Structural Engineer --> Urban Designer etc

Hey,

Just looking for a bit of career advice/discussion.

I'm a 2012 Graduate of Architectural Engineering (MEng) from Leeds. I gained an integrated masters after 4 years of study, and spent a year studying abroad. I took a project management internship after Uni, and I'm now looking for full-time graduate jobs.

At the moment, I'm looking for Structural Design positions in the field of Building Design. I've found a few firms particularly appealing, as they have quite a design/creative focus on their work or they are part of an interdisciplinary practice. My course was a mixture of architecture/building services and civil/structural. The Civil was not for me, but the last two years of my course were fantastic and I enjoyed integrating all of my different skills to produce a whole building design.

I've read posts about the difference between structural and architectural degrees and feel that I got a good balance between the two - but my course is only accredited by Istructe, ICE and CIBSE - not RIBA. So I have just a few questions, if anyone knows (and apologies if I appear to have quite a narrow-mind about the industry!)

1. My main interest is building design and it's what I want to work in. However, I understand I can't get my dream job straight away - if I was to apply for a structural highways job etc - I could easily improve my structural ability - would that then help (or hinder me slightly) when it came to applying for structural building design in the future?

2. I'm genuinely interested in architecture and urban design. I can't use my degree alone to get accreditation for Part I, but I've looked at the criteria and feel I can achieve some of it. I'm not saying I want to be an architect, but want to keep my options open, if I want to pursue this later. I feel that I may be able to work towards part I from my structural portfolio, current architecture/building services work that I have and maybe do other things to add to it. What do you think?

3. I did a module and a project on Urban Design/Master Planning whilst at Uni and really enjoyed it. I've been drawing theme parks since I was little and creating maps/themed environments and felt that my passion for this really complimented the spatial design involved. I realise I can do a masters in Urban Design perhaps if this is what I wanted to explore - but trying to find out about the profession more, I've become a little confused. What is it that they actually do? I've seen planner jobs etc - and then ones that tip more into landscape design (Which i guess is what I'm more interested in)...


I'm not in the position to go back to uni at the moment, I could possibly take a part-time degree in the future, but definitely don't want to re-study. I am interested in structural building design, but wonder if there are chances to go a bit more "creative" in the future and whether that may hinder me at all....thoughts?