costs and time.
The project was put on hold in 2008 due to the Global Financial Crisis, but the financiers are hoping it will be completed in the next decade.
Following on from this project Matthew joined Scott Wilson Consultants who had been commissioned to design and produce construction documents for another World Islands project “Oqyana”.
This comprise the island in the Australia and New Zealand zone of the project and included a mix of Hotels, Apartments and Villas complete with a Harbour Ferry Terminals on the island and Onshore. Accommodation for staff and plant to provide Electricity, Water, and Waste treatment were all located on the Facilities Island. 
This project was also put on hold in 2008 due to the Global Financial Crisis, but the financiers are hoping it will be completed in the next decade.
Projects at SW were mainly maritime orientated and Matthew was successful in his bid winning the design of the infrastructure and land facilities for the Khalifa Port and Infrastructure Zone development in Abu Dhabi Emirate, this was the largest new port Development in the world for several decades. It comprised a deep water Island container and bulk goods Terminal connected to the land by a breakwater and bridge, the onshore design comprised new roads railways and Security Gate Buildings and Perimeter.
His final Projects in the UAE comprised two major new Wastewater Treatment plants in the Desert of Abu Dhabi to cope with the expansion of Al Ain City and Abu Dhabi.
After Completion of these projects and after 10 years in the UAE Matthew decide to take some serious time off to concentrate on his appointment as Chief Flag and Starter of the UAE Automobile Touring Club (ATC) 2009/10 which included club, national and international races, Dubai 24 Hours, GP2, Australian Supercars and of course the Abu Dhabi Yas Marina F1. Also during this time his duties with the Dubai Marine and Sailing clubs involved Class 1 and Xcat Powerboat, Moth Dinghy Worlds and the Louis Vuitton Trophy (19 Days).
Towards the end of 2010 Matthew was head hunted by KBR in Perth Western Australia (WA) to join then as Principal Structural Engineer and so off he went in December. WA was in a major boom with huge projects in iron ore mining, and gas production. Matthew worked on Barrow Island LNG Plant, for chevron. Rio Tinto Iron Ore Expansion Railway Fuel Infrastructure and mine-site administration and amenities buildings. Waste Water Treatment plant upgrades. Potable Water Supply Tower. Great Northern Highway Realignment, structural verification of several highway bridges, required to bypass the town centre and provide easier access to the port and industrial zones.
Matthew has recently returned to the UK and joined Atkins Design and Engineering.
The projects he has worked on are, Dubai Creek Hotels, Crossrail the Elizabeth Line, Thames Tideway Tunnel ,Gatwick Airport, London City and Heathrow Airports, Swansea Tidal lagoon, Doha Metro as well as many minor projects in the greater London area.
Gorton Homes are currently in the early stages of Hotel and Hospital schemes in the UAE, working with the best International Architects, Engineers, and Construction Contractors.