John Taylor & Sons - Hyder Consulting

John Taylor & Sons
Ameria pumping station under construction, Greater Cairo Wastewater Project, Egypt.

John Taylor & Sons: water engineering and
sanitation, 1869 to 1987
Modern society in the developed world may take
for granted clean water supplies, sanitation and
sewerage services that ensure our current good
health and longevity, but it was the pioneering
work of the enlightened engineers and
entrepreneurs of the early Victorian age that
helped to achieve this.
The founding father of John Taylor & Sons,
John Taylor (1817 to 1891), was only eight years
old when his father, a doctor, died of typhoid
fever. He himself suffered from the disease but
fortunately made a recovery and retained an
abiding interest in public health and hygiene. He
explained in Early Record of My Life, notes he
made at the age of 72: “I was born on 12th May
1817. On ‘The Walk’ High Street Sunderland.
Shortly after this my Father removed to Villiars
Street which is the place of my earliest recollections.
‘The Walk’ was (or is now so called) opposite the
subscription Library of which my father was one
of the founders. He was a surgeon of considerable
talent and eminent in his day as an opperator
(sic) for the removal of cataract from the eye. At
the time of my birth he was in his 31st year and
he died of Typhus fever then epidemic in
Sunderland, in October 1825.
“I was stricken with the same malady and lay
insensible for 3 weeks, the only slight perception
of existence of anything I had during this time,
being the consciousness of being carried to his
bed to be kissed in his last moments. So ill was I
that his grave (I was afterwards told) was kept
open 3 weeks, my mother thinking I should have
to be laid there also.”
John Taylor was 14 when he began work at a
local timber merchant. “I was enjoying my life as
usual when my mother told me one morning I was
not to return to Houghton School as she had got
a place for me as clerk in Timber merchants office
and I was to go there at once. Well, this seemed
the end of my childhood’s happy days - for henceforward
I was to be in training for the stern necessities
for making my own living in the world….”
In the Taylor family papers is a letter from his
employer to Taylor’s mother saying: “he is so
inattentive that it inconveniences us; and
recommending that he be put in an Engineer’s
office”. It seems that this was organised as one of
his best friends was the son of James Milton,
engineer to the Wear Commissioners. After three
years John Taylor left the merchants’ office to go
into civil engineering on the
construction of the Wearmouth
Docks in Sunderland, designed
by Isambard Kingdom Brunel,
and later the Hartlepool Docks.
At the age of 19, Taylor moved
to London to work on Brunel’s
Great Western Railway, from
London to Bristol, and was put
in charge of the construction of
the Wharncliffe Viaduct, west of
Hanwell. The viaduct was named after Lord
Wharncliffe who supported the 1835 Act, which
incorporated the Great Western Railway, and
magnificently carries the railway over the River
Brent.
In 1837, aged 20, Taylor was engaged by
James Simpson in London and he began his
outstanding career producing cleaner water and
sanitation services which have led to life-saving
improvements in public health.
James Simpson and his father before him,
Thomas, together held the position of engineer
at the Chelsea Water Works Company and at
the Lambeth Waterworks Company for 85 years
until James’ death in 1869. Thomas Simpson had
been a millwright; one of a group of skilled men
engaged in the design, construction, maintenance
and repair of the thousands of watermills and
windmills around the country. Thomas’s
pioneering work was undertaken at a time when
the old wooden mains started to be replaced by
cast iron mains in the late 18th century. Leakage
was still a major problem, but Thomas overcame
the problem of making spigot and socket joints
Elm water main.
James Simpson, 1799-1869
Trained by father Thomas Simpson,
established the first major water
engineering consultancy in 1823.
Responsible for the promotion
and/or design of waterworks in
various towns and cities in UK and
overseas. President of the
(Smeatonian) Society of Civil
Engineers in 1850, President of the
Institution of Civil Engineers in
1853-1854. Fellow of the Geological
Society, 1845.
66

John Taylor & Sons
watertight by stuffing the socket tight with tow
(strands of fax or hemp) and sealing the exposed
annular space with lead. This major invention of
spigot and socket joints for cast iron pipes was a
great contribution to water engineering and
made it possible to lay water-tight pipes with
increased water pressure, which led to the
adoption of a constant water supply.
In 1821, two years before his death, Thomas
Simpson was amongst the experts called to testify
to a Select Committee appointed by Parliament:
“to enquire into the past and present state of the
supply of Water to the Metropolis….”. He advised
that cast iron pipes were essential to provide a
constantly pressurised service for 24 hours a day
and in order to achieve “high service” – to upper
floors of buildings.
When James Simpson succeeded his father
to the two part-time positions as engineer at the
Chelsea and Lambeth Waterworks in 1823, he was
able to establish one of the first engineering
consultancy practices as well as create a major
manufactory for steam engines and pumps,
J.Simpson & Co. which made significant technical
advances in their design. The water engineering
consultancy that he established in Great George
Street, Westminster, was the founding firm from
which John Taylor & Sons developed. James
Simpson was responsible for the successful
development of the slow sand filter for water
purification and pioneered the moving of the
intakes of the London water companies
upstream above Teddington Lock to the nontidal
Thames. This latter move provided the
evidence for Dr John Snow who, by
examining the statistics of those
contracting cholera in the different areas
in 1855, determined that it was a
waterborne disease. This led to its
eradication in London and elsewhere.
The introduction of the slow sand filter by
Simpson in 1828 was one of the most important
events in the history of water engineering. In
London, the ban prohibiting the connection of
house drains to streams and sewers was lifted in
1815 leading to many complaints about the
deterioration of the water quality. In 1827, a
Petition was laid before Parliament by Sir Francis
Burdett which stated: “That the water taken
from the river Thames at Chelsea, for the use of
the inhabitants of the western portion of the
Metropolis, being charged with the contents of
the great common sewers, the drainings of
dunghills, and laystalls, the refuse of hospitals,
slaughter-houses, colour, lead and soap works,
drug mills and manufactories, and with all sorts
of decomposed animal and vegetable
substances, rendering the said water offensive
and destructive to health, ought no longer to be
taken up by any of the water companies.”
Although some filtration schemes were
already in use in Scotland, Simpson
experimented until he devised his first slow sand
filter bed for the Chelsea works, a system which
has proved to be both effective and is still in use
today worldwide, although rapid gravity filters
have since been developed.
Three years after joining James Simpson,
John Taylor became manager and head
draughtsman at Simpson’s Engineering
Manufactory in Pimlico. The engines and pumps
designed and manufactured there were, in most
instances, specified in the water engineering
projects that Simpson undertook. He went on to
develop compound steam engines for driving
pumps by the 1850s. Simpson and later John
Taylor, were pre-eminent in their field in their
parallel activities as consultant water engineers.
Factory of J. Simpson & Co. 101 Grosvenor Rd, Pimlico, England.
As the railway network in the UK spread in
the 1830s and 1840s and towns and cities
expanded rapidly, their primitive water supply
systems became inadequate, with the result that
venture capitalists established companies to
provide services for the increased domestic and
industrial demand.
67

John Taylor & sons: water engineering and sanitation, 1869 to 1987
Pipes being laid from the Serpentine to a reservoir in
Hyde Park, London.
By 1842, John Taylor was chief assistant at
Simpson’s consulting engineering office in
Westminster, in an area close to Parliament. As all
the significant engineering schemes required an
Act of Parliament, consultancy offices were
established in or close to Great George Street to
be convenient for frequent attendance at
Parliamentary Committee meetings which
discussed proposed schemes. Taylor prepared
most of the parliamentary schemes for Simpson
and was responsible for the design and
supervision of many of his projects. Amongst
these were waterworks for Aberdeen, Bristol,
Cambridge, Cardiff, Carlisle, Newcastle upon
Tyne, Reading, and York as well as for other
locations and for sewers in London. When the
Lambeth Waterworks Company decided to move
their water intake from the Thames in 1849, John
Taylor undertook the design and construction on
behalf of Simpson for the new works upstream at
Kingston which incorporated many innovative
features.
Taylor assisted Simpson in the reconstruction
and extension of Southend Pier which then
became renowned as the longest pier in Europe.
It was originally a wooden structure 200yd
(182m) long which was opened in 1830.
However, it was unusable at low tide and was
extended to 1 /3 mile (0.5km) three years later.
Virtually destroyed by borers a few years later, it
was rebuilt and extended in 1846 to a length of
1 1 /3 miles (2.1km) to allow not only promenading
by the sea but to facilitate the mooring of three
large steamships alongside. Approximately 40
years later Southend Pier was replaced with an
iron structure with a railway running along its
length. It was twice lengthened again due to
silting of the Thames estuary and lengthened in
1932 to 1 1 /2 miles (2.4km) to become the longest
pier in the world.
Another project with Simpson was the
Hartlepool Docks which led John Taylor back to
the north of England where he had previously
worked on Hartlepool’s first dock in 1834.
Taylor succeeded Simpson as engineer to the
Lambeth Waterworks Company in 1869 on
Simpson’s death and entered into partnership
with one (possibly two) of Simpson’s sons. Taylor
concentrated on the civil side with the Simpsons
on the mechanical side until the partnership
came to an end three years later.
John Taylor established his own consulting
engineering practice in 1872, taking his son
Brough Taylor into partnership in 1882 and son
Midgley Taylor in 1884; thus creating John Taylor
& Sons. Projects included the appointment as
consulting engineer to the following towns and
John Taylor, 1817-1891
Engaged on construction of
Wearmouth Docks, Sunderland and
Hartlepool Docks, then on Great
Western Railway for Isambard
Kingdom Brunel. Employed by
James Simpson until 1869, on
various projects for Chelsea Water
Company. Prepared parliamentary
schemes for waterworks in many
towns and cities including Lambeth
Waterworks Company introducing
many novel features. Engaged on
series of gaugings of the flow of
sewers for the Royal Main Drainage
Commission in 1857. Consulting
Engineer to many water companies.
Chief Engineer to New River
Company. Member of the Institution
of Civil Engineers, 1869. Established
own consultancy in 1872 and John
Taylor & Sons, 1884.
Simpson’s compound beam
pumping engine at Lambeth
Waterworks, London.
Southend pier, Essex, England.
68

John Taylor & Sons
Colne Valley Water Company steam
beam pumping engine, 1911.
Edward Brough Taylor,
1856-1941
Elder son of John Taylor, worked in
his father’s office and engaged on
extensive works for Bristol
Waterworks Company. Taken into
partnership in 1882, forming John
Taylor & Sons in 1884. Responsible
as Senior Partner for design for
large extensions for Bristol, Colne
Valley, Chatham, Aldershot and
Herne Bay water companies
amongst others. Advised the
Shanghai Waterworks Company for
many years. Member of the
Institution of Civil Engineers from
1890, Member of the Institution of
Mechanical Engineers and a Fellow
of the Geological Society.
water companies: Bridgnorth, Bristol, Cardiff,
Chatham, Colne Valley, Enfield, Glasgow, Herne
Bay, Ilford, Manchester, Margam, Newport,
Oswestry, Pokesdown, Shrewsbury, Southwick
and Portslade, Stroud, Taunton, Truro, and West
Bromwich. For many of these associations, the
relationship continued for over 100 years.
For example, the Colne Valley Water
Company became the firm’s longest continuous
client. After the water company was formed in
1873, John Taylor was appointed consultant, a
relationship which continued until 1994 when
Colne Valley Water amalgamated with other
companies to form the Three Valleys Water
Company. The firm designed various reservoirs
and, after Three Valleys Water Company was
formed, a new water supply scheme involving
raw water abstraction from the Thames was
engineered with Binnie & Partners (now Black
& Veatch).
John Taylor undertook pioneering studies in
the latter half of the 19th century at a time when
little research had been undertaken in the field of
water engineering. These included a report on
the flow of the River Thames from 1853 to 1880
to the Institution of Civil Engineers and to the
Royal Commission on the Main Drainage of the
Metropolis in 1857. Taylor was appointed by the
Commission to undertake gaugings of the flows
in various sewers, which were taken every 15
minutes, and included in his report which ran to
over 90 pages and appeared as Appendix lll to
the Commission’s own report.
In 1869, a series of letters, originally written
by John Taylor to the Courier Newspaper
between November 1866 and April 1867, were
published as a pamphlet entitled Facts and
Fallacies……chiefly with reference to Constant
Service and a Future Source of Supply. In the
preface to the series of letters Taylor writes: “The
interval of time that has passed since the writing
of the Letters, has also been productive of
valuable experience with regard to water
supplies on the constant service system to towns
from gravitation works. During the past year
(1868) almost all such supplies throughout the
United Kingdom have, more or less, failed; and
the inhabitants, for two or three of the hottest
and thirstiest months of the year have been
reduced to water supplies varying from twelve
hours per day, down to six hours – four hours –
and lastly, to one day only per week; as was the
case at the town of Bradford, where sixty
thousand people in the upper level district were,
for sixteen weeks, reduced to this strait. All the
evils alluded to in the following pages were thus
experienced; and the inhabitants, having no
cisterns, had to store in all sorts of temporary
receptacles, water for use during the sixteen or
twenty hours in which the supply was shut up
and husbanded for the next day’s dole.
“The complainants of the inferior water
supply of London will thus receive comfort and
satisfaction, on being able to contemplate what
must have been the annoyances and
inconveniences experienced by the inhabitants
of such towns as compared with their own,
when they reflect that the Metropolis, during the
late hot season, was served uninterruptedly with
an ample supply of water.”
Taylor argued against constant service
(supply) in spite of the fact that it became
mandatory by 1857 under the 1852 Act. His
argument was based on the amount of wasted
water and cost involved. He also argued against
schemes to import water from the River Severn
or South Wales to provide future water sources
for London, convinced that the Thames Valley
would provide sufficient
resources.
Series of letters
published in the Courier, 1866 to 1867.
69

John Taylor & sons: water engineering and sanitation, 1869 to 1987
In 1868, John Taylor presented a report on
Gravitational water supply of large towns for
the Chairmen of the London water companies, in
which he pointed out that none of the schemes
supplying the cities of Bristol, Glasgow, Liverpool,
Manchester and Newcastle upon Tyne had
achieved their anticipated water supply in a dry
year. Calculations, he argued, should be based on
minimum, not average, rainfall and that there
should be at least one year’s storage capacity.
Taylor was appointed chief engineer of the
New River Company in 1882; the New River is
still an important water source for London. He
resigned due to ill health in 1890 and died the
following year, aged 74. Edward Brough Taylor
became Senior Partner in John Taylor & Sons on
his father’s death and continued in this role for
50 years until he died in 1941 at the age of 84.
Brough had given nearly 70 years of service to
the firm. He travelled to Newfoundland to
advise on water supply, and to Genoa to advise
on a project on regional water supplies. He was
an advisor to the Shanghai Waterworks Company
on their extensive pumping plant for many years
and visited Russia to prepare a scheme for the
augmentation and purification of the existing
supply to St Petersburg from Lake Ladoga.
Shanghai Waterworks Company, original contract
document.
The Shanghai Waterworks Company had
been incorporated in London in 1880 and John
Taylor & Sons became the the Company's
technical advisor and continued in this role until
the 1930s. The firm designed pumping stations,
and fabricated steel units and other mechanical
plant which were inspected and tested before
transportation to China.
For Karachi, India (now Pakistan) Brough
Taylor was responsible for improving the
mechanical plant for the city’s waterworks
including two new pumping stations with steamdriven
three throw well pumps, boilers,
economisers, flues and chimneys at a value of
£70,000.
In the UK, Brough Taylor was an
acknowledged expert on all aspects of water
supply and treatment, particularly relating to
supplies from chalk aquifers. He was responsible
for the extensive works for the Bristol
Waterworks Company. With Sir Wolfe Barry, he
was one of the three engineering experts
involved in the arbitration proceedings arising
out of the establishment of the Metropolitan
Water Board in 1902 -1904.
After specialising in mathematics and
chemistry at King’s College, London,
(Gotfred) Midgley Taylor was articled to
his father in 1880. For John Taylor &
Sons, he was resident engineer for the
Lambeth Company at Surbiton in
charge of construction and erection
of an engine house, pumping
machinery, filter beds and other
works. Midgley specialised in
sewerage and sewage treatment
projects and on his death The
Engineer of June 17th, 1927
stated: “that there were very
few of the large sewage
disposal undertakings with
which he was not directly
or indirectly associated”.
He advised on water and
sewerage schemes in Aden (now Yemen),
Auckland, Bombay (now Mumbai), Port Elizabeth,
St Petersburg and Singapore and was one of the
first British engineers to design a sewage works
using the activated sludge process.
(Gotfred) Midgley Taylor,
1861-1927
Younger son of John Taylor,
articled to his father, Resident
Engineer for Lambeth Waterworks
Company, entered partnership in
1884 forming John Taylor & Sons.
Engaged on water and drainage
schemes for many towns and
cities, and overseas for
Auckland, Singapore, Bombay
and St Petersburg. Became leading
authority on sewage disposal,
designing many systems and
acting as expert witness before
Parliament during passage of Bills.
Founder Chairman of Associaton of
Consulting Engineers, 1913.
Member of Institution of Civil
Engineers, the Chemical Society
and the Royal Sanitary Institute.
70

John Taylor & Sons
William Santo Crimp, 1853-1901
Engineer and Surveyor to the
Wimbledon Local Board where he
introduced novel techniques for
the sewage treatment system.
District Engineer for London County
Council responsible for London’s
Main Drainage Scheme north of
the Thames. Partner John Taylor &
Sons from 1893. Advised Indian
authorities on drainage and water
supply. Parliamentary witness for
Corporation Bills being considered,
until sudden death. Co-author of
Crimp & Bruges Tables. Member of
Institution of Civil Engineers, Fellow
of Surveyors’ Institute and the
Geological Institute.
John Taylor & Sons were retained as the
Bombay Municipality’s London agent for over
20 years, inspecting all mechanical equipment
and designing buildings for the sewerage system.
Midgley Taylor visited Bombay in 1903 to
investigate and report on the surcharging of the
city’s sewers. With George Strachan, he produced
a major document Bombay Municipality –
Report on Sewers, 1904 recommending the
provision of four new pumps, the installation of a
detritus chamber, improved and new outfalls and
the reconstruction of some sewers.
The Colony of Aden was originally
administered from Bombay and it was as a result
of Midgley Taylor’s visit to India in 1904 that the
firm was invited to advise on Aden’s water
supplies. The recommendation was to sink wells
in Sheikh Othman, now a suburb of Aden, to
extract water from an underground aquifer which
went out to sea. The wells were used for the next
80 years, until they were decommissioned by
John Taylor & Sons.
In New Zealand, Midgley Taylor visited
Auckland in 1907 to 1908 to advise on the main
drainage for the city. The recommended scheme,
similar to the one for London but serving a
population of 250,000, was adopted at an
estimated cost of £450,000.
The international reputation of the firm was
well established by this time with the Financial
Times of 30th June, 1914 reporting a speech by
the Chairman of the Russian Mining Corporation,
who said of John Taylor & Sons that the firm was
“probably the most prominent water and
drainage engineers in the country.”
A major contribution to this prestigious
reputation was made by William Santo Crimp,
a specialist in drainage and sewage purification,
who joined John Taylor & Sons in 1893 in
partnership with the two brothers Brough and
Midgley Taylor. Then 40 years old, he already
had an excellent track record having worked as
resident engineer for sewerage works for Melton
Mowbray and as engineer and surveyor to the
Wimbledon Local Board, where he conducted
experiments into methods for treating sewage
and sludge. In 1890, he was appointed district
engineer to the London County Council in
charge of London’s Main Drainage Scheme
north of the Thames.
Crimp travelled to Bombay for John Taylor
& Sons in 1899 to investigate and report on
drainage and water supplies for that city, as well
as advising the authorities in Cawnpore, Poona,
Simla and Surat. His services were retained as a
parliamentary witness for most of the Corporation
Bills considered until he died of pneumonia at
the early age of 47.
He became a household name for 20th
century sanitary engineers, after publication of
the Crimp & Bruges Tables, the designer’s
“bible”, with his co-author C E Bruges. The tables
were based on experiments carried out in 1897
and provided the flow capacity through pipes of
varying sizes, roughness and gradients for both
circular and egg-shaped pipes. A metric version
was published in the 1960s.
The term “main drainage” had only come
into common usage during the second half of the
19th century to describe the systems of drainage
used to remove foul sewage and storm water in
urban areas. As pollution increased, water-borne
sewerage systems were constructed to convey
liquid wastes and rainwater to the nearest river.
The infrastructure for London’s sewerage system
was constructed between 1859 and 1865 and
later settlement tanks were built to remove some
of the solids before being discharged into the
Thames. The sludge was taken by barge to be
tipped into the North Sea. Sewage farms were
constructed near inland towns where the sewage
flowed over land before discharge to a
watercourse.
Another outstanding family member, Godrey
Midgley Chassereau Taylor, son of Midgley Taylor,
joined John Taylor & Sons in 1907 and became a
partner in 1912. He had been an outstanding
scholar at Cambridge reading for the Mechanical
Sciences Tripos. Before the outbreak of the First
World War he was engaged on investigations and
designs for St Petersburg water supply and
sewerage systems. Like many of the staff he
joined the services in the war and was awarded
the Military Cross for “distinguished services in
the field”. Then followed five decades of
consultancy by Godfrey Taylor for a number of
water companies throughout the UK including
Bristol, Colne Valley, Chatham, Herne Bay,
Dorking, Barnet, and West Surrey and
appearances before Parliamentary Committees.
71

John Taylor & sons: water engineering and sanitation, 1869 to 1987
Outside the UK, he visited Cairo in 1935 and
Baghdad in 1947 to advise on sewerage and
sewage disposal problems, and established a
relationship for John Taylor & Sons which led to
major projects later in the century. He had been
invited to Cairo to investigate problems with the
sewerage and sewage treatment systems and to
review extensions which had been proposed by
local officials. His interim report recommended
the immediate construction of a 60in [1.5m]
diameter rising main and a third collector sewer
together with changes to the administration of
the pumping stations. The main report
confirmed the necessity for the urgent works,
reported on corrosion and silting in the collector
sewers, the provision for the unsewered area of
Giza on the west bank and the management of
pumping stations and the sewage farm. As with
so many other projects, work was abandoned
before much progress had been made by the
intervention of the Second World War, but John
Taylor & Sons were to return to Cairo almost 50
years later to undertake one of the world’s largest
public health engineering projects.
Godfrey Taylor succeeded his uncle Brough
Taylor as Senior Partner in 1941 and was involved
in major projects including reservoirs and main
drainage schemes around the UK in the post-war
period. Among these was the Hillfield Park
Reservoir near Bushey, Hertfordshire, for which
an earth dam and a 600 million gallons (2700 ml)
capacity storage reservoir were constructed
between the M1 and Elstree Airport. A large
drainage project, the Rimrose Brook Main
Drainage Scheme, around Bootle in Merseyside,
was carried out to open up land for housing and
industrial development. After service as a Partner
for 54 years, Godfrey Taylor retired in 1965 aged
80, and finally died in 1983 aged 97. The Times of
January 31st, 1983, said in his obituary: “He made
his mark as a witness before parliamentary
committees dealing with private Bills for major
public health engineering projects between the
wars. His commanding appearance and well
modulated voice, coupled with his specialist
skills, were in demand and he contributed to
improvements in public health in many towns
and cities in England and Wales.”
The first half of the 20th century saw major
advances in water and sanitary engineering. In
construction, reinforced concrete was introduced
to replace brickwork and masonry, and steam
engines were replaced by diesel and electric
prime movers. In water engineering, rapid gravity
filtration was introduced and disinfection using
chlorine. Sanitary engineers were required to
meet the higher standards set by the 1915 Report
of the Royal Commission and replaced the old
sewage farms with sewage treatment plants
incorporating trickling filters and activated sludge
processes. The firm carried out a number of large
extensions to UK works in this period.
Godfrey Midgley Chassereau
Taylor, 1885-1983
Son of Gotfred Midgley Taylor,
joined John Taylor & Sons in 1907,
became a Partner in 1912 and
retired in 1965. Advised water
companies and designed drainage
projects throughout England and
became a Director of West Surrey
and Herne Bay Water Companies.
Advised Cairo in 1935 and Baghdad
in 1947 on sewerage systems.
Appointed Senior Partner in 1941.
President of Institution of Sanitary
Engineers in 1934 (later the
Institution of Public Health
Engineers). Chairman of the
Association of Consulting
Engineers 1941. In 1946, President
of the Institution of Water
Engineers (later the Institution of
Water Engineers and Scientists).
Fellow of Institution of Civil
Engineers. Appointed OBE in 1949.
Chatham Waterworks, London.
Hillfield Park Reservoir, Hertfordshire, England.
72

John Taylor & Sons
John Calvert, 1907-1987
Joined John Taylor & Sons in 1932,
became Partner in 1944 and Senior
Partner in 1966 and retired in 1977.
Advised many public authorities
and major industrial companies in
the UK as well as Aden, Kuwait,
continental Europe, the Caribbean,
Africa, Australia and the Asia.
Member of the Institution of Civil
Engineers from 1942, and Vice
President from 1975 to 1977,
awarded ICE Premium. President
of the Institution of Public Health
Engineers in 1955, and awarded
IPHE Gold Medal, Chairman of the
Association of Consulting
Engineers in 1958, and President of
the Institute of Water Pollution
Control in 1972. Fellow of the Royal
Academy of Engineering and the
Royal Society of Chemistry.
Appointed CBE in 1965.
After the Second World War, there was a
long sustained period of population growth,
improved living standards and more stringent
environmental concerns with corresponding
engineering advances in public health
engineering. The international regional and
national agencies, such as the World Bank, the
Asian Development Bank and the Department
for International Development in the UK, funded
projects throughout the developing world.
John Taylor & Sons became pre-eminent in
the field of public health engineering and were
responsible for undertaking some of the most
important projects around the world. In addition
to schemes in the UK and the Middle East, they
undertook projects in Africa, Asia, Australasia,
continental Europe, the Caribbean, the Far East
and the Americas.
John Taylor & Sons staff increased to nearly
600 during this period, from a reduced staffing
level of under 20 during the
Second World War. John Calvert
took over as Senior Partner from
Godfrey Taylor from 1966 to his
own retirement in 1977, aged 70.
Other Partners of the firm
during this period were Oliver
Midgley Taylor and John Midgley
Haseldine, both great-grandsons
of John Taylor. Both were active in
many projects in the UK. Oliver in
1947 undertook the survey in
Baghdad with his father (Godfrey
Taylor) which led to the major
project for the city’s Sewerage and Sewage
Treatment Project and for the new sewerage
system for Aden. Increasing use of the Suez Canal
by ocean liners and the British naval and military
presence stationed there meant that Aden was
becoming a substantial commercial centre and
the services were inadequate. John Haseldine was
responsible for the sewage treatment works at
Kingston and Montego Bay in Jamaica with
Ewbank & Partners and for water and sewage
treatment projects in Australia with Sinclair
Knight & Partners.
Another major influence driving the
expansion of the firm was brought about by
Gwilym Roberts who joined John Taylor & Sons
in 1947 as an assistant resident engineer on the
Rimrose Brook Main Drainage Project, near
Bootle. In 1952, he began to design Kuwait’s first
piped water distribution project and, after his
appointment as a Partner in 1956, was
responsible for Baghdad’s first sewerage and
sewage treatment scheme. Subsequent projects
included water projects in Bahrain, Oman and
Saudi Arabia and sewerage and sewage treatment
schemes in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Egypt, Qatar, Saudi
Arabia and Thailand.
In the UK, the post-war period saw a renewal,
extending and upgrading of existing facilities and
for many rural communities, piped supplies were
provided for the first time. The Iver Water
Treatment works provided supplies for 900,000
consumers from the Thames. Hawkridge Dam, a
30m high concrete dam, was constructed in 1962
in the Quantock Hills, west of Bridgwater,
creating a reservoir with 864 Ml capacity in the
West Somerset area.
Hawkridge dam and
reservoir, Somerset,
England.
Iver water treatment
works, Buckinghamshire,
England.
For many decades after the Second World
War, sewage treatment works were still controlled
by the standards recommended in the Royal
Commission Report of 1915, the “20 : 30
Standard”, that is 20mg/l five-day Biochemical
Oxygen Demand and 30mg/l Suspended Solids.
The practice of trickling filters was used for
smaller works and the activated sludge process
73

John Taylor & sons: water engineering and sanitation, 1869 to 1987
for larger works, collecting the methane gas
generated by the sludge for use as a fuel for
generation of electricity and other automated
control systems. John Taylor & Sons were
responsible for four major works in the Greater
London area, Maple Lodge Works, Blackbirds
Farm Works, Riverside and Hogsmill Valley Works
and for others for Stoke-on-Trent, Ipswich,
Monmouth, Crawley, Wellingborough, Chertsey,
Woking and Worcester as well as many smaller
schemes.
Outside the UK, projects after the war,
particularly in the Middle East, were on an
enormous scale and many were among the
largest in the field in the world. This was due to
two factors: firstly because much of the
infrastructure was for services that had not been
provided previously, and secondly because of the
demands of increasing population in urban areas.
John Taylor & Sons worked in every country in
the Middle East, except Israel and Sudan, ranging
from Iraq in the north to Oman and Yemen in the
south, and from Libya in the west to Iran in the
east. Not only were they the pre-eminent
sewerage and sewage treatment consultants
working in the Middle East, but they were also
responsible for major clean water projects in
the region.
Waste stabilisation ponds, Hofuf, Saudi Arabia.
Projects ranged from the most basic to the
most sophisticated. International funding
agencies provided basic first-time facilities for
rural water and sanitation projects in a number of
countries such as Yemen. For the oil-rich Gulf
States, some of the projects involved the most
modern systems and controls anywhere in the
world. Some schemes treated domestic sewage
to potable water quality for use in irrigation
projects.
Following Godfrey Taylor’s 1947 investigation
and report on a main drainage scheme for
Baghdad in Iraq, John Taylor & Sons updated the
study in 1955 and were appointed to implement
the recommendations to provide the city’s first
sewerage and sewage treatment system. It
became the firm’s largest project at the time and
required pioneering solutions to adapt
technology developed in the UK for hot climates.
The problems included the jointing of concrete
pipes, the diffused-air activated sludge process
and hydrogen-sulphide corrosion of concrete in
pipes and manholes. The latter problem was
most successfully solved by the lining of
potentially exposed concrete with plastic. The
first stage of the Rustamiyah Treatment Works,
serving a population of 300,000 on the East Bank
was commissioned in 1963 with a 20km long,
0.5 - 2.3 diameter trunk sewer, a major pumping
station, 12 area pumping stations, house
connections and gravity sewer networks. Novel
problems had to be overcome as the terrain was
virtually flat and construction had to be carried
out in an established city. Enlargement of the
treatment works to serve 750,000 people,
together with extensions to the collector system
followed with the result that by 1976 1.5 million
inhabitants were provided with facilities.
In 1951, John Taylor & Sons were appointed
as sub-consultants by Ewbank & Partners Ltd to
design and supervise the construction of the first
water distribution system for Kuwait, for a
population of 200,000. The scheme consisted of
pipelines, reservoirs, water towers, lorry-filling
stations and pumping stations with a throughput
of 4.5Mld of brackish water and a similar amount
of fresh water obtained from the first large-scale
sea water distillation plant in the world. Previously
the only water supply had been brought in by
boat. The firm returned to Kuwait in 1978 for the
Kuwait Effluent Utilisation Project, designed to
produce some 450Mld of effluent for agricultural
purposes. A further project was won for the
design of the new Shuwaikh Water Distribution
Complex with a throughput of 455Mld on the
site of their original project. The work included
the demolition of the original reservoirs built in
the first project over 20 years previously which
the contractors found extremely difficult. As
Kuwait had supported Iraq in the Iraq-Iran war of
(David) Gwilym Morris Roberts,
born 1925
Joined John Taylor & Sons in 1947,
appointed Partner in 1956.
Responsible for water supply
projects in Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman,
Saudi Arabia, and sewerage
schemes in Abu Dhabi, Dubai,
Egypt, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and
Thailand. John Taylor & Son’s
representative on AMBRIC’s Board
of Control for Cairo Wastewater
Project. President of the Institution
of Public Health Engineers in 1968
and President of the Institution of
Civil Engineers in 1987. Awarded
ICE’s Stephenson Medal, Halcrow
Premium and IPHE’s Gold and Silver
Medals. Fellow of the Institution of
Mechanical Engineers. In 1987,
Co-Chairman with Derek
Wolstenholme at formation of Acer
Group and later Chairman until
1992. Appointed CBE in 1987.
74

John Taylor & Sons
In Ireland, work commenced just after the
war at Dun Laoghaire and in the 1960s a major
appointment for both the Dublin City and Dublin
County Councils led to projects which continued
for over 40 years (some in conjunction with P H
McCarthy & Partners). The first phase of the
Greater Dublin Drainage Project comprised the
1.8km long, 2.7m diameter Grand Canal Tunnel
Sewer, the Main Lift Pumping Station, which is
amongst Europe’s largest stations with an
installed capacity of 17000l/sec, and a Primary
Treatment Plant at Ringsend for a population of
1 million people. These works were commissioned
in 1988. Further studies were carried out in the
period to 1995 for the expansion of the plant to
provide secondary treatment facilities. Winning
an international competition in 1996, McCarthy
Hyder were awarded consultancy services to
project manage the Dublin Bay Project, the
largest environmental improvement project in
Ireland. The Design-Build-Operate contract uses
state-of-the-art technology to serve a population
of 1.7 million in Greater Dublin.
170,000m 3 reservoir for treated
sewage effluent, Kuwait.
1980-88, concern grew that Iran may attack its
desalination plants which were located in the
north and around Kuwait City, so John Taylor &
Sons were appointed to design storage, pumping
and transmission facilities for a major new
desalination plant in the south near the Saudi
border. With a throughput of 900Mld, four
mammoth reservoirs were involved with a total
capacity of 1,000Ml, two pumping stations each
over 100m long and some 100km of pipeline up
to 1.8m diameter. The works were commissioned
just before the start of the first Gulf War in 1990.
The USA ‘smart-bombed’ the pumping stations at
commencement of hostilities and they were
subsequently re-built.
Dublin Bay project, Dublin, Ireland.
Oil exportation began in the 1970s from Abu
Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates,
which led to the corresponding development and
expansion of its infrastructure. In 1974, John
Taylor & Sons won the commission as consultants
for the design and construction supervision for
the town’s sewerage and sewage treatment
systems. The agreement signed at that time by
Gwilym Roberts led to continuous employment
for the firm for over 30 years and has ensured for
Abu Dhabi one of the world’s most modern and
sophisticated sewerage and sewage treatment
schemes. The decision to produce effluent for
75

John Taylor & sons: water engineering and sanitation, 1869 to 1987
Mafraq Sewage Treatment
Works, Abu Dhabi, UAE. .
Pumping station.
Flower beds created.
Pipe inspection.
Watewater re-used for irrigation.
Creation of a green oasis in Abu Dhabi, UAE.
reuse for irrigation has led to the creation of a
green oasis in Abu Dhabi, considered the
“Garden city of the Gulf ” with magnificent parks,
and flourishing gardens along roadside verges
and roundabouts with gradual greening of
outlying villages in the desert as the scheme
spread. Pioneering developments specified and
designed by John Taylor & Sons of fibre
reinforced pipes to control hydrogen-sulphide
corrosion led to the firm becoming
acknowledged world leaders in this field. With
the average daily design throughput of 2,000Mld,
the project included 1,000km of pipelines up to
2.2m diameter, 20 major pumping stations,
tertiary treatment by rapid gravity sand filtration,
followed by disinfection by chlorination or
ozonisation together with effluent storage
reservoirs.
In 1976, Taylor Binnie & Partners (a joint
venture of John Taylor & Sons and Binnie and
Partners) won the study for the $2 billion Greater
Cairo Wastewater Project, to be funded by the
Arab Fund. It became the world’s largest public
health engineering project ever constructed,
designed to serve a population of 16 million. The
Sunday Times Magazine of 2004 identified it as:
“one of the world’s leading British-engineered
international projects of the 20th century” and
linked it with the Sydney Harbour Bridge
(designed by Freeman Fox & Partners), the
Sydney Opera House and the Aswan Dam. Initial
funding difficulties were brought about by the
signing of the Egyptian-Israeli Accord at Camp
David in 1978 which resulted in the
discontinuation of Arab funding for the project.
However, the British and American Governments
took over the funding and Taylor Binnie &
Partners were required to form an association
with Camp Dresser & McKee of Boston, and
Black & Veatch of Kansas City. A toss of the coin
decided whether it should be American-British
Consultants or British-American Consultants with
the decision resulting in the chosen name of
AMBRIC (American-British Consultants). Design
began in 1979, with the Americans leading on the
West Bank of the Nile River which divides the city
76

John Taylor & Sons
Greater Cairo Wastewater project.
Ameria pumping station (East bank)
artist’s impression, Cairo.
of Cairo and the British on the East Bank where
two-thirds of the population lived. Works on the
East Bank, the construction of which was
inaugurated by the UK Prime Minister Mrs
Thatcher, included some 50km of 1.5-5m tunnel
sewer leading to the Ameria pumping station,
where the flow is forwarded by way of high-level
culverts and two screw pumping stations to the
1000Mld Gabel-el-Asfar Treatment Works. The
Ameria pumping station, with eight vertical
pumping sets and designed for an ultimate flow
of 2.2Mld, is one of the world’s largest sewage
pumping stations and is over 50m high.
Other projects in Egypt included the
National Plan for Water, part of the UNDP 1980s
Water Decade, for which Binnie Taylor Egypt
were appointed in 1978, and the Provincial water
EB trunk sewer (5m dia) primary lining, Cairo.
supply study which covered the whole of Egypt
except Cairo, Alexandria and the Suez Canal and
proposed optimum arrangements for the
Regional Water Production and Distribution
programme. A World Bank and Egyptian
Government funded project was begun in 1981
by Binnie Taylor Egypt for the 4 million
inhabitants of the Beheira and Kafr el Sheikh
Governorates in the Alexandria hinterland of the
Nile Delta. This led to the design and construction
supervision of major improvements to existing
facilities and the construction of four new
sources, 600km of mains and some 40,000
new house connections.
Ninteen-seventy-seven saw John Taylor &
Sons working in Indonesia for the first time at
Bandung, the capital of West Java province. With
Australian project managers Kinhill, and UK
planners Llewelyn Davies, they were responsible
for the sewerage and sewage treatment
component of the Bandung Urban
Development and Sanitation Plan. This was
followed five years later by the Asian
Development Bank’s funded project for a review
of Bandung’s Wastewater Master Plan.
With local Malaysian practice Bina Runding
Sdn Bhd, John Taylor & Sons in 1980 won an
appointment to prepare a master plan for the
utilities infrastructure for the industrial city of
Pasir Gudang in Johore. This was followed in
1981 with the engineering of a new water supply
to serve Johore Baru and for the sewerage of
Terengganu. This local experience led to the
British Government retaining John Taylor & Sons
to supervise the quality control for a politically
sensitive £500 million National Rural Water
Supplies Project in the mid-1980s. It covered 140
water supply schemes across Peninsular Malaysia
and West Borneo and was partially funded by the
largest ever ODA (now DfID) grant for such a
77

John Taylor & sons: water engineering and sanitation, 1869 to 1987
project. The scope of works included four dams,
six wellfields and several major river intakes as
well as treatment plants, pipelines and reservoirs.
With their local consultants, the Malaysian Public
Works Department requested assistance from the
firm to oversee implementation of the project.
The two firms again secured a major appointment
in 1985 for the design and supervision of Kluang
water supply, involving a large treatment plant,
a 20km long 1.4m diameter transmission main,
a distribution system and storage reservoirs.
After their success in Egypt, Taylor Binnie &
Partners continued to work together for ISKI, the
Istanbul Water & Sewerage Authority in Turkey.
Together with local consultants UBM, they
undertook for the part-World Bank funded
project the design and construction supervision
of a new sewerage disposal system that had
already been part-designed by other consultants.
This was followed by another joint venture
project on Istanbul’s Asian side. It involved the
Rural Water Supply Project, treated
water pumphouse, Malaysia.
Rural Water Supply Project,
permaglass storage tank, Malaysia.
master plan and design for upgrading various
proposed and existing pre-treatment works to
comply with the recently adopted EU policy to
ensure that all marine discharges should receive
“full treatment”. The scheme was designed to
serve a population of 4.7 million and included
construction of a 29km long, 4.5m diameter
tunnel and other sewers flowing to Riva on the
south-east coast of the Black Sea. Here a 40m
deep pumping station raised the sewage to a
tertiary activated sludge treatment plant prior to
a discharge to the Black Sea via a 5km long sea
outfall.
Due recognition of the outstanding
contribution that John Taylor & Sons had made
around the world to development of water
supply services and sanitation for diverse
populations came when the firm was awarded
the Queen’s Award to Industry for Export
Achievement in 1978.
John Taylor & Sons’ sphere of influence had
spread east to Thailand in the 1970s, to Malaysia
in the 1980s and to Hong Kong in 1982, where
they worked with Freeman Fox & Partners who
had an established local presence. After working
together successfully for some years, the two
firms merged to become Acer Consultants.
Istanbul Wastewater project, Turkey.
Tunnel sewer,
Turkey.
Rural Water Supply Project, Upper Maur Dam, Malaysia.
78

John Taylor & Sons
Selection of additional projects – some examples from 1950s to 1980s.
Salalah, well drilling, Oman.
Water towers, Bahrain.
Water supply and treatment, master planning
1960s Saudi Qatif Oasis Storage, blending and distribution of desalinated water,
Arabia
900km of pipelines
1970s Kenya Nairobi, Mombasa, Studies into the Operations of the Ministry of Water
& Kisumi
Developments, Low Cost Housing, and Squatter
Upgrading in joint venture
1970s Oman Salalah Water supply and distribution facilities, ten boreholes,
reservoirs, pumping stations, supply and distribution mains
1970s-1980s South City water supplies Study of water losses in 12 principal cities in joint venture
Korea
1972 - 1974 Mauritius Island-wide Master plan and implementation, dam construction, hydro
power production, water treatment plant rehabilitation
and extensions, active leakage control policies
1976 Australia Linden Two water treatment plants for town in the Blue Mountains
in joint venture
1979 India Bombay (Mumbai) Water treatment plant for 2.4 million, World Bank funded
1980 Australia Perth Urban groundwater balance study, strategy for managing
shallow groundwater resource
1980s Ethiopia Bahar Dar Rural water supply project, EU funded, formed Regional
Water Authority for two Provinces of Bahar Dar and Gondor
and trained local population in operation
1980s Yemen Shibam, Seiyun and Tarim water supply systems
1983 - 1984 Indonesia Water supplies Feasibility studies for upgrading water supplies to 500
principal towns
1984 Hong Kong Reservoirs Investigation and report on safety and condition of 30
impounding and 16 large service reservoirs in joint venture
1985 Haiti Rural water supplies Studies for West German Aid on rural water supplies
1986 Hong Water supplies Pipeline for additional fresh water from mainland to
Kong
eastern side of HK Island, 6.6km long in joint venture with
Freeman Fox & Partners
1987 Jordan Amman Water supply, reservoirs, pumping stations and telemetry
control system in joint venture
1990s India Madras Water supply for city and for State of Maharastra
Primary lining of 4m diameter
tunnel sewer, Istanbul, Turkey.
Sewerage and sewage treatment, master planning
1954 New Auckland As part of international team advised on solutions for
Zealand sewerage sewage treatment and disposal arrangement for the city
1960 Malaysia Jesselton Investigation and report on sewerage system for Kota
Kinabalu
1960s Jamaica Montego Bay Sewage treatment works in joint venture
1960s Saudi Buraidah Sewerage and treatment by stabilisation ponds
Arabia
1960 - 1980 Saudi Riyadh 17 contracts for 3rd Expansion Sewerage and Stormwater
Arabia
Project for urban area of 95km 2 , also supervision of
secondary treatment plant
1968 Qatar Doha Sewerage and sewage treatment scheme, in joint venture
1970s Kenya Kisii, Kitui & Nyahururu Sewerage projects
1970s Australia Kincumber Sewage treatment works for Gosford
1970s Saudi Qassim Masterplan, study and designs for sewage effluent
Arabia reutilisation project for 15,00km 2
79

John Taylor & sons: water engineering and sanitation, 1869 to 1987
1972 Thailand Huay Kwang Sewerage treatment works
1972 - 1975 Iran Tehran UNDP/WHO Pre-Investment Survey of Sewerage Needs and
Plan prepared for population in Tehran of 7million, joint
venture
1973 Bahrain Manama Water supply for urban and rural areas, underground
and Muharraq
storage tanks and water towers
1974 Libya Yeffen and Sebha Sewage treatment schemes
1975 Iran Tehran Design and construction supervision of sewerage and
wastewater treatment for Farhazard Estate
1976 Iran Rasht Design of sewerage, wastewater treatment and surface
water drainage for local consultants
1977 Indonesia Bandung Urban Development Sewerage and sewage treatment in joint venture
and Sanitation Plan
1977 - 1978 Iran Tehran Review of master plan for sewerage and wastewater
treatment, joint venture
1978 Australia Woy Woy Sewage treatment works
1980s Yemen Mukulla Sewerage system, 1.5km long sea outfall
1980s Chile Santiago Support for other consultants in Master Plan
1980s Saudi Taif Foul and storm sewers, potable and non-potable water
Arabia
distribution systems and 67Mld sewage treatment plant
with state-of-the-art technology
1980s Saudi Jubail Industrial Ground preparation, electric power and solid waste
Arabia City disposal, drainage, water supply, sewerage, sewage
treatment and effluent reuse for municipal irrigation
1980s UAE Abu Dhabi Sewerage schemes for desert villages
1982 Indonesia Bandung Review of Wastewater Master Plan and project preparation
for ADB
1984 Thailand Songkhla Lake Songkhla Lake Basin Planning Study of 3 provinces, in joint
venture
1986 Chile Santiago Design of turnkey contract for a pilot sewage treatment
plant
1990s UAE Dubai Rehabilitation of Deira sewers
Digestion tanks, Mafraq sewage
treatment works, Abu Dhabi, UAE.
Marine discharges and long sea outfalls, coastal engineering
1971 UK North Wirral 900mm-dia concrete encased steel pipe extending 5km
outfall
into Liverpool Bay
1979 - 1983 UK Weymouth and 2.7km long, 1.7m-dia tunnel under the English Channel
Portland outfall
1980s UK Blackpool and Replacement of existing short outfalls with new 7km long
Fylde Coast
outfall and upgrading of a pumping station
1980s The Gambia Sea outfall Detailed studies of failure of 1km long sea outfall at Banjul,
designed by others
1982 Hong Kong Junk Bay Primary treatment plant and 3.5km long sea outfall, in
joint venture
1983 Jordan Amman Water supply, 60km of sewers in joint venture
1985 Arabian ROMPE Regional Organisation for the Protection of the Marine
Gulf
Environment (of the Persian/Arabian Gulf ) Study to
ascertain sources of pollution for coastal populated areas
into the water of the Gulf
1990s UK Cumbrian Coast Construction of five outfalls of 0.6 to 1/6m dia and of 0.26
to 3km long outfall
Diffuser section of
Shanganagh long sea
outfall, Ireland.
Sludge jetty.
80

Sir Bruce White, Wolfe Barry
and Partners
Singapore container port

Sir Bruce White, Wolfe Barry and Partners: ports
and maritime engineering, 1856 to 1991
The story of the founding of Sir Bruce White,
Wolfe Barry and Partners began with yet another
young apprentice in the heady days of steam
locomotion serving with one of the leading
pioneers of that era.
George Barclay Bruce began his apprenticeship
with Robert Stephenson when he was 15 years old
in the renowned steam locomotive shops in
Newcastle. On completion at the age of 21, he was
engaged on the building of the Newcastle and
Darlington Railway and was then resident
engineer for a year on the Northhampton and
Peterborough line. He was then assigned, at the
age of just 24, to the post of resident engineer for
the railway bridge over the wide valley between
Tweedmouth and Berwick. Designed by Robert
Stephenson and Thomas Elliot Harrison, the
engineers-in-chief, and with the project costing a
quarter of a million pounds, George Barclay Bruce
was entrusted with the task of building the bridge
to carry the line from Newcastle to Edinburgh, an
elegant structure with 28 semi-circular arches
rising 128ft (39m) above the river bed.
Royal Border Bridge, between Tweedmouth and Berwick,
Northumberland, 1850.
It was named the Royal Border Bridge by
Queen Victoria in August 1850. She arrived with
Prince Albert and the royal children by train which
crossed the bridge from Tweedmouth Station to
arrive at Berwick Station for the formal ceremony.
The Mayor had issued the following instructions
regarding protocol: “It is recommended that on
arrival of the Queen’s carriage at the platform
every person stand up and on Her Majesty
stepping out on to the platform she be saluted by
the cheers of the whole Assembly (nine times
nine.) That after this a profound and respectful
silence be kept till Her Majesty re-enter the
carriage, and when, on the band striking up
‘God Save the Queen’, that every voice join in
singing the national anthem till the carriage is
out of sight.
“The Mayor trusts that the arrangements
for the convenience of the public are such as to
prevent any struggle, pressure or confusion, and
that the numerous and effective forces provided
for keeping order will have no occasion to interfere.”
In 1851, while working on the construction
of the Haltwhistle and Alston Moor branch of the
Newcastle and Carlisle Railway, Bruce was sent to
India to work on the construction of the Calcutta
section of the East India Railway and in 1853 was
appointed chief engineer to the Madras Railway
until ill health forced him to return home. He
remained consulting engineer for 50 years for the
Southern Indian Railway, and from 1894 to the
Great Indian Peninsula and Indian Midland
railways. At a meeting in 1889, in a discussion
of some of his experiences of Indian railways,
he said: “that he remembered the old days of
travelling, when the maximum of luxury was
2 1 /2 miles an hour in a bullock carriage”. Whilst
still responsible for many railway lines in England,
he constructed lines in eastern Europe, Spain, and
for the East Argentine Railway, the Buenos Aires
Grand National tramway and the Beira Railway in
southern Africa
In 1856, George (later Sir George) Bruce set
himself up as a one of the first private engineering
consultants and thus founded the seeds of the
company which was to grow into Sir Bruce White,
Wolfe Barry and Partners. The first consultancy
assignment for Bruce was in Canada where his
advice was sought in connection with the Victoria
Bridge which carries the Grand Trunk Railway
over the St Lawrence at Montreal. This was
followed by consultancy on substantial railway
works in Germany.
Sir George Barclay Bruce,
1821-1908
Apprentice to Robert Stephenson &
Co. locomotive works, 1836-41, and
then resident engineer on various
lines. Resident engineer on Royal
Border Bridge, Northumberland,
and awarded Telford medal by the
Institution of Civil Engineers in
1851. Engaged on railways
throughout India and in Europe.
Member of Council of the
Institution of Civil Engineers from
1871, President in 1887 and in
1888. Knighted in 1888. In 1889,
created a chevalier of the French
Légion d’honneur. Member of the
Institution of Mechanical Engineers,
1874, and served on the Royal
Commissions on the water supply
of London, 1892 and 1897.
82

Sir Bruce White, Wolfe Barry and Partners
Sir John Wolfe Wolfe-Barry,
1836-1918
Responsible for major railways,
bridges, including Tower Bridge,
and docks. Member of many Royal
Commissions, particularly
interested in traffic problem in
London. Member of the Institution
of Civil Engineers, 1868, awarded
Telford medal and premium, and
was President from 1896 to 1898.
Associate of Council of Institution
of Surveyors in 1885. In 1901, he
founded the Engineering Standards
Committee which later developed
into the British Standards
Institution and was Chairman from
1905 to 1918. Member of
Institution of Mechanical Engineers
and Vice-President in 1913. In 1895,
elected Fellow of the Royal Society.
In 1897, involved in establishment
of National Physical Laboratories
and on Executive Committee.
Knighted in 1897.
The piers for Tower Bridge under
construction, London.
With his reputation for successful projects
growing, in 1888 Sir George Bruce expanded the
business by taking Robert White into partnership.
White had considerable railway experience and
had worked initially as assistant engineer and
later chief engineer for the Great Southern of
India Railway from 1869 to 1881.
Meanwhile, John Wolfe Barry, fifth son of Sir
Charles Barry, RA, who designed the Houses of
Parliament and other well-known buildings, had
been a pupil and later assistant and resident
engineer to Sir John Hawkshaw during the
construction of Charing Cross railway bridge and
station and for the City Terminus Extension of the
Charing Cross Railway, which included Cannon
Street station and railway bridge. He set himself
up in practice as a consulting engineer in 1867
concentrating on railways, bridges and docks and
was joined in partnership by Henry Brunel, son
of Isambard Kingdom Brunel in 1878. They
practiced as Barry and Brunel. Subsequently,
these partnerships which prospered in parallel,
merged their practices many years later.
John Wolfe Barry and Henry Brunel
undertook engineering projects in Britain,
Europe and China. Perhaps their greatest
contribution to the landscape in London was
their work on the design and construction of
Tower Bridge. The city was being transformed by
the increase in traffic on the roads and a network
of railway lines, creating a demand for new
bridges, subways and tunnels. The earliest design
for a bridge just east of the Tower of London was
proposed in 1824 by its promoters Captain
Samuel Brown and James Walker. They planned
to raise the £392,000 by subscription, in
transferable shares of £100 each. Tolls were likely
to yield more than £100 per
day and investors could
expect 10 per cent on their
outlay, they claimed. It was
not, however, until 60 years
later that the funding for
the crossing became
available from the Bridge
House Estates Trust which
was established in the
twelfth century. In the
1870s, over a million people
lived east of London Bridge
Tower Bridge, London.
and small rowing boats were the only means of
transport apart from the roadway over the bridge.
Finally, in February 1876, a special committee
was set up to deal with the urgent representations
for a new bridge to meet public demand and
designs were invited. A great variety of designs
were put forward and in 1878 Horace Jones, the
City Architect, was called upon to comment on
plans and put forward his own designs on the
bascule principle.
However, it was not until 1884 after he
consulted John Wolfe Barry that a joint design was
put before the House of Commons. This involved
a substitution of the straight span for Jones’s arch
so that the bascules could open vertically to give a
200ft (61m) clearway. Pedestrian walkways were
now a possibility at a high level. An Act was passed
the following year which allowed the construction
of the bridge to proceed. John Wolfe Barry was
reassuring: “If I was not convinced in my own
mind that this was a thoroughly workable
scheme, I am quite sure I should not be sitting in
this chair”, he advised the Bridge House Estates
Committee. Henry Brunel, Wolfe Barry’s partner,
was to supervise all the complicated calculations
and details of the structure. “It is intended to be
to a certain extent in harmony with the buildings
of the Tower; it is intended to be an ornament to
the river and it is intended to be provided
without taxing anybody to the extent of a single
halfpenny, which is a very large element in these
days of large local and Imperial taxation” said a
satisfied R.D.M Littler, QC in summary to the
Select Committee.
83

Sir Bruce White, Wolfe Barry and Partners: ports and maritime engineering,
1856 to 1991
John Wolfe Barry’s
estimate for the cost of Tower
Bridge and its approaches was
£750,000 although it finally
totalled over £1 million. This
was funded by the Bridge
House Estates Fund, for whom
the City of London Corporation
were the trustees, with the
commission of £30,000 being
paid to the architect, Horace
Jones, and John Wolfe Barry “in
such proportions as they may
mutually agree upon for their
services in respect thereof ”.
Jones died suddenly in 1887
and Barry assumed full
responsibility. However, the architect George
Stevenson, Jones’s assistant, had a major
influence on the design and in particular with his
preference for stone facing as opposed to the red
brick of Jones’s plan. As Mr Tuit, engineer to the
contractors Sir William Arrol & Co. wrote in 1894:
“Though Mr Barry has aimed at preserving the
general appearance of the structure…. (as in
the joint design as laid before Parliament) …..
he adopted a severer form of architecture for
the main towers, while the chains, braced, and
raised at the abutments, and the abutment
towers themselves are altogether new features.”
Early in Queen Victoria’s reign, the use of
iron was innovative and extensively used for
Bascule for Tower Bridge, London.
Our Giant Causeway from Punch, June 30th 1894.
Old Father Thames, loquitur: -
Oh! cloud-capt towers! Oh, spanking spans!
What is it here I see?
I’ve seen a many wondrous sights ‘twixt Thames Head and the Nore,
But such a whopping bit of work, I’ve never twigged before! ……….
I recollect Old London Bridge, which cost a pretty penny,
And the mighty masterpieces of the great bridge-builder, Rennie:
Pontifex maximus, great Sir John! But lor! I mustn’t tarry
O’er memories of the misty past. Bully for JOHN WOLFE BARRY,
The Engineer-in-Chief of this! ............
Embark me, dredge me, lock me, weir me, bridge me, and the rest of it
Well, Time tries all. I hope this Titan Bridge will stand the test of it.
Here’s to it, tower and bascule! It’s a triumph and a thumper!
Here’s to BARRY, and to BRUNEL, and to CRUTTWELL, in a bumper;
While not forgetting HORACE JONES, the City Architect, Gents!
Who, though he’s passed, his share of praise may righteously expect, Gents!
To Gog and Magog, who are not too often in the applause way,
And those civic Giants’ backers, who have built our Giant Causeway!!!
prefabricating buildings and other structures.
There was also a growing fashion to conceal the
structure with elaborate cladding. As the
production of steel increased it became the
material of choice. Furnaces were producing 50
tons an hour by the 1850s. Barry chose stone to
clad the steelwork in Tower Bridge, both because
of its appearance and its quality of providing
protection from corrosion.
The Memorial Stone was laid on 21st June
1885 by the Prince of Wales, on the first day of
the 50th year of Queen Victoria’s reign.
It was anticipated that the construction would
take four years but it eventually took eight to
reach completion. Barry, Brunel and Sir William
G. Armstrong, Mitchell & Co. Ltd designed the
machinery which was operated by hydraulic
power for over 80 years. It was predicted that
approximately 22 vessels a day would require to
have the bascules lifted to allow them to pass
through and this proved to be fairly accurate.
The bridge took six minutes to open each time
and initially needed an operating staff of 80.
The Opening Ceremony on 30th June 1894
performed by the Prince and Princess of Wales
was a major event in London. The area was alive
with crowds and river vessels and was decorated
lavishly with flags and banners; following the
opening ceremony for road traffic, river steamers
paraded through the opened bridge. Whilst there
was some contemporary criticism of the design,
The Times described Tower Bridge as “one of the
structural triumphs of this age of steel”.
OUR GIANT CAUSEWAY.
(Opening of the new Tower Bridge, June
30th, by H.R.H. the Prince of Wales.)
FATHER THAMES. “WELL I’M
BLOWED! THIS QUITE
GETS OVER ME!”
Poem and cartoon from Punch, June
1894.
The eve of completion - clearing away
scaffolding on Tower bridge. The
Graphic's special supplement, 30th
June 1894.
84

Sir Bruce White, Wolfe Barry and Partners
Sir Robert White, born 1842
Engaged in railway works for Sir
George Barclay Bruce, until in 1869
served as engineer, and later
deputy chief engineer, for the
South Indian Railway Company
until 1881. Entered into partnership
with Sir George Barclay Bruce,
engaged on railways in South
America and southern Africa. Also
joint engineer with Sir Douglas Fox
on Cardiff Railway. In 1908, changed
name of practice to Robert White
and again in 1919 to Robert White
and Partners. Engaged on railways
in India until 1923. Member of
Institution of Civil Engineers from
1870 and Member of Institution of
Mechanical Engineers from 1901.
Member of the British Engineering
Standards Association.
While still engaged on Tower Bridge, John
Wolfe Barry was also involved in the largest single
dock structure in the country, Barry Dock near
Cardiff, and contributed to government
commissions on Scottish and Irish public works,
as well as on the Suez Canal. He was appointed a
Companion of the Bath on the opening of Tower
Bridge in 1894, was President of the Institution of
Civil Engineers from 1896, and was knighted in
1897. The following year he adopted the surname
Wolfe-Barry.
Sir John Wolfe-Barry, with his partner Henry
Brunel, continued their work particularly in
railways, workshops and port facilities to meet the
demand for improved modes of transportation
both at home and abroad. Wolfe-Barry designed
the Blackwall Tunnel and completed the initial
survey for underground railways in London and
Glasgow. In the latter part of the 19th Century he
was associated with the Metropolitan Railway
between Ealing and Fulham, the Inner Circle Line
between Mansion House and Aldgate, and the
London Underground between Hammersmith
and South Kensington as well as the underground
system of the Caledonian Railway. Sir Wolfe Barry
and Partners, including Sir John’s second son
Kenneth, now a Partner, designed the Blackfriars
Railway Bridge and the Kew Bridge, both in
London. The latter was opened by King Edward
VII in 1903.
Into the 20th Century, George Barclay Bruce
and his partnership also were engaged in major
engineering works overseas. He was knighted to
mark his second term of office as President of the
Institution of Civil Engineers in 1888. Robert
White continued as a consulting engineer alone in
practice after the death of Sir George in 1908. In
1919, he took his son Bruce White and Cyril
Hitchcock into partnership, and the practice was
named Robert White and Partners.
A.J.Barry, a nephew and partner of Sir John
Wolfe-Barry, set up a practice with Bradford Leslie
in 1901, under the name Barry and Leslie. They
were engaged in the design and supervision of
harbour and railway construction in China. Barry
befriended the Sultan of Johore and worked on
the construction of railways in Malaya. He had a
passion for the possibilities of rubber growing and
may well have influenced the development of the
rubber industry in Malaya. Barry changed the
name of the firm to A.J.Barry and Partners in
1906 and in 1911, when the oil industry was in its
infancy was supervising the construction of 65
miles of oil pipe line in Southern Russia. He later
designed and supervised the first train ferry
service between Harwich and Zeebrugge, which
utilised the train ferry vessels once released from
the military requirement in Richborough for
which Bruce White had responsibility.
As the grim prospect of war loomed over
Europe in 1914, consulting engineering practices
turned their skills and experience to helping the
war effort, many joining the Royal Engineers.
Harbours, bridges, railways and other projects
were required rapidly in difficult locations.
Bruce White, who became a Major in the
Royal Engineers, was involved in the construction
of the port next to Richborough Castle close to
Sandwich in Kent, which began in 1915 and
consisted of a railway ferry terminal, depot and
workshops. From this ‘Mystery Port’ as it was
known, the British Expeditionary Force was
ferried together with the requirements to
support an army in the field. Royal Engineers
constructed railway sidings, which brought in the
heavy materials, and barges were built in their
thousands, to transport supplies across the
Channel into the French ports and up rivers to
front line positions. Bruce White was responsible
for the layout and design of the workshops which
operated 24 hours a day and for the administration
of 8,000 to 9,000 Royal Engineers who were
engaged in the workshops, shipyards, dredging
plants, train ferries and tugs.
Sir John Wolfe Barry and Partners handled
the buying department of the UK Ministry of
Munitions from 1916 and erected factories for
munitions manufacture in many places including
Oldbury, Queensferry, Wareham and Gretna,
where a town complete with churches and
municipal offices was built for the workers.
During the period between the wars, the
major practices, Robert White and Partners and
Sir John Wolfe Barry and Partners, worked in the
reconstruction of damaged infrastructure and
extended their horizons to work on many
projects in Australia, Canada, South America,
Africa, India and China.
In 1917, Sir Winston Churchill conceived a
plan for creating an artificial harbour off the
85

Sir Bruce White, Wolfe Barry and Partners: ports and maritime engineering,
1856 to 1991
enemy coast to launch an invasion on the
European continent. In the First World War, it
was possible to conduct the war from the
Richborough port, because the Continental
ports and canals were available for landing and
transportation of troops and equipment and the
plan was not needed. In the Second World War,
however, it proved to be essential to provide
harbour facilities off shore, as the Allied Forces
had been driven off the Continent and Churchill’s
plan was brilliantly executed in 1943 to 1944.
Bruce White entered the War Office in 1940 as
Staff Captain in the Directorate of Transportation,
Royal Engineers (later to become a Brigadier) and
began the work of repairing ports and making
provision for any subsequent invasion of the
Continent.
At that time the British Army had been
evacuated from Dunkirk and there was no
question of mounting an invasion of the
Continent, but rather of preparing defences
against a German invasion. Sir Winston Churchill
boosted the morale of the nation with his
wireless speeches such as his famous “fight on
the beaches” appeal. After the “Lend-lease”
weapons started to arrive from the United States
in 1940, the mood began to change from defence
to attack with the beginning of a scheme for the
invasion of “Fortress Europe”.
Sir Winston Churchill sent a memo on 30th
May 1942 to the Chief of Combined Operations,
Lord Mountbatten:
“PIERS FOR USE ON BEACHES. They must
float up and down with the tide. The anchor
problem must be mastered. Let me have the best
solution worked out. Don’t argue the matter.
The difficulties will argue for
themselves.”
Brigadier Bruce White as Director of Ports
and Inland Water Transport at the War Office had
the responsibility to follow up on the memo,
assisted by his Deputy J.A.S. Rolfe (later a Partner
in the firm Sir Bruce White, Wolfe Barry and
Partners). With his team of engineers at the War
Office, he devised a solution within seven days.
He had been involved in the rapid construction
of military ports in Scotland to compensate for
the vulnerability and bombing of the east and
south coast ports. Deep-water berths and all the
support facilities for two large resident
communities were constructed with great
urgency at Faslane Bay on Gare Loch and Cairn
Ryan on Loch Ryan. This project proved to be the
training ground for the construction of the
artificial harbours.
Bruce White was also involved in the
shipping and erection of 30 cranes from the Port
of London to the Middle East, the dismantling of
cranes in Southern England for transfer to
Scotland and the production of 360 cranes with
their own generating set to be taken to the
Continent in the event of an invasion. Cranes
would be a vital necessity at ports captured by
the Allied Forces, as were port repair vessels and
depots, dock gates and pontoons.
Floating roadway under construction,
Mulberry Harbours.
86

Sir Bruce White, Wolfe Barry and Partners
Brigadier Sir Bruce Gordon White,
1885-1983
Director of Ports and Inland Water
Transport at the War Office, Deputy
Director Department of
Transportation during World War ll,
engaged in design of “Mulberry”
artificial invasion harbours. Senior
Partner of Sir Bruce White, Wolfe
Barry and Partners. Fellow of the
Institution of Civil Engineers, the
Institution of Mechanical Engineers,
the Institution of Electrical
Engineers and the City and Guilds
of London Institution. Awarded CBE
in 1943 and Knighted in 1944.
In the summer of 1943, the plans for the
landing on the Normandy beaches, under the
code word “Overlord”, were agreed by the Allied
Commands and in late August of the same year at
the Quebec Conference, the Combined Chief of
Staff approved the construction of artificial
harbours, code named “Mulberry”. Brigadier
Bruce White revealed the background to the
name chosen for this renowned engineering
accomplishment: “Shortly after I returned…
(from the Quebec Conference)….I found on my
desk at the War Office a letter from a senior
officer. The letter had no cover of secrecy and
was headed simply ‘Artificial Harbours’. This
breach of security appalled me. Fearful that such
a letter could reveal a most important secret, in
the wrong hands, I immediately sought an
interview with the head of security at the War
Office. I insisted that the project be given a code
name. During the interview, the security chief
turned to a young officer behind him and asked
for the next code word appearing on the list. The
officer consulted a large volume and
announced the word ‘Mulberry’, which I
accepted. At the time we were already using
‘Gooseberry’ and ‘Whale’ but had I been offered
‘Raspberry’, I should not have accepted! This was
the name adopted for the project and so it has
remained to this day. Numerous myths have
grown up about the origin of the code name but
this is the actual story of how it came about.”
Brigadier Bruce White had explained his
solution to Sir Winston’s requirement over dinner
at Chequers and how he had observed the results
of a storm in Valparaiso during 1924 when only a
dredger built in Renfrew, Scotland, had not
foundered. He described how it had put down its
three ‘spuds’ or legs and risen above the waves.
The artificial harbour solution involved the form
of pontoon pierheads with spuds, and an
ingenious floating roadway to connect the
pierhead to the land, consisting of 80ft (24m)
flexible girders, designed to carry the largest
tanks, mounted on concrete and steel pontoons
which were moored to the sea bed.
In August 1943, Sir Winston Churchill and his
staff sailed to Canada on the Queen Mary for
preliminary talks on the invasion plan “Overlord”
before proceeding to Washington to meet the
American Allies. Bruce White recalled how he had
Mulberry harbours under construction.
Blockships were scuttled to form part of the northern
and seaward breakwaters, Mulberry harbours.
Military vehicles using the floating roads, Mulberry harbours.
87

Sir Bruce White, Wolfe Barry and Partners: ports and maritime engineering,
1856 to 1991
received an urgent message to join them. “We
flew in a bomber for 15 hours across the
Atlantic, clad in double flying suits and lying
prone on the deck of the aircraft, head to tail. At
Montreal we boarded a small aeroplane which
took us to Quebec where the party was lodged in
one of the Canadian Pacific hotels, the Chateau
Frontenac. Here, breakfast had been the first
food we had eaten since we left England. But at
the Chateau Frontenac every possible kind of
luxury which I had not had for many years was
available in the menu. My most outstanding
recollections was that, after the flights and
preliminary talks in Quebec, I was most anxious
to sleep: I remember being awoken by a tap on
the door from a waiter who came into my room
bearing a salver on which was mounted a large
bowl containing crushed ice in the middle of
which was planted a large glass of fresh orange
juice. My room was some height from the
ground. I thought that I was approaching
heaven.”
It was agreed in the Washington meetings
that there would be two artificial harbours, an
American one to be Mulberry A, and the British
to be Mulberry B. The harbours had to be
available by May 1944, the date fixed for the
invasion. The most immediate requirement
would be the provision of 150 concrete caissons
weighing 7,000 tons each to form breakwaters.
Much preparatory work and testing was
carried out after Sir Winston Churchill’s memo,
but the design work and construction did not
The American, Mulberry A, was placed at Omaha Beach
and the British, Mulberry B, at Arromanches.
start until October 1943. This outstanding
engineering feat was achieved in a very rapid
eight months under absolute secrecy – orders for
supplies were placed with around 500 firms
spread throughout Britain, under the supervision
of consulting engineering firms.
The Institution of Civil Engineers made
available their top floor to Brigadier Bruce White,
who formed a separate organisation to prepare a
volume containing all the information available
on the ports which were likely to be recaptured
in order to assist the Royal Engineers. A search
was made of all the technical papers, journals and
newspapers and the information was put
together with aerial photographs of the ports and
an expert appreciation of the damage which
might be caused by the retreating Germans.
Appeals were made to the public to send in
information about continental beaches and ports
including postcards, photographs or holiday
brochures. Brigadier Bruce White recalls: “One
such photograph, a seaside snapshot of a
courting couple leaning against a cliff, enabled
the engineers to assess the height of the obstacles
to be demolished as well as other vital
information.”
A total of 25,000 men were employed around
the country on the construction of the Mulberry
harbours. Three hunded firms were engaged in
the construction of the 23 pierheads, built to the
specification of the Valparaiso dredger but with
four spuds, not three, to which ships would
moor for unloading. Two hundred and fifty firms
were involved in making the floating roadways to
carry the vehicles onto the beaches. The artificial
harbours had to be towed 100 miles to their
destination across the Channel to the Normandy
coast to arrive at about the same time as the
assault troops to enable them to be positioned.
The forces trained for Mulberry sailed on the
afternoon of D Day. It was planned that within
fourteen days of the first soldiers going ashore,
the artificial harbours would be in place. The
beach-head for the British Mulberry was at
Arromanches and there the equipment was
installed satisfactorily creating a vast harbour
which continued to operate until the winter of
1944. The American Mulberry was located at
Omaha Beach under enemy harassment and on
June 19th was destroyed by a storm.
88

Sir Bruce White, Wolfe Barry and Partners
An ingenious adjustable ramp
whereby vehicles could be unloaded
from decks of L.S.T.’s, Mulberry
harbours.
In all 39,000 vehicles and 220,000 soldiers
were landed in France by the year end. General
Eisenhower stated that “Mulberry exceeded our
best hopes”.
Brigadier Bruce White, described by Sir
Winston Churchill as “an eminent engineer”, paid
tribute to the role of consulting engineers in this
project and others in the war effort and their
“fullest use of originality and improvisation to
provide special equipment and techniques to
shorten the period of construction…” With his
responsibilities for military port works in all the
theatres of war, he had prepared a register of 120
of the leading consulting engineers, port
engineers, contractors and others involved in
port works who could be called upon by the War
Office, and they all had contributed greatly to
solving maritime engineering problems wherever
military operations had been carried out.
During the early years of the war, Robert
White and Partners’ offices were bombed and in
1941 the practice decided to amalgamate with Sir
John Wolfe Barry and Partners to become Wolfe
Barry, Robert White and Partners. Meanwhile,
A.J. Barry and Partners continued to practice with
J.A. Cochrane as the sole principal after the death
of A.J. Barry in 1944, practicing under the name
of A.J. Barry, Cochrane and Partners. J.A. Cochrane
specialised in harbour works in Malaya, the Dutch
East Indies, Hong Kong, China and West Africa.
After the war, the fusion of these firms led to
the creation of Sir Bruce White, Wolfe Barry and
Partners, a name that became renowned around
the world for excellence in port, maritime and
transportation engineering for over 45 years.
The firm developed a reputation for
executing complex port and harbour schemes in
which theoretical studies in the laboratory were
allied to the practical observations of the
engineer on location. Much of their work
involved reconstruction, dredging, reclamation,
and the installation of special equipment to suit
the peculiarities of the site. Emphasis was always
placed on the need to reduce costs and to ensure
easy and rapid handling of cargo.
In 1885, the first reduced-scale hydraulic
model of tidal movements had been constructed
to provide the engineering profession with some
knowledge of water forces and siltation. Sir Bruce
White, Wolfe Barry and Partners pioneered an
important advancement in 1947, increasing
accuracy in operation by taking advantage of the
progress in electrical engineering to design a new
type of testing apparatus. This reproduced the
natural action of tides on a reduced scale and
made it possible to simulate nature by producing
an infinite range of tides, a major advance on the
methods then in use. After further studies, a new
system evolved by Sir Bruce White, Wolfe Barry
and Partners made it possible to build models of
the affected areas of a river or estuary to a larger
scale than was previously possible. They
introduced the use of plastics of light specific
gravity for the bed materials.
Over time further improvements in study
techniques determined the feasibility of
constructing the Port of Muara in Brunei,
incorporating a self-cleansing entrance channel.
Highly mobile sandbanks controlled the
approaches to the natural deep water, so that
some form of dredged channel was needed to
make the port accessible to ocean-going vessels.
Alternative locations for the access channel were
studied using hydraulic models as a result of
which it was decided to cut an entirely new
entrance to Brunei Bay through Pelompong Spit.
89

Sir Bruce White, Wolfe Barry and Partners: ports and maritime engineering,
1856 to 1991
R.Y. Britannia at Muara port, Brunei.
The recommendation was adopted, five million
cubic metres of material were dredged, and the
port facilities were completed in 1973.
Sir Bruce White, Wolfe Barry and Partners
went on to design power stations, tank farms,
cattle feed mills, factories and housing
development schemes. Power stations were often
located in close proximity to water and land
reclamation and this consideration formed an
important part of the preparatory work. The
company was well-acquainted in dealing with
these problems and was chosen to carry out
some important assignments in India and South-
East Asia as well as the United Kingdom.
Following the 1953 flooding of the low lying
lands flanking the Thames Estuary, Sir Bruce
White, Wolfe Barry and Partners joined with
Rendell Palmer & Tritton to investigate the
possibility of constructing a removable flood
barrier. They made extensive hydraulic
investigations, surveyed several sites and
consulted river users. Following a series of
reports, a recommendation for a barrier at
Woolwich and the raising of the river banks
downstream resulted in the commissioning of
the project which the company designed and
supervised construction.
The company’s familiarity with the problems
involved in port construction, freeing rivers and
harbours from silt, and reclamation, led it to
extend its activities to the design of special
harbour craft. Ferries, different kinds of dredgers
and roll-on/roll-off ships were built for service
in the UK and worldwide. Special features
in the design of these vessels have included:
manoeuvrability in carrying heavy equipment or
indivisible loads, ease of turn-round and novel
discharging gear for dredgers.
In 1947, Malayan Railway was concerned at
the siltation of their existing wharves and
commissioned Sir Bruce White, Wolfe Barry and
Partners to undertake a feasibility study for
improving the entrance to the Prai River. A
hydraulic model investigation in which electronic
control was introduced for the first time and
detailed marine surveys led to the
recommendation of a new location for the port.
Detailed studies of the proposed site were made
in 1960 and 1961 for the Penang Port
Commission after which the plan was finally
adopted. Construction of the Butterworth Deep
Water Wharves began in 1963 and involved
dredging, detailing, preparation of tender
documents and supervision of construction of
some 900m of concrete piled wharf, transit sheds
and warehouses. Eighty acres of reclamation,
wreck removal and dredging were included. The
advent of containerisation was foreseen and two
berths were designed to accommodate container
cranes. A sixth berth, designed for container
vessels and including a roll-on/roll-off ramp was
constructed in 1978.
Butterworth Deep Water Wharves,
Malaysia.
90

Sir Bruce White, Wolfe Barry and Partners
90MW Thermal power station, Malaysia.
Singapore container port.
By the mid 1960s, the demand for heavy
electrical generating equipment was causing
problems in the carriage of heavy machinery by
road in the UK. The Central Electricity
Generating Board asked Sir Bruce White, Wolfe
Barry and Partners to investigate whether water
transport could be used to move abnormal loads
from manufacturer to power stations. All power
stations on the coast, or river banks, were
inspected to see if ships could be loaded
alongside, and the ports nearest to electrical
manufacturers were examined for their ability to
handle abnormal loads. Because no suitable
cranes were available, a study determined which
type of ship could handle equipment mounted
on a trailer, independent of shore equipment.
Two roll-on/roll-off sister ships were subsequently
designed. These were the first of their kind in the
world and were uniquely provided with a
hydraulic ‘roadway’ able to carry gross loads of
425 tonnes.
Work began in 1963 for a 90MW oil fired
thermal power station for the National Electricity
Board of Malaysia. The site chosen was on
swamp land adjacent to deep water and imposed
a special problem of construction on weak
coastal clay prone to settlement. Special designs
were needed to ensure reliability of support for
heavy plant loadings and controlled ground
movement in the areas of roads and services.
With the world-wide plans for
containerisation of cargoes becoming a reality, it
was decided in 1968 to further develop the cargo
berths at East Lagoon that Sir Bruce White, Wolfe
Barry and Partners had commenced in 1963. This
led to the construction of the Singapore
Container Port, a major regional pivotal port to
serve all of South East Asia. The first phase
consisted of three berths totalling 3,000ft (914m)
in length designed to receive the largest
container vessels afloat, one 700ft (213m) feeder
vessels berth and one 750ft (229m) feeder
vessel/tanker berth. The container port, which
had been undertaken with £15 million funding
from an IBRD World Bank loan, was an immediate
success and has provided a major source of
revenue to the Port of Singapore Authority.
Sir Bruce White, Wolfe Barry and Partners
had been involved in engineering work on the
River Thames and in the Port of London for many
years. The rapid development of container traffic
led Overseas Containers Ltd to seek assistance in
1967 in the construction of a specialised port at
Tilbury for ships in excess of 1,000 containers.
The project included a 2,000 container
warehouse, refrigerated cargo stack, workshops,
offices and ancillary buildings, with road and rail
despatch facilities. A unique proposal for raising
two containers at once was introduced; a fivehigh
stacking system and a centralised
refrigeration service were other features. Ship
turn-round time was minimised, in spite of
restricted manoeuvring space, and the annual
throughput reached over 2 million tonnes.
The construction in 1970 of a movable
barrier, the Dartford Creek Barrier, across the
mouth of the River Darent continues to protect
the low lying areas of Dartford from the “1,000
year” surge tide, of the River Thames, while
allowing uninterrupted passage of small vessels
and barges. The defence, for Southern Water
91

Sir Bruce White, Wolfe Barry and Partners: ports and maritime engineering,
1856 to 1991
Singapore container port.
Dartford Creek
barrier, River
Thames.
Corniche,
Saudi Arabia.
Authority, was formed with twin leaf, steel drop
gates, one resting on the other, spanning 30m
between two massive reinforced concrete piers.
In 1967, the Saudi Arabian Government
commissioned the firm for a master plan for the
future requirements of the Port of Dammam
outlining the development of facilities during the
next 50 years and for recommendations for
developments required in the first ten years.
Their report included consideration of economic
and technical factors together with the requisite
cargo handling facilities. It was decided to locate
the port some distance from the shore thereby
benefiting from the advantage of a balance of
dredging and reclamation material. The increasing
size of container vessels and bulk carriers,
together with new systems of cargo handling
including containerisation and palletisation, were
taken into account when designing the facilities.
Work on the massive project continued over
many years including at one stage one of the
world’s largest single contracts at that time
amounting to over £600 million. All 38 berths
were operational by 1980, but work continued
over the next 20 years completing the
development of the port
Sir Bruce White, Wolfe Barry & Partners, after
a long and prestigious record of engineering
achievements around the world, were merged
with Acer Consultants in 1991 and continued to
operate as Acer Sir Bruce White, bringing a new
dimension of expertise in maritime engineering
to the consultancy.
Removable dock gates, Gujerat, India.
92

Sir Bruce White, Wolfe Barry and Partners
Selection of additional projects – some examples from 1950s to 1990s
Port of Damman, Saudi Arabia.
Sarawak jetties.
Roll-on roll-off ferry.
Port, harbour, maritime and coastal engineering
1950 - 1955 Aden Dredging and reclamation, Preparation of Master plan followed by construction
berthing and trading estates
1952 - 1956 UK Reconstruction of Riverside 7 berths, transit sheds, offices, passenger building
Quay and Albert Dock, Hull
1953 - 1956 India Bombay Marine oil terminal 3 deep water oil discharge and loading berths with
submarine pipelines, tankage, pumping plant, power
station with distribution and network
1954 - 1962 Singapore Reconstruction of East Wharf 4 deep water general cargo wharves
1954 - 1979 Malaysia Penang-Butterworth Feasibility study of vehicle and passenger ferry services
Ferry services
including terminals and vessels, design and construction
supervision of adopted works
1956 - 1958 Trinidad New slipway 250 ton capacity slipway and side berths
1958 - 1961 India Bhavnagar Dock Impounded dock development and movable lifting
entrance gate
1959 - 1967 UK Purfleet Jetty for unloading Studies on siltation followed by design and
crude oils & bulk vegetable oils construction
1963 - 1965 Hong Kong New dry dock for cargo liners Engineering feasibility studies, detailed design
1963 - 1969 India Reconstruction of Mazagon, Reconstruction of existing tidal dock to form impounded
Dock, Bombay
dock for repairing and fitting-out, 2 building slipways of
2,000 tons capacity, workshops and ancilliary works
1964 - 1972 UK Cardiff Dock development Detailed engineering, operational and economic study
with bulk iron ore terminal and with proposals for major development
inland transportation system
1965 - 1971 E.Pakistan Chittagong Dockyard Engineering, operational and economic appraisal of new
(now
dry dock, workshops, etc. supervision of construction.
Bangladesh) Work suspended 1971
1965 - 1968 New Zealand Taranaki Dredging harbour basin
1966 - 1969 UK Whitehaven Harbour Engineering, operational and economic feasibility study,
development for bulk
preparation of plans for Parliamentary approval
phosphate unloading terminal
1969 - 1970 Sarawak, Port of Sibu Full engineering, economic and financial feasibility study
1969 - 1971 Turks & Port study Feasibility study of port facilities
Caicos Islands
West Indies
1971 - 1973 UK Ipswich Roll on/roll-off berth Feasibility study, designs and tenders
1971 - 1974 Singapore Naval Base Wharves, workshops, armament stores, slipways,
bunkering, water supply and other services
1971 - 1975 Papua and Madang Port Study Engineering, economic and operational feasibility study
New Guinea
leading to long-term master plan
1971 - 1978 Sarawak, Port of Sibu Wharf for ocean going ships, all ancillary services, cargo
handling
1971 - 1980 Libya Tripoli Harbour Master plan, detailed feasibility study, new port complex
extending existing port, land reclamation, dredging,
deep water quays, breakwaters, administration complex,
dry dock, roads
1971 - 1980 Singapore Jurong Wharf Extension Review of client’s designs, report on tenders, supervision
of construction, deep water wharves, reclamation, sheds
1973 - 1974 Malaysia Port Kelang Feasibility study leading to recommendations for long
Kuala Lumpur
term engineering, economic and financial Master Plan
1974 - 1975 UK Tyne & Wear, Passenger Feasibility studies of service, specification for passenger
River Ferry
ferry and supervision of construction
1979 - 1986 Kalimantan Kaltim Jetties New deep water jetties
1980 - 1985 UK Barrow berths Construction of new berths
1982 - 1983 Indonesia Pertamina oil Terminal New Oil Terminal
93

Sir Bruce White, Wolfe Barry and Partners: ports and maritime engineering,
1856 to 1991
1984 - 1986 Kuching Port Authority New RoRo Berth
1984 - 1988 Singapore Jurong Oil Jetty New oil jetty for Mobil
1986 - 1987 Malaysia LNG Plant, Sapangar New LNG Berths for Shell
1988 - 1989 Malaysia Malacca Oil Refinery Jetties New jetties for Petronas
1988 - 1990 Pakistan Port Qasim Oil Terminal New jetties for ADB
1990 - 1996 Saudi Arabia Rabigh Fuel Terminal New fuel terminal
Pipeline and oil installations
1953 - 1956 India Bombay underwater Underwater pipelines between Butcher Island terminal
pipelines
and mainland, with manifolds, pumping stations
1958 - 1960 UK Tranmere Tank Farm Dyked reclamation on foreshore of River Mersey -
bulk oilstorage and pumping facilities
1961 - 1963 India Goa iron ore plant Iron ore plant, benefication plant and transportation
systems
1964 - 1965 UK Overland pipeline from Routing of pipeline from London to Liverpool together
London to Liverpool
with branch lines and pumping stations
1966 - 1971 Saudi Arabia Desalination plant, reservoir Civil engineering works (in association with Ewbank
and water tower
and Partners Ltd)
1973 - 1974 Singapore Underwater pipelines Twin 18in pipelines for fresh water across Kepel Harbour
1974 - 1978 Libya Single point mooring, Feasibility study
Zawia Refinery
Power stations, industrial buildings
1954 - 1958 UK Rogerstone Power Station, Civil and structural works for 120mw coal-fired power station
1962 - 1965 India Kothagudem Power Station Civil and structural works for 240mw coal-fired power
Port Dickson
station Tuanku Ja’adar Power Station Land reclamation,
intake dock and civil and structural works
1970 - 1974 Saudi Arabia SGRO Dammam Quality control laboratories, fire stations, barracks and
housing complex for port and railroad staff
1971 - 1989 Singapore Cable car terminal Design of special foundations
1989 Malaysia Power Station Stages 1 and 2 for 240mw oil-fired Power Stations
Bridges, roads and railways
1954 - 1958 Iraq Amara Bridge Steel girder road bridge over River Tigris
1956 - 1962 Iraq Kut Bridge Steel-box girder road bridge over River Tigris
1956 - 1970 UK Bridge reconstruction Design of approx 40 rail and road bridges as part of
programme
major British Rail reconstruction programme
1957 - 1967 UK Brent Cross Flyover First three-level flyover in UK
Ministry of Transport
1960 - 1962 India Bombay, Bascule Bridge Feasibility study and tender designs for bascule
opening bridge
1960 - 1967 Malaysia Prai River Bridge Rail bridge over tidal river with remote-operated
opening swing span to permit navigation
1961 - 1970 Iraq Suwaira Bridge Prestressed concrete road bridge over River Tigris
1963 - 1970 UK Medina Bridge, Isle of Wight Feasibility studies for alternative opening or high
level bridge to replace ferries
1963 - 1964 UK Barking, Movers Lane Traffic studies, specification for competition for temporary
Junction, London
prefabricated flyover, advice to adjudicating panel
1970 - 1972 UK/France Channel Bridge/Tunnel Development of schemes for combined road/rail
Baker
and tunnel across English Channel
1971 - 1974 Malawi Liwonde-Dedza Road Advice to contractors engaged on major road project
1977 - 1980 Tripoli New Corniche Ring Road Design and supervision of 4.5 km of urban road with
split level junction
1981 - 1991 UK Coulsdon Inner Relief Road Dual carriageway and bridges, including early bored
tunnel bridge through existing railway embankment
1986 - 1990 Saudi Arabia Dammam 40km dual carriageway with parkland, inland waterways
and artificial beaches
94

Acer Consultants to
Hyder Consulting
Bangkok Expressway, Thailand.

Acer Consultants: modernisation through the merger
The new Acer Group was formally announced in
late 1987 and there then followed many months
of practical reorganisation of the two long
established consultancies, Freeman Fox &
Partners and John Taylor & Sons, into the single
group that was to continue their worldwide
operations. New management and company
structures had to be established, business plans
produced, clients briefed on the greater range of
expertise available and existing office locations
assessed to seek economies from the merger
while retaining client relationships.
It was in early 1989 that the major
management changes were implemented, when
a new group managing director was appointed
and, for the first time in the long history of the
two merging firms, this appointment was not
held by an engineer. Eric Bridgen, who had been
a non-executive director of Freeman Fox &
Partners since 1985, joined the Group in this new
executive role, bringing with him extensive
experience in industry with BP and British
Oxygen. Given the larger group of companies
operating in an ever more dynamic and
competitive worldwide market, such an
appointment was essential.
Another break with tradition was to come
about later in 1989. When the Acer Group was
first formed it was clear that the head offices of
the two forming firms, situated only 400 yards
apart in Westminster, presented a prime
opportunity for rationalisation. The historical
need for consulting firms to be based close to
Government Ministries was no longer essential
and the company and staff costs of operating
from a central London base were causing
concern. It was therefore decided to relocate the
head offices out of London. After extensive staff
consultation a new head office for the Group was
opened at Guildford in Surrey.
One of the first new ventures for the Group
was in response to the strong demand for
engineering skills created by the UK water
industry in its need to meet European
Community standards for drinking water and
sewage treatment. The formation of a joint
venture company with Severn Trent Water, one of
the largest of the water companies, was named
Acer Engineering and was guaranteed a large
workload by the water company. The Acer offices
in Birmingham and Bath were assigned to the
company to address the expected expansion.
Although the merger of Freeman Fox and
John Taylor had brought together complementary
engineering skills to allow the Acer Group to
address opportunities in a wide range of sectors,
management recognised that there were still
some gaps in the Group’s portfolio before it
could be considered as totally multi-disciplinary.
The most significant gap in the UK operations was
in building structures and action was therefore
taken to identify consultancies in this sector that
might be attracted to join the expanding Acer
Group. As a result, from 1989 to 1990, a number
of small specialist building structures
consultancies joined the Group.
The first of these was Peter Hayes-Watkins &
Partners, located at Maidstone and with a strong
client base throughout the Home Counties.
Other building structures consultancies that
joined the Group were Hay Barry & Partners,
Armand Safier & Partners and Roughton &
Fenton. The resources of these firms were
managed as the building structures division of
Acer Consultants.
These early years of the Acer Group saw
significant expansion of the business and plans
for further sectoral and geographical ventures
were planned. However, all this growth had to be
funded, and management sought solutions that
could provide added business strength as well as
financial security. In this regard a major
investment into the group was achieved in late
1990 when the US firm American Capital and
Research Corporation (ACRC) acquired 20% of
the Acer Group and a new joint venture company,
Acer-ICF Ltd was set up. ACRC was one of
America’s largest service companies with
Eric Bridgen, born 1933
Extensive experience in industry
with BP, British Oxygen and 3i.
Appointed Non-Executive Director
of Freeman Fox & Partners in 1985.
Group Managing Director of Acer
Consultants 1988-1993.
96

Acer Consultants to Hyder Consulting
London Docklands Light Railway.
Tuen Mun LRT, Hong Kong.
subsidiaries that operated in similar sectors to
Acer, such as engineering and environmental,
and which therefore presented significant
opportunities for the joint venture.
One of ACRC’s key subsidiaries was ICF
Kaiser Engineers, which was formed when ACRC
acquired Kaiser Engineers in 1988. This long
established engineering firm dated from 1914 and
had a high level portfolio of historical projects to
its name, including the Hoover and Grand
Coolee Dams and the San Francisco – Oakland
Bay Bridge. It was the corporate CV of this firm
that held the greatest opportunities for Acer in
project joint ventures and joint offices were set
up in UK and Hong Kong. In addition, a senior
staff exchange between the UK and Pittsburgh
was established to help develop environmental
opportunities in the UK and water opportunities
in USA.
One of the projects benefiting from this new
relationship was Acer’s involvement with the
London Docklands Light Railway. Acer had been
associated with the project since 1984,
undertaking a feasibility study for further
extensions to the planned network. In 1989, Acer,
in association with ICF Kaiser Engineers, was
asked to assess and quantify the reliability of the
first 21 vehicles and determine the performance
of single and coupled vehicles, using modern
reliability engineering techniques to compare
performance with industry norms. Two years later
they were again involved in appraising the new
light rail stock and in studying electromagnetic
interference aspects of the vehicle and trackside
equipment. The Lewisham Extension of the
Docklands Light Railway was later developed as a
public/private sector joint venture with the firm,
catering for 12 to 16 million passengers per annum.
Following on from the success of the Mass
Transit Railway undertaken by the firm in Hong
Kong, they were commissioned by KCRC, with
Belgian consultant Tractobel, in 1985 to
undertake project management and construction
supervision of the design and build project Tuen
Mun LRT, a light rail system to serve the Western
New Territories sub-region in Hong Kong. The
initial phase was completed in 1992 with 22.5km
of double track and 41 stops in a HK$110 million
project, with further extensions following in
later years.
Melbourne Water Treatment Works, England.
Further work in Hong Kong was undertaken
by Acer for the Strategic Sewage Disposal
Scheme, a US$200 million project that
commenced in 1990. This involved a strategic
study of land based and marine sewage treatment
and disposal options and the preliminary design
of the scheme involving tunnelled sewers, marine
outfalls and primary sewage treatment. Technical
assistance was also provided for Rural Water
Supply Schemes at 140 locations throughout
Malaysia from 1985 to 1990. In the UK, the
traditional strengths of the firm were much in
demand with projects such as the Melbourne
Water Treatment Works extensions for Seven
Trent Water. The Fylde Coast Water
Improvement Scheme covered a 25km stretch of
coast in the North West of England and Acer
undertook the design and construction
supervision of the remedial works recommended
in their report. Water quality modelling was
undertaken for projects in Poland and for the first
marine nature reserve in the UK off the South
East Dorset coast. Effects on marine life of
disinfected sewage effluent were investigated at a
large UK coastal resort in the Anglian Water
region. Acer Environmental provided analytical
consultancy through its own laboratories, which
had a worldwide reputation in microbiology,
public health, virology and toxicology after it
took over and further developed the Altwell
Laboratories.
At about the same time as the US connection
was established, Acer Consultant’s presence in
Australia was being strengthened. In 1985,
Freeman Fox had commenced a staff exchange
programme with the Department of Transport in
the Northern Territories. Following this an office
97

Acer Consultants: modernisation through the merger
Seven Spirit Bay Resort, Northern
Territory.
Sydney Tower at Centrepoint.
was opened in Darwin and a joint operation was
set up with local consulting engineers, Wargon
Chapman Partners, who had been operating since
1963. Many award winning structures had been
designed by Wargon Chapman around Australia,
including The Centenary Bridge in Brisbane, the
American Express Building in Sydney, and the
spectacular landmark of the Sydney Tower at
Centrepoint. The construction of the 300m
tower and the 10 level turret building presented
an engineering challenge, requiring application of
new engineering techniques and new materials.
Many very tall structures around the world now
use damping devices, similar to the tuned
dampers/suspended water tank, pioneered at the
Sydney Tower. Wargon Chapman also designed
the tunnels and bridges linking Centrepoint
below the tower with adjacent department stores.
The joint operation of Acer Consultants and
Wargon Chapman Partners expanded and their
status grew until in 1990, with the creation of the
Acer Wargon Chapman Group, the number of
Acer staff in the country had risen to over 200.
AAMI Building, Brisbane.
Other major projects in this period included the
Park Plaza Development and hotels at Darling
Harbour in Sydney, the AAMI Building in
Brisbane and the Seven Spirit Bay Resort on the
Coburg Peninsula in the Northern Territory.
Wargon Chapman had been thinking about
the problem of solving the daily congestion on
the Sydney Harbour Bridge where, by 1986,
13,000 vehicles were crossing the harbour an
hour in the peak period, as many as it had
carried in a whole day when it was opened in
1932. In 1984, Wargon Chapman approached
Transfield, one of Australia’s largest construction
companies, and Kumagai Gumi, with whom
Freeman Fox & Partners were undertaking the
Eastern Harbour Crossing in Hong Kong. The
proposed immersed tube tunnel had the
advantage of requiring no private land requisition
and would link to expressways on both sides of
the bridge with no adverse permanent impact on
the environment. The Sydney Harbour Tunnel
Company was formed as a build operate transfer
(BOT) company with an agreement to build the
98

Acer Consultants to Hyder Consulting
Sydney Harbour Tunnel.
Towing of tunnel units for Sydney
Harbour Tunnel.
tunnel for a fixed total of AUD$408 million in
1986 dollars. Wargon Chapman Partners
undertook the role of design managers and
designers of the ventilation stations (one of
which imaginatively utilised one of the towers
framing the Harbour Bridge) and Acer
Consultants provided the expertise and key
personnel for the design of the 1km immersed
tube component of the project.
The Sydney Harbour Tunnel proved to be
another successful pre-emptive Design Build
Finance and Operate (DBFO) scheme for Acer
Consultants, easing the traffic burden on the
bridge designed by the firm over 50 years
previously, when it was opened in 1992. It was
the first major privately funded infrastructure
project in New South Wales, the longest road
tunnel in Australia and the first incorporating
immersed tube units. The immersed tube
sections which comprised the central section of
the tunnel were floated up from the casting yard
at Port Kembla, 90km to the south of Sydney, in
an 24 hour sea tow, the first time reinforced
concrete tunnel units of such size had ever been
towed in the open sea. The units were 120m
long, 26m wide and 7.5m high and were
constructed in two batches of four, each unit
weighing 24,000 tonnes. They were sunk into the
trench which had to be completed in the busiest,
most photographed part of the harbour, without
interference to shipping and with minimal impact
on water quality and marine life, all essential to
preserving Sydney’s natural beauty.
Western Harbour Crossing, Hong Kong.
Toll booth, Western Harbour
Crossing, Hong Kong.
Western Harbour Crossing under
construction, Hong Kong.
Elsewhere, further major immersed tube
tunnels followed. In Hong Kong, the Western
Harbour Crossing, containing a dual three-lane
highway was built by Nishimatsu and Kumagai in
a Joint Venture that commenced in 1991, with
Acer, in joint venture with Maunsell, providing
the design for the HK$4,500 million project,
which was completed in 1997. Also, the new
Airport Railway Tunnel Crossing began in 1993
in a HK$900 million joint venture with Tarmac
and Kumagai with Acer as the designers. Further
immersed tube tunnel design projects continued,
including work for one of the bidders for the
Oresund Crossing between Denmark and
Sweden and the design for the River Lee
Crossing, Cork, in Eire for Tarmac/Wallis JV.
99

Acer Consultants: modernisation through the merger
Also at this time, Hong Kong decided to
build a new airport on the north shore of Lantau
Island. The previously undeveloped island was
remote from the main population centres of
Kowloon and Hong Kong Island and the
Government determined that new transport links
should include a new Airport Railway to provide
both high speed and local services. Acer were
joint consultants to establish the feasibility of the
railway and the location of its principal stations
and route. Later, they were appointed by the
MTRC to design the complex interchange station
at Lai King, which involved converting an existing
station (previously designed by Freeman Fox) to
allow cross platform interchange - all without
disrupting ongoing MTR operations.
Freeman Fox had been involved in the
design of the First Bangkok Expressway in the
1980s. Bangkok had become notorious for its
traffic congestion and relief was sought by
constructing elevated toll roads. This policy was
much expanded in the 1990s when further stages
were added. Acer was appointed by Kumagai
Bangkok Expressway, Thailand.
Gumi and designed a very advanced structure
based on the use of precast segments stressed
together by external, deflected tendons without
glued joints. Large self-launching girders
supported a whole span of segments during
erection with minimum impact on the city
streets. This allowed phenomenal rates of
construction to be achieved. After Kumagai Gumi
withdrew from Thailand, further sections of
expressway were designed for the German firm
of Bilfinger Berger based on the same techniques.
In addition to expressways, relief from traffic
congestion was sought through the construction
of an elevated light railway in Bangkok. Acer
were employed by the scheme’s sponsors to
develop suitable routes and stations to establish
its feasibility and economic viability.
In 1990, a unique event took place at HMS
President on the River Thames when the firm’s
copies of the drawings for the Crystal Palace from
1851 were handed over by Gwilym Roberts
(Acer’s Chairman) to Sir Douglas Rooke,
Chairman of the 1851 Exhibition Committee for
archival storage. Today, they are held
by Imperial College, London, in their
collection. The Crystal Palace had been
the iconic building of its age and its
construction had brought about the
founding of the firm which was to
become Acer Consultants. The firm
continued its tradition with building
excellence and innovative techniques.
For the Queen Elizabeth II Conference
Centre in Westminster, special services
had been provided to Bovis
Construction for the construction,
which included very large diagrid floors.
For the major European research
centre, the European Synchrotron
Radiation Facility in Grenoble, France,
planning, design, project management
and construction supervision of
structural and M&E building services
were provided for the administration
and technical buildings. The FF1450
million project was completed in 1994
to assist the contracting countries to
carry out fundamental and applied
research into particle physics with the
aim of keeping Europe in the forefront
of such leading-edge science.
100

Acer Consultants to Hyder Consulting
Museum of Art, Hong Kong.
Hong Kong Conference Centre.
Pamela Youde Hospital, Hong Kong.
The tallest residential tower in Hong Kong at
the time was completed in 1989. Acer Consultants
were responsible for the planning and detailed
design of the substructure and superstructure for
the HK$250 million Tin Hau Development over
the Tin Hau MTR station, which consisted of two
towers, the tallest of which was 43 storeys. On
the Kowloon side of Hong Kong, Acer was the
structural consultant for the Museum of Art, and
on Hong Kong Island it project-managed the
development of the prestigious Hong Kong
Conference Centre in time for it to host the
historical ceremony marking the hand-over of
the colony to China in 1997. Acer also provided
design and construction supervision for the 14
storey 1,700 bed Pamela Youde Hospital in
Shaukeiwan which opened in 1991.
A German manufacturer Maschinenfabrik
Augsburg Nurnberg (MAN) invited Acer
Consultants in 1989 to design a foundation
building for a new 32m diameter radio telescope
to be constructed by the company at Cambridge
for the University of Manchester. Linked to the
six other radio telescopes of the Multi-element
Radio Link Interferometer Network (Merlin),
the new Cambridge instrument was remotely
controlled from Jodrell Bank. Renovation work
was also undertaken by the firm at Jodrell Bank
Lovell (Radio) telescope. Mitsubishi Electro
Corporation (Melco), who had worked in
association with the firm for the Anglo Australian
Telescope and the Madley Satellite Communications
Earth Station, again commissioned Acer in 1987
to undertake design studies and site
investigations for a new 8m diameter Japan
National Large Telescope (Subaru) to be erected
at the summit of Mauna Kea, a 4,000m high
extinct volcano on the island of Hawaii. This was
followed by conceptual design and layout for the
building enclosures
The long established Freeman Fox history
in rail-related projects had continued with the
formation of Acer and with ever increasing
pressures for improvements to transport
infrastructure, Acer identified the need for
more specialist expertise within its operations.
Accordingly, in 1991, the specialist rail transport
consultancy of PW Consulting was acquired and,
following the now standard principle, Acer PW
was created.
The ports and maritime engineering
expertise of Acer was broadened by the merger
with Sir Bruce White, Wolfe Barry and Partners,
in 1991, which then operated as Acer Sir Bruce
White. Although their best known landmark was
the famous Tower Bridge in London, they were
recognised as specialists in most parts of the
world for their marine work: flood protection
and coastal engineering, dockyards and slipways,
ferry services and harbour craft, as well as
dredging plant.
The following year, 1992, saw further
geographical expansion and sectorial
consolidation by Acer. Following the unification
101

Acer Consultants: modernisation through the merger
Fort Point Channel Crossing, Boston MA, USA.
of Germany there was great interest in the
potential for new development that existed in the
old East Germany, particularly with the funds
being allocated by the Federal Government. Acer
embraced the potential by acquiring the firm of
IPRO Halle, which was one of the largest multidisciplinary
engineering consultancies.
The geographical expansion was broadened
when the Acer exposure in the United States was
enlarged by the acquisition of the Philadelphia
based consultancy of PSC Engineers and
Consultants Inc. This environmental, civil
engineering and architectural consultancy
provided services to both private and public
clients along America’s east coast. This business
venture, together with the Acer-ICF venture, gave
the Acer Group a firm foundation for further
growth in the United States. Acer’s expertise was
recognised with the design commission for the
Fort Point Channel Crossing in Boston, MA, a
US$25 million project which began in 1993. It was
designed by Acer to be twice as long as any other
in the world and with the largest traffic capacity
ever built.
In reviews of sectorial consolidation, Acer
had for some time considered that a greater
involvement in the transportation study area was
essential. For years the firm had had the ability
to seek project involvement from Halcrow Fox
and Associates (HFA), the transportation planning
subsidiary jointly owned with the Halcrow Group.
However, over the previous decade the overlap
of Acer and Halcrow activities had increased and
the ability of HFA to serve two competing parents
had become more difficult. Acer, therefore
decided that the transportation planning
activities had to become 100% within Acer
control. The 50% share in HFA was sold to
Halcrow and Acer acquired the specialist firm of
TecnEcon, bringing expertise not only in transport
planning, but also economics, regeneration and
environmental studies. The economic and
transportation business of TecnEcon added a
further ten offices, many in Eastern Europe. In
addition, specialist consultants in the field of
aviation, Alan Stratford Associates, a TecnEcon
sister company, brought experience in over
40 countries.
At this stage, the reach of Acer Consultants
was truly global and the resulting structures and
infrastructure developments brought improvements
to millions of people around the world.
In the field of highway projects Acer
continued the significant business that had been
originally conceived back in the 1950s by Freeman
Fox. Although securing commissions had to be by
fee competition now, the firm maintained a large
work load. In the UK, projects were for trunk
road by-passes and motorway widening, often as
part of a design and construct team with a
contractor. Acer and Fairclough Civil Engineering
won the first scheme offered by the Department
of Transport for the A35 Yellowham Hill to
Troytown Improvement in 1990.
Involvement in these new project frameworks
was further extended when, in 1995, after it was
acquired by Welsh Water, Acer Consultants was
part of the group known as “UK Highways” that
was awarded one of the first Design, Build,
Finance & Operate projects from the UK
Government for the improvement and
maintenance of the M40 Motorway.
Elsewhere, major projects continued in Kuwait
and the United Arab Emirates while projects in
Asia were mainly funded by the international
agencies such as the World Bank and the Asian
Development Bank. Projects in India, Pakistan,
Laos and Vietnam were funded in this way. In
these countries the projects included the design
and construction supervision of many kilometres
of upgrading of existing roads to dual carriageway
standard as well as providing technical advice to
both Federal and State Authorities and indigenous
engineering firms. As the need for infrastructure
improvement in such countries increased, the
locations of projects became further removed
from the main urban centres and this provided
new challenges for the staff who were involved.
A35 Yellowham Hill to Troytown
Improvement, Dorset, England.
102

Acer Consultants to Hyder Consulting
Aerial view of Stratford Depot, London.
Second Malaysia-Singapore Crossing.
In 1993, Acer was appointed as joint
consultants for the design of the Second
Malaysia-Singapore Crossing, the first fixed link
between Malaysia and Singapore since the
famous causeway was opened. A long approach
viaduct constructed of precast post-tensioned
segments led to the main span over the shipping
channel constructed from in-situ post tensioned
balanced cantilevers.
A new direction for Acer Consultants came in
1992 with the development of term consultancies
for the UK Government and local authorities.
One such was the Westminster Term Consultancy
for highways, traffic, structures and landscape, a
three-year term consultancy for all aspects of
engineering planning and design as well as
environmental projects in the centre of London.
This led on to many additional contracts and was
renewed in 1995 for a further three-year period.
Early in the regeneration of parts of
London’s East End and Docklands, Acer was the
technical contractor for the Stratford Depot, a
major maintenance depot housed beneath a
Stratford Station, London.
dramatic roof structure designed by architect
Wilkinson Eyre for London Underground’s
Jubilee Line Extension. The dramatic modern
design of Stratford Station will help form the
first impressions of many visitors to the main
2012 London Olympics venues. Work began in
1994 with Acer providing the structural design, in
joint venture, to provide for passengers of the
Central and Jubilee Lines, the Docklands Light
Railway, Railtrack’s Great Eastern Line, Local
Lea Valley Line and the North London line,
creating a single major space to unify the
disparate elements. The striking design was
created using elliptical steel ribs acting as
propped cantilevers, which are tied down to the
concrete structure via cast steel bearings.
Geotechnical specialists had always played an
important role on projects within the Acer Group
and the availability of expertise in geotechnics
and risk assessments for contaminated land was
extended when Engineering Geology Ltd joined
the Group in 1993 with its reputation for quality
services worldwide.
103

Acer Consultants: modernisation through the merger
In the Middle East, the firm had operated as
a joint venture between John Taylor & Sons,
Freeman Fox International and local company
Arif Bintoak since 1987. The office had originally
opened in 1974 in Dubai and had undertaken the
design and supervision of much of the modern
highway network of Dubai in the United Arab
Emirates. It has also carried out substantial
drainage and sewerage projects. There was a long
established presence in Abu Dhabi providing
sewage treatment, drainage and highway
engineering, while the Al Ain office had been
operating since 1977 principally on infrastructure
projects. In the northern region of the UAE, Acer
was commissioned for the study and design of
maintenance works for bridges and culverts in
1994 involving 50 highway bridges. In 1995, as
part of the Dubai Transport Corporation’s
National Public Transport Study, Acer reviewed
the existing operation and made far-reaching
proposals for public transport in Dubai to 2011.
Re-use of treated effluent for irrigation greens the city
of Abu Dhabi, UAE.
The Garden City, Abu Dhabi, UAE.
In the Asia Pacific region, Acer continued
a variety of projects, such as undertaking the
engineering and environmental design for a
world class golf facility on Kay Sai Chau Island.
Designed by Gary Player, it was Hong Kong’s first
public golf course. In Malaysia, Acer was appointed
independent checking engineers for the £260
million Star System, an urban light railway system
for Kuala Lumpur. The Star System was unique
in Asia, being the first Build, Operate and Own
railway project and will be 75km long when
completed in 2015. Projects involving
environmental and sustainable development
aspects were carried out under the name Axis
Environmental or Axis Natural Resource
Development. One such was a World Bank
funded project for the Metropolitan Electric
Authority in Bangkok involving Axis in multidisciplinary
environmental and safety studies and
another, the management of asbestos abatement
for China Light and Power at Tsing Yi Power
Station in Hong Kong.
Business opportunities continued to grow in
China after chief executive Stuart Doughty played
a key role in the largest trade mission that Britain
had sent anywhere in the world. The mission
“Britain Doing Business in China” was headed
by Michael Heseltine and involved 120 leading
companies. Acer was already engaged in projects
in Beijing, Tianjin, Nanjing, Shanghai, Hainan and
in Guangdong Province
The firm undertook studies for new rail links
between Hong Kong to the Shenzen Special
Economic Zone in China. Also in China, a major
environmental problem brought experts from
Acer to Hangzhou Bay in a joint venture World
Bank sponsored project. A pollution time-bomb
had to be defused in the complex project in
order to strike a balance between the waste
disposal needs created by commercial
exploitation of the area and the environmental
needs of one of the world’s largest fisheries. The
Bay stretches 300km north to south and 100km
out to sea and is the source of 18 million tonnes
of seafood each year, yet was polluted with
effluent from one of the most intensely farmed
and industrially developed regions in the world.
An environmental and management master plan
was produced with training and transfer of
technology of fundamental importance.
P. Nicholas Paul, born 1940
Joined John Taylor & Sons in 1962,
Chief Public Health Engineer for
World Health Organisation (WHO)
study of the sewerage needs of
Tehran, Iran. Partner from 1974.
Technical Director on the Cairo
Wastewater Project. Managing
Director of Acer Consultants, 1993 -
1995. Fellow of the Institution of
Civil Engineers, of the Royal
Academy of Engineering and of
CIWEM. In 2000 became Master of
the Worshipful Company of Water
Conservators.
Stuart Doughty, born 1943
Joined from Tarmac. Chief
Executive of Acer Consultants and
then Hyder Consulting 1995-1998.
In 1997, appointed to the Export
Guarantees Advisory Council of
the Government and to the chair
of the UK Water Sector Group
Overseas Projects Board.
104

Acer Consultants to Hyder Consulting
The Acer Group, after becoming the first
European company to obtain a full consultancy
licence to operate in Vietnam, undertook many
projects such as one in Hanoi where a major
component was the upgrading of local
Vietnamese skills and technology transfer for an
export processing zone and associated residential
area for a population of 100,000.
The growth of Acer had been significant over
its first four years of operations. Its turnover and
staff levels had increased threefold and its profits
fourfold since the merger of Freeman Fox and
John Taylor. Further expansion plans required
additional equity and the Directors spent
considerable time seeking external equity
investors.
In late 1992, the firm was approached by
merchant bankers acting on behalf of Welsh
Water plc to enquire whether there was a
possibility for Welsh Water to acquire the entire
issued share capital of Acer Group. Following
extensive discussions a Memorandum of Intent
was signed in October 1992 by Welsh Water, Acer
and ICF – the latter being necessary following
their earlier acquisition of 20% of Acer. Welsh
Water’s interests in this business proposition
were founded on their own expansion plans for a
more extensive involvement in infrastructure on
an international basis.
Welsh Water had already bought the Cardiffbased
practice, Wallace Evans and Partners, in
1990. The founder, Wallace Evans, was one of the
founder members of the Welsh Branch of the
Institution of Structural Engineers in 1930. At the
time of its acquisition, Wallace Evans was a multidiscipline
firm of 700-800 people with particular
strengths in water, marine and structural works.
Notable projects carried out by the practice
included the 1966 Commonwealth Games
Stadium in Jamaica, a stormwater drainage
study for the island of Barbados and all the
feasibility and Parliamentary approvals work for
the Cardiff Bay Barrage in Wales.
While Wallace Evans had built an
international project portfolio, particularly in
the Caribbean and in parts of Central America
and the Middle East, Acer’s acquisition offered
Welsh Water a widespread international client
and office base.
The directors of Acer were mindful of the
fundamental change to the firm’s control that the
Welsh Water proposal would mean. However,
they were equally mindful of the need to ensure
that the Acer Group, which had been so
successful following the original merger of
Freeman Fox and John Taylor, could continue its
success into the future.
After the sale of Acer to Welsh Water was
signed off on 22nd February 1993, Acer and
Wallace Evans were merged with Wallace Evans
becoming known as Acer Wallace Evans for a
short time until the Wallace Evans name was
dropped. Under Welsh Water, the Acer name was,
however, only to last for three years.
105

Acer Consultants: modernisation through the merger
Selection of additional projects – some examples from the late 1980s
t o the late 1990s
Motorways, highways and rural road projects
1985 UAE Dubai – Al Al Ain Road Design and supervision of 100km main road between two
Emirates
1987 - 2000 UK Automatic Fog Warning System design, contract documentation, site supervision
System
and commissioning for 188km M25 Motorway
1988 - 1992 Pakistan Grand Trunk Road Supervision of 250km of road works, river crossings and
upgrading
1989 Morocco Tolled Autoroutes Rabat-Casablanca, Tangier-Kenitra and Rabat-Fes.
Conceptual and preliminary systems design, review of third
party proposals
1990 - 1995 Turkey Umraniye-Altinazade Route location, preliminary design and construction;
Motorway
supervision of 6km, including viaducts
1990 - 1996 UK East-West Route, A5 Feasibility study and route options to Stanstead
1990 - 1997 Turkey Izmir to Cesme Motorway Design services as sub contractor to main contractor;
dual 3-lane motorway, 84km long
1990 -1998 UK Motorway widening Planning of widening for 107km of existing motorways,
M1, A1(M), M25 and M4
1991 - 1993 India Road construction study Multi-disciplinary study for Asian Development Bank to
stimulate the growth of the industry
1991 - 1995 Cyprus Limassol to Paphos Full design service and contract documentation on
Highway
35km route
1991 - 1997 UK M4 widening, J4b to 5 Planning, design and supervision of construction of 5km
of existing motorway
1995 - 2000 India State Highway, NHS, Orissa Supervision of construction for improvements of 38km
of National Highway and four long bridges
1995 Turk- Road network Survey of the characteristics and utilisaiton of the road
menistan
network and a review of the administration and
financing of the country’s road sector.
1997 Hong Kong West Kowloon Expressway Design and construction supervision
Bridges
1987 - 1989 Dubai Al Garhoud Bridge Upgrading and widening whilst remaining open for shipping
1988 - 1989 Denmark Storebaelt East Bridge, Specialist advice on design and construction
Great Belt Crossing
for 1,650m span suspension bridges
1989 UK Second Severn Crossing Tender design, main span 450m, length 4,000m
1989 Thailand Chao Phrya Bridge Bangkok Erection advice, main span 450m, length 780m
1991 UK Skye Crossing Tender design, main span 320m, length 828m
1991 Japan Tokyo Bay Crossing Design assistance main span 240m, length 4,400m
1992 India Hooghly River Bridge Design and proof engineering, main span 457m, length 823m
1993 Hong Kong Tsing/Ma Bridge Erection advice, main span 1,377m, length 2,032m for the
World Bank in a joint venture
1993 - 1997 Pakistan Haheed-e-Millat Bridge Bid evaluation, design and construction of major turnkey project
1993 - 1997 UK Belfast Harbour Crossing Design for contractor and advice during construction for
4km bridge which was ‘Highly Commended’ in the
Concrete Society Award 1997
1995 Zambia Luangwa Bridge Critical evaluation of study for 300m bridge on Great East
Road In danger of collapsing
1995 China Yangtse River Bridge Detailed appraisal for ODA project
Jiangsu Province
1996 Thailand Rama Vlll Bridge, Bangkok Tender design, main span 290m, length 420m
1998 Portugal New Tagus Crossing, Lisbon Independent checker, main span 420m, length 8,000m
Belfast Cross Harbour Bridge,
Northern Ireland.
Transportation studies.
Tsing Ma Bridge, Hong Kong.
106

Acer Consultants to Hyder Consulting
Guangzhou Metro, China.
Govan Station, Glasgow
Underground, Scotland.
Ports and harbours development.
Clockhouse Place, England.
Railways
1986 - 1992 Greece Athens Metro and Light Rail Economic and feasibility studies
1988 - 1989 Denmark Great Belt Link Major tunnel and bridge rail link between Copenhagen
and island of Funen. E&M design services for rail tunnel and
contract documents for supply of all railway E&M works
1991 - 1993 Phillipines Manila Light Rail Initial design
1991 - 1993 Portugal Lisbon Metro Initial design and feasibility studies
1993 - 1997 Turkey Istanbul Metro Initial design and construction supervision, E&M engineering
1993 - 1997 Turkey Ankara Light Rail Construction supervision, tests and commissioning as
sub-consultants
1993 - 1998 China Guangzhou Metro Feasibility studies and initial design
1994 - 1995 Thailand Bangkok Metro Initial System Initial design and environmental review
1994 - 1995 Denmark Copenhagen Orestad Initial design and operations advice
Minimetro
1994 - 1998 Germany Erfurt-Leipzig/Halle Design and construction supervision
High Speed Railway
1995 UK Glasgow Underground Resignalling, supervision of safety signalling equipment for
19th century metro railway
1997 UK Tyne & Wear Metro, Sunderland extension, initial design and feasibility studies
1997 UK West Coast Main Line Bridge renewals, design and construction supervision
1997 - 1998 Taiwan Taipei MTR Feasibility studies for Stages 1 & ll
Ports and Maritime
1990 - 1996 Malaysia Kuching Port Feasibility study, design and construction support
1994 - 1995 China Ports of Yantai Technical, economic and financial studies for new deep water
berths and Fangcheng in joint venture, ADB funded project
1994 Malaysia Kuantan and Kekakan Ports Detailed privatisation proposal, regional studies and
shipping forecasts
1994 Sierra Freetown Port Phased development plan for rehabilitation of port facilities,
Leone
economic and financial analysis, institution strengthening
1995 Spain Port of Sagunto, Valencia Technical studies for expansion of port facilities and design
and procurement for new bulk cement handling facility
1995 East Africa Tanzania Institutional review of transport on lakes for Tanzania
Railway Corporation
1995 - 1996 Vietnam Saigon Container Terminal Detailed design of new container berths equipped with
high capacity quayside cranes together with terminal
development onshore of 20 ha. joint venture
1998 - 2002 Saudi Arabia Qasim Terminal Feasibility study for oil terminal construction
Building structures
1987 Hong Kong Tai Po Gas Plant Design and construction supervision, major facility capable
of producing up to 100 million cubic feet of gas per day
1988 China Diao Yu Tai Hotel, Beijing Design and specification for all E&M systems for luxury hotel
1988 UK Victoria and Albert Museum Preservation and building services
1987 - 1988 Australia Jabiru Hotel, Kakadu Civil works for crocodile shaped hotel and convention centre
1989 UK Hilton Hotel, Bath Design of additional multi-storey hotel accommodation
over an existing reinforced concrete car park
1994 Vietnam Hanoi Sailing Club Civil and structural services for US$10m modern building
on Ho Tay Lake.
1994 Australia Regent Gardens, Engineering design and contract administration of the
South Australia
earthworks, roads, sewers and stormwater drainage for
major residential estate near Adelaide
1995 - 1997 UK Clockhouse Place, Heathrow Civil and structural engineering
1995 Turkey Glaxo Manufacturing Site supervision for new building with sterile
Plant, Istanbul
manufacturing suites
1995 Ausralia The Gabba, Brisbane Town planning consultants for redevelopment of famous
test cricket arena
107

Acer Consultants: modernisation through the merger
Water and Wastewater Treatment, Environmental Engineering, Structures
1987 Kuwait Al Zour water storage/ Pipelines, pumping station, reservoirs from desalination
Pumping project
plant to Kuwait City
1988 - 1991 UK Isle of Man First refuse incinerator built in UK to EC new emission standards
1988 Jordan Amman water supplies Supervision of construction of three service reservoirs
and trunk pipelines
1990 Egypt Rural water supplies, Beheira Supervisory services in joint venture for massive World
Bank funded project
1990 - 1993 UK Mythe Water Treatment Works Major upgrade including addition of GAC and ozone treatment
1990 - 1994 UK Leek Sewage Treatment Major extensions to existing works
Works Extension
1990 - 1995 UK Tittesworth Water Treatment Outline design and supervision of design/construct
Works, Staffordshire
contract
1990 UK Penzance & St Ives Sewerage Design consultants for design and construct contract
and Sewage Treatment
1991 UK Cumbrian coast outfalls Coastal wastewater planning study, site supervision and
technical support
1993 UK Cardiff Bay Barrage Advice, project management, ground water monitoring,
water quality monitoring, instrumentation
1994 Thailand Chachoengsao Province Master plan and feasibility study with view to privatisation
for 20 year plan to upgrade and expand water supply
1994 UK Launceston Sewage Extension and improvements to existing works, winning
Treatment Works South West Water’s Cornwall Division Site of the Year for 1994
1994 Taiwan Common Trench Project Major study for reconstruction of all utility services in
accessible tunnels in heavily-trafficked streets of Taipei
1994 UK Aberystwyth Waste Ultra violet light disinfection plan to meet EU future
Water Treatment Works requirements
1994 Spain Industrial site Major survey of pollution from pulp mill and chlor-alkaki
monitoring of effluent plant on Ria de Pontevedra and monitoring of discharges
on local aquaculture sites and bathing beaches
1995 UK Trawsfynydd Sewage Refurbishment of works for Nuclear Electric
Treatment Works
1995 UK 455 Railtrack sites Environmental liability assessments including risk of
contamination
1995 UK Brecon Beacons Underground service reservoir in National Park including
Bryncoch, Wales
landscaping works
1995 - 1999 Greece Psyttalia Sewage Design and supervision of biological secondary services
Treatment Works, Athens in joint venture, technical assistance
Planning, transportation, economic and strategic studies
1993 China Guangdong Highway Technical assistance and appraisals for World Bank Finance
Financing Technical Assistance Office and Guangdong Province Communication Department
1993 Zambia Luangwa Bridge Appraisal Critical evaluation and economic analysis for DANIDA
1994 Europe Impact of Internal Market European Commission Studies, DGXXlll
on the Tourism Sector
1994 UK Merseyside Development Project appraisal and evaluation services.
Corporation
EU Objective 1 appraisal
1994 UK Flood protection Assessment and development of Stated Preference
appraisal studies
techniques
1994 UK Northern Ireland Railways Appraisal of railway projects for ERDF grant support
financial viability
1995 - 1996 China Yangtze River Economic, financial, technical, environmental, social
Suspension Bridge
and institutional appraisals for ODA
1995 - 1996 Vietnam Ferry Services in Economic and financial appraisals to allow
Mekong River Delta
recommendations for future investment purposes
1995 - 1996 UAE Dubai parking zones Review of existing controlled parking zones and
investigations for expansion. Also vehicle
telecommunications and control equipment studies
1995 - 1996 UK London Underground Pedestrian movement studies and congestion analysis.
Psytallia Sewage Treatment Works,
Athens, Greece.
Strategic studies.
Environmental and transportation
studies.
Transportation studies and concept
design.
108

Acer Consultants to
Hyder Consulting
Emirates Towers, Dubai, UAE.

Hyder Consulting: 1996 to the future
The Hyder Consulting name, with which the
company is moving forward into the next phase
of its history, was born in 1996.
The word ‘hyder’ means ‘confidence’ in
Welsh (pronounced ‘hudder’ in Wales) and was
the word selected by Welsh Water for its major
rebranding exercise as it sought increasingly to
move into non-regulated businesses.
A key part of its strategy was to expand
internationally by securing management and
operations contracts. The consulting arm of the
business, with its long history of international
experience and contacts – a significant part of
it in the water sector - was seen as a way of
opening doors.
Whilst this approach was pursued with, it has
to be said, limited success, Hyder Consulting, first
under the leadership of Stuart Doughty and from
1998, current chief executive, Tim Wade,
continued to become involved in landmark
projects in its own right, notably the twin
Emirates Towers in Dubai.
At the time of its completion in 2,000, the
350m high office building was the tallest in the
Middle East and Europe and the ninth tallest in
the world. Along with the adjacent 305m
hotel tower, the two buildings have
become a symbol of Dubai’s dynamic
growth featured, amongst other places,
on the cover of promotional material and
first class menus of the Dubai-based
airline, Emirates Airlines.
The towers have paved the way for an
incredible building boom across the
Middle East, particularly in UAE, Bahrain,
Kuwait and Qatar. Whilst in the 21st
century, the great social and technological
movements that drove engineering
progress and innovation in the 19th and
early 20th centuries are generally harder
to define, the Middle East is perhaps the
exception to the rule. Many countries in
the region, looking ahead to times when
oil and gas reserves will start to run down, are
ploughing huge investment into diversifying their
economies, particularly into tourism and leisure.
At one time, it was estimated that between 25 and
50% of the world’s tower cranes were situated in
Dubai. Bearing in mind that barely 40 years ago,
there was hardly any large-scale development in
these countries, this is a significant shift.
Outside the Middle East, other projects
started in the late 1990s included the Melbourne
City Link and M5 East motorways in Australia, the
Sydney Harbour Bridge Climb and Federation
Square in Melbourne for which the company
received the Australian Engineering Excellence
Award. This project involved building a completely
new city precinct over the main railway lines
without disrupting rail services in order to resolve
an 80-year quandary over how to reconnect the
central business district of Melbourne with the
Yarra River. The square is home to a host of new
cultural attractions, including the largest
collection of Aboriginal art anywhere in the world,
and has become the geographic focus of annual
New Year’s Eve celebrations in the city.
Tim Wade, born 1944
Tim Wade grew up in Northern and
Southern Rhodesia, now Zambia
and Zimbabwe. He studied civil
engineering in Scotland before
being engaged on a range of
significant projects in Africa,
including the Carlton Centre in
Johannesburg, then the tallest
concrete framed building in the
world; the Nacala Railway from
Malawi to the Mozambique coast;
process infrastructure in the
mining industry and national
highways. He was managing
director of Murray & Roberts'
Zambia subsidiary, some 3,000
people, and built Wade Adams
Construction, a contractor still
active in the Middle East today.
Appointed Chief Executive in 1998.
Led the management buy-out in
2001 and took the company on to
the Stock Market in 2002.
Dubai Marina, UAE.
110

Acer Consultants to Hyder Consulting
Melbourne Federation Square, Australia.
Air intake shaft, M5 east,
Sydney, Australia.
Visitors enjoying the
view, Sydney Skywalk,
Australia.
Melbourne City Link, Australia.
Project Aquatrine, UK.
Around the same time, the company’s
involvement started in West Rail in Hong Kong,
and Project Aquatrine, the largest Public Private
Partnership (PPP) project in the UK up to that
time, involving the transfer of Ministry of Defence
water and wastewater assets to the private sector.
Through one of the Korean contractors
appointed to work on the Taiwan High Speed
Rail project, the company also became involved
in the world’s largest civil engineering
undertaking at that time. Taiwan is one of the
world’s most active earthquake zones and, as
much of the 43km of the 350km route that Hyder
was responsible for ran on viaducts or through
tunnels, the design presented a major challenge.
In many areas, the only access available was via
farm or minor county roads, making delivery of
equipment a major consideration. The resulting
design approach was a balancing act between the
high seismic loading; the very stiff structure
required to meet the strict ride performance
criteria, the need for an economic design and
the need for a buildable design.
The transition to the Hyder name wasn’t
without its difficulties. The John Taylor and
Freeman Fox names, in particular, had been
West Rail, Hong Kong.
Taiwan High Speed Rail Project.
111

Hyder Consulting: 1996 to the future
significant brands in the engineering world, and
clients and potential clients did not necessarily
equate Hyder with their heritage and experience.
Furthermore, being owned by a major UK
regional utility made a number of other UK
utility businesses reluctant to give work to a
competitor’s subsidiary.
That ownership came to an end in November
2000 when Hyder plc, burdened with the debt
used to fund its expansion strategy, was bought
by the US-owned utility company, Western Power
Distribution (WPD). It became clear from an early
stage that WPD’s interest lay in the utility
operations, enabling Tim Wade and fellow senior
directors to put together a management buy-out
package.
In January 2001, Hyder Consulting regained
its independence, owned by its directors and
senior management. Pressure came from certain
quarters to rename the business once again,
perhaps adopting something based on the
famous names of the past. However, the changes
of the previous 10 to 15 years and the effort
invested in establishing the Hyder Consulting
name in the global market persuaded the
directors to stick with what they had.
The years in which the consulting business
had been a small part of the Welsh Water and
then Hyder plc organisations had seen
considerable changes in the market for
professional consulting services. The market
crashes in Asia had left a number of the
company’s traditional markets weak.
Consolidation and stock market listings of
consulting engineers had started to take a hold
in the UK and there was increasing price
competition, not only domestically but from
emerging economies such as India and China. A
number of years of losses needed to be reversed.
Difficult decisions had to be taken. Among
these was the company’s withdrawal from the
Indian market and a substantial slimming back of
its operations in South East Asia.
Elsewhere, however, the company continued
to take strides in the areas it had targeted for
growth and expansion. After the completion of
Emirates Towers, Hyder Consulting was
increasingly recognised for its capability in
designing tall buildings. In Australia, the company
was appointed to design the Citigate Centre in
Sydney and Latitude at World Square.
The latter was the first major high-rise
building to be designed and built in steel
after the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the
United States. Recent examples in
Australia include the Ernst & Young
Centre in Sydney and The Wave, a
residential tower on the Gold Coast that
received a 2006 International Emporis
Skyscraper Award.
Another major challenge faced by the
business at this time was the continuing
rapid changes in the way that technical
consulting services were procured. Many
of these changes put the emphasis on
consultants working as part of integrated
teams of technical service providers. Ever
more frequently, the consultant’s client is
the construction contractor or another
third party in the supply chain, rather than
the end client.
Indicative of the number of new
contract forms that have emerged in the
past ten years, Hyder was the structural
designer in the UK Government’s first
ever schools Private Finance Initiative
(PFI) project for Colfox School in Dorset.
The company also designed the UK
Highways Agency’s first Early Contractor
Involvement (ECI) project, the A500 in Stoke-on-
Trent, a complex urban highway widening project
on which it worked with Edmund Nuttall.
While steady progress was made in the
company turnaround, a central part of its longerterm
strategy was to expand, in particular,
technical areas through the acquisition of smaller,
specialised consultancies. Flotation on the Stock
Market was seen as the obvious way to raise the
money but, at the time of the buy-out, was
probably seen as three to four years ahead.
In 2002, it was resolved to proceed with a
flotation by way of a reverse takeover of a listed
cash shed. This allowed a quickening in the pace
of change away from traditional engineering
design towards more broadly based consultancy
embracing a component of non-engineering
services bringing increased value to clients. It
gave the company access to capital markets and
hence to acquisitions which further facilitate the
changing face of the company. A number of
Intelligent transport and environmental
services are amongst Hyder Consulting’s
fastest growing areas of work.
Simon Hamilton-Eddy, born 1945
Having joined Wallace Evans 1992,
Simon became finance director in
1993 after Welsh Water acquired
Acer. He was also responsible for the
commercial function for a number
of years and was instrumental in
bringing about the business
mindset and structure that is so
essential to the consultancy market
of today. Along with Tim Wade he
led the management buy-out of
Hyder Consulting in 2001.
112

Acer Consultants to Hyder Consulting
acquisitions have followed in the UK, Germany,
the Middle East and Australia (see table). These
have seen the company developing its capabilities
in planning, environmental and other advisory
services while continuing to build its engineering
design services.
Burj Tower, Dubai, UAE and under
construction (below).
Acquisitions since 2002
UK
Ashact (environmental and process
engineering)
Bettridge Turner & Partners (land development
and transport)
Cresswell Associates (ecology)
Marcus Hodges Environment (environment and
hydrology)
RPA Quantity Surveyors (cost and project
management)
Germany
Munnich Projekt (highways and transport
engineering)
Middle East
Roberts & Partners International (mechanical,
electrical and plumbing)
East Asia
ACLA (masterplanning and landscape
architecture)
Australia
Adamus Consulting Practice (building
technologies)
IrwinConsult New South Wales (transport)
Jeff Moulsdale & Associates (land development)
Nolan-ITU (environment and waste
management)
Peter Clarke & Associates (building services)
RFA (acoustics)
Weathered Howe (building and infrastructure
specialising in the tourism and leisure sector)
This reflects the ever growing importance of
'softer' skills in the built environment and the
changing needs of client groups. The consulting
market place of today is very different from the
one in which Charles Fox first started to operate
150 years ago. In those days, British engineers
were largely unchallenged in taking their
expertise on to the world market. Today,
competition for design work comes from all
corners of the world and, increasingly, from
Shams Sky Tower, Abu Dhabi, UAE.
companies based in developing countries whose
lower cost economies give them an advantage in
the increasingly cost-conscious environment in
which consultants operate.
Even so, consultants with their headquarters
in the UK generated over £6 billion for the
economy in 2005. As a top 20 firm, Hyder
Consulting continues to play a significant part
in projects all around the world. Among these,
Hyder is the consultant of record for the Burj
Dubai Tower in Dubai which, when it is opened
in 2008, will take over the mantle of the tallest
building in the world. The company has also
been appointed to design the tallest buildings
in both Abu Dhabi, the Shams Sky Tower, and
in Qatar. In China, Hyder Consulting has won
four design competitions in the past two years
for bridges.
Projects such as these demonstrate that the
ingenuity and skill that characterised the
company’s origins and the engineers of the past
are still alive and well today. Hyder Consulting,
with its increased financial robustness and
excellent skill base, is well placed to remain a
world leader delivering client satisfaction and
iconic infrastructure “footprints”. In this 150th
year of the consultancy's operations, how fitting
therefore that the firm should be named
International Firm of the Year in the Association
for Consultancy and Engineering/New Civil
Engineer magazine annual awards for 2007.
113

Hyder Consulting: 1996 to the future
Major Projects 1996-2007
1996 - 2000 Dubai Emirates Towers, Structural engineer for twin towers, both in excess of 300m tall.
Winner of the Institution of Structural Engineers Excellence Award
1996 - 2001 UK Cardiff East Wastewater Project manager and designer of plant designed to
Treatment Plant serve 1 million population and cease crude sewerage
discharges into the Bristol Channel
1997 - 2006 UK Project Aquatrine Technical advisor for the contract to place management of
Ministry of Defence water and wastewater assets with private
consortia
1997 - 2006 Ireland Dublin Bay Project Project manager and construction supervisor for Ireland’s
largest ever environmental project, partially involving
construction of a new wastewater treatment plant to
eradicate crude discharges into Dublin Bay
1998 - 2002 Australia Federation Square, Design of a major new city leisure and arts precinct built
Melbourne
over the main railway lines serving the centre of Melbourne.
Winner of the Australian Engineering Excellence Award
1998 - 2002 Australia M5 East, Sydney Designer of 10.5km complex, urban highway linking the centre of
Sydney to the international airport
1998 - 2003 Australia Melbourne City Link Highways engineering, tunnel design and traffic forecasting and
management advice for what, at the time, was Australia’s largest
privately funded road scheme
1998 - 2004 Hong Kong West Rail Design of Nam Cheong and Mei Foo stations and 2km of
connecting cut and cover tunnel. Winner of the overseas category
of the 2004 British Construction Industry Awards
2000 - 2006 Taiwan High Speed Rail project Civils designer for 43km of the 350km high speed rail line running
across Taiwan
2002 - 2005 Australia Latitude at World Structural designer of this 55-storey tower which was
Square, Sydney
‘launched’ from an existing heritage listed 14-storey structure.
Winner of the 2006 Australian Steel Institute design award
2003 - 2005 UAE Ski Dubai The first indoor ski slope built in the Middle East. Structural and
building services engineer for the 83m high, 400m long slope
2004 - 2006 Australia Sydney Skywalk Structural designer for an external viewing platform built 230m
up on the outside of Sydney Tower
2004 UK M25 Orbital Motorway Project advisor for the 30-year private concession contract to
widening
widen and manage 63km of London’s Orbital Motorway
2005 Ireland U2 Tower, Dublin Structural design of this landmark tower in the redeveloped
Dublin docks area, so named because the top floors house a
recording studio for the world famous Irish rock group, U2
2005 Qatar Dubai Tower, Doha Structural, façade and geotechnical design for 80-storey
skyscraper
2005 Qatar Education City, Doha Primary infrastructure design and coordination, plus the
design and supervision of district cooling, IT/telecoms,
security and utilities for a 800ha integrated
educational development of international status
2005 - 2008 UAE Burj Dubai, Dubai Consultant of record for the world’s tallest structure
2006 UAE Shams Sky Tower, Structural, façade and geotechnical design of the 85-storey, 344m
Abu Dhabai
high tower that will be the tallest building in Abu Dhabi. It is the
landmark building on a major leisure and residential development
on Reem Island for which Hyder Consulting also carried out the
environmental impact assessment and the infrastructure design
Ongoing UAE Abu Dhabi Water and wastewater network upgrades; privatisation
water projects
advice; irrigation masterplan; asset management
Ongoing UK National Roads Project management and technical advisory services for the
Telecommunications project to modernise roadside communications on motorways
Service (NRTS)
and major roads in England and Wales
Ongoing UK Transport for London Long-term consultant for a wide range of highways, transport and
environmental projects
Vietnam Six Towns water and
sanitation project.
NRTS, UK.
Ski Dubai, UAE.
U2 Tower, Dublin.
Tianjin Chi Feng Bridge, China.
114

On the future of consulting
engineering: three short essays

On the future of consulting engineering
“During the past 100 years, our native engineers
have completed a magnificent system of canals,
turnpike roads, bridges, and railways, by means
of which the internal communications of the
country have been completely opened up. Our
engineers may be regarded in some measure as
the makers of modern civilisation. Are not the
men who have made the motive power of the
country, and immensely increased its
productive strength, the men above all others
who have tended to make the country what it is?”
Words that were written almost 150 years ago
by the greatest of the engineering biographers,
Samuel Smiles. But words that could equally
be used today to describe the continuing
contribution of engineers to the fabric of modern
civilisation – the very building blocks of our
quality of life.
The consulting engineering profession has
adapted to changing priorities of the public
interest. The 18th and 19th centuries were the
centuries of canals, railways and ports. The 20th
century saw a resurgence of the road network
and the rapid development of air and space
travel. The sources of available motive power
and energy evolved through all of this from
steam and coal, to electricity, gas and nuclear.
The genius of engineering has been to capture
advances of science and apply these for the
benefit of society.
The 21st century will see further changes. And
engineering will again be a vital contributor. The
stakes are high – perhaps as high as the
continuing viability of our planet as a source of
sustenance for humankind. The ingenuity and
adaptability of engineers will be key to creating a
sustainable future. This might include the
research and development of new sources of
energy – low carbon solutions that don’t create
damaging pollutants; the harnessing of our
natural sources of power in wave, tide, wind and
solar, that do not require the consumption of a
dwindling fuel resource; the creation of new
means of travel for passengers and freight that
use more efficient and cleaner fuels; the design
of buildings for living and working that conserve
energy and recycle waste products; the
imaginative development of integrated systems
for production and commerce that require less
travel, use fewer resources, but still provide the
means of sustaining growth; the closer
integration of the engineering, economic and
social aspects that will form the foundations of
a successful future for the planet.
And the consulting engineering profession, the
successors to the Foxs, the Freemans and the
Taylors, will again be one of the main hosts and
nurturers of the knowledge required to create
this new, sustainable civilisation. It has long been
a noble profession. In future, it could be the
most noble of all.
Gordon Masterton
President,
The Institution of Civil Engineers, 2005-06.
116

On the future of consulting engineering
“This world can only support one billion people.
The fact that it is supporting six billion at the
moment is in part due to the resilience of
nature, in part thanks to civil engineering.” This
statement was made by David Bellamy during an
ICE Conference 1990. The world population now
stands at 6.5 million and it is predicted to rise to
9 million by 2050. For the water engineer, there is
a huge challenge to manage and protect the
environment with an expanding population and
an ever increasing appetite for consumerism.
Added to this challenge, the world is now starting
to feel the effects of climate change; rainfall
patterns are changing, sea levels are rising,
glaciers are retreating and incidences of extreme
weather are increasing. The challenge for the
engineer is to balance the ability to provide an
environment which meets the quality of lifestyle
demanded by the consumer without
compromising the natural environment for now
and for the future. The harder the engineer
works to improve the civil environment, the
greater the demand for improvement will be.
The water industry is a good example of ever
increasing demands on water supply and the ever
increasing battle to meet customer requirements.
With Thames Water and Anglian Water enforcing
drought orders in Summer 2006, the issue of
supply meeting demand has hit the media
spotlight and raised questions as to whether
water companies can meet future demand. From
an engineers point of view, the current increasing
demand rate is not sustainable and will come at a
cost to the environment. Desalination plants
could be provided. However, energy supplies
will be required to drive the process and the biproduct
of concentrated salts will need to be
disposed of. A national water supply network is
possible but the installation of the infrastructure
would require vast distances of pipeline
installations and use significant amounts of
energy to drive pumps not withstanding the
initial environmental impact of installing such an
infrastructure.
For the water industry to balance supply and
demand, a compromise must be sought which
would see the consumer reducing its average
daily consumption combined with improved
water supplies. Behaviours have to change
through education, awareness and promotion of
water saving devices. We are now seeing evidence
of the public taking more personal responsibility
for the environment we live in. In response to
consumer demand, supermarkets are starting to
promote carrier bag re-use and food will contain
packaging with carbon footprints for the
consumer to make responsible choices. The
engineer needs to ensure that, as the consumer
starts to take more responsibility, that these
choices are available and that the industry can
live up to its side of the bargain with reduced
flooding and improved water supplies. The more
the public can see evidence that this compromise
will work, the more people will be encouraged to
do their bit.
The role of a civil engineer has been defined as
one to direct the natural resources of man, but
there needs to be the resources to do so, for
now and for future generations. Engineers,
Environmentalists and Scientists should take the
lead and guide the public to a more sustainable
way of life, before it is too late.
Caroline Barlow
Hyder Consulting 2006 UK Graduate of the Year
117

On the future of consulting engineering
This book records a glorious 150 years of service to the
international community.
It is a service which has spanned all continents and which
has played a real part in furthering the welfare and progress
of mankind; the improvement of living standards, economic
growth, the shaping and harnessing of the environment in
which we live.
By its nature, it does not attempt to examine contemporary
and future themes. However, it does provide a backdrop to
those themes and a starting point for the next 150 years.
We are all moulded by our history, Hyder no less than
others.
This history has given us a significant profile on the global
stage, recognised as a premier league player in the markets
in which we operate. There are, however, a number of
constants, of which the first is change, and our markets
demonstrate that year in and year out.
Our clients are subject to ever-changing influences. Climate
change and the conservation of scarce natural resources,
together with the politics surrounding these sensitive issues,
are current (2007) high profile examples evolving and
changing with an increasing sense of urgency.
A second constant of the past and the future is an
understanding, a deep understanding, of our clients’
industries, of their drivers, their ambitions and their
aspirations.
Our business was founded on providing advice to clients
and the solution to their immediate problems. Once, these
were what now seem straightforward, say transporting coal
from the pit to the furnace, the crossing of a river or the
provision of clean water. Now, they are more complex, with
numerous planning and procurement studies, involving say
whole-life costing and economic return forecasts, traffic
studies, environmental impact and sustainability assessments
- all of which may, perhaps, culminate in the construction of
some physical works at the end of the process.
However, the provision of outstanding client service runs
through all of these.
The final constant, and arguably the key to our success to
date, is the relentless drive to have amongst us the very best
people - finding them, developing them and maximising the
impact and value they bring in addressing our clients’ needs.
In the past 150 years, we have always found this to be true
and it remains the foundation for the next 150.
The nature of our market place has changed
markedly over time, and will undoubtedly
continue to do so into the future.
One hundred and fifty years ago, our
predecessors were robustly engineering in nature,
with a significant entrepreneurial flavour. The
evolution of professional services as they are now
understood was still some way into the future. A
golden era of major infrastructure followed and is
still at large in some parts of the world.
Increasingly, mature industrial societies under growing
economic pressures are seeking to optimise existing assets
rather than creating new ones. This increasingly places the
emphasis on softer skills, many of them outside the
traditional engineering skill set.
This is a trend, indeed trends, of which we can expect to see
more in future. The industry will have an ever-increasing
component of non-engineers adding significant value to
clients; very likely providing the key inputs that will pull
through engineering design and construction rather than
the other way around.
Over the past 150 years, most consulting enterprises have
passed through a cycle of single ownership to partnership,
then to incorporated companies and most recently to public
companies. At the same time, the offering has evolved from
doing all that was needed to deliver say a railway, to
concentrated areas of professional expertise, say bridge
design, to full service offerings.
Our own history shows just this. From design and execution
of infrastructure internationally from a UK base, we are now a
truly international business, domestic in all our market places,
offering a range of client advisory and design support from rail
through road, to traffic projection, ecology, property, building
design (including work on the world’s tallest building), water
and environment - all aimed at providing comprehensive
solutions to clients’ complex problems.
We are listed on the London Stock Exchange, bringing
financial fire power to the consolidation of a craft industry
into a substantial corporate entity. But the essence remains
the same. Outstanding client relationships supported by
truly exceptional people.
This book provides a history and a record of outstanding
achievements, which I strongly believe demonstrates
Hyder Consulting’s ability to build on its past while
shaping the future.
Tim Wade
Chief Executive
Hyder Consulting
118

Bibliography
Introduction: the birth of a profession
Bourne, John Cooke. Bourne’s London & Birmingham
Railway, 1970.
Churchill, Sir Winston. The Second World War. Volume 4.
The Consulting Engineers Who’s Who and Year
Book, 1956.
Godfrey, Honor. Tower Bridge. London, John Murray,
1988.
Hartley, Peter. Consulting engineering: constructing
the future. Research Studies Press Ltd, 2000
Marsh, John. One Hundred Years: the Story of Sir
Bruce White Wolfe Barry and Partners, 1856 to 1956.
London, Newman Neame Limited,1956
Skempton, A.W. Imperial College of Science and
Technology. Letter to Robert Fitt, 26.2.1979. ICE Library.
White, Sir Bruce. The artificial invasion harbours
called Mulberry: a personal story by Sir Bruce White
KBE. 1980
Fox & Henderson: the creation of the firm
that built the Crystal Palace, early 19th
century to 1857
Adams, W. Bridges, roads and rails and their
sequences, physical and moral. London, Chapman &
Hall, 1862.
The Building erected in Hyde Park for the Great
Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations 1851.
London, John Wade, 1851.
Channon, Geoffrey. Railways in Britain and the United
States, 1830-1940. 2001
Chapman, Marshall and Frederick Dandy. Centenary
history of Liverpool and Manchester Railway. With a
transcript of relevant portion of Rastrick’s Rainhill
Notebook, 1930.
Chew, Kenneth and Wilson, Anthony. Victorian science
and engineering portrayed in the Illustrated London
News, Science Museum, 1993.
Foreman-Peck, J. Narural monopoly and British
railway policy in the nineteenth century, 1986.
Fox, Francis. River, road, and rail: some engineering
reminiscences. London, John Murray, 1904.
Fox, Francis Sir. Sixty-three years of engineering,
scientific and social work. London, John Murray, 1924.
Galloway, Elijah. History and progress of the steam
engine with the practical investigation of its structure
and appreciation. London, Thomas Kelly, 1836.
Gordon, Alexander. A treatise upon elemental
locomotion and interior communication wherein are
explained and illustrated, the history, practice and
prospects of steam carriages and the comparative
value of turnpike roads, railways and canals. Third
edition. London, Thomas Tess & Son, 1836.
Grocott, F.W. The Story of New Street. Issued to
commemorate the centenary of the opening of
Birmingham New Street Station, 1 June 1854.
Harrison, S.M. The early railways, 1825-50, 1986.
Harter, Jim. World railways of the nineteenth century.
Baltimore and London, The John Hopkins University
Press, 2005.
Illustrated London News, Volume 2, January-June 1843,
pp 7611.
Illustrated London News, 12 March 1853.
Kellett, John Reginald. Railways and Victorian cities,
1979.
Kirwan, Joseph. A descriptive and historical account of
the Liverpool and Manchester railway, 1831.
Luckhurst, Kenneth W. The Great Exhibition of 1851,
Three Cantor Lectures delivered in 1951 before the
Royal Society of Arts.
McKean, John. Crystal Palace: Joseph Paxton and
Charles Fox. Architecture in Detail, Phaidon,n.d.
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. On-line,
British Library.
Sir Charles Fox. The Practical Magazine. Vol.6, 1876.
Smiles, Samuel. Lives of the Engineers with an account
of their principal works; comprising also a history of
internal communications in Britain. London, John
Murray, 1862
Smiles, Samuel The lives of George and Robert
Stephenson, 1857.
Wood, Nicholas. Speech in Newcastle, 26 October,
1858.
Sir Charles Fox & Son: the establishment
of the consulting engineering practice,
1857 to 1901
Bolger, Paul. The Docker’s umbrella, 1992
Box, Charles Edmund. The Liverpool Overhead Railway,
1893-1956. Revised edition, London, W. J. Fowler, 1962.
The Engineer, 7 September, 1866.
Fox, Francis. River, road and rail: some engineering
reminiscences. London, John Murray, 1904.
Fox, Francis. Sixty-three years of engineering, scientific
and social work. London, John Murray, 1924.
Harris, George Robert and others. Lord’s & the M.C.C.
A cricket chronicle of 137 years, based on official
documents, and published with the knowledge and
sanction of the Marylebone Cricket Club, to
commemorate the centenary of their present ground,
1914.
Journal of the Society of Arts, July 17, 1874.
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, On-line,
British Library.
119

Bibliography
Railway News, 14 February 1885.
Slatter, William H. Recollections of Lord’s and the
Marylebone Cricket Club, 1914.
Wheatley, London, Past and Present, 1891.
Williams, Basil. Cecil Rhodes, 1921.
Wimbledon Boro’ News, January 14, 1927.
Sir Douglas Fox & Partners: transportation
and building structures in the early 20th
century, 1901 to 1938
Astor, Gavin, 2 Baron Astor of Hever, Norwich, 1972.
Building Services, July 1990.
Channel Tunnel. Reports by British and French
Engineers, The Channel Tunnel Company, Ltd, 1907.
The Engineer, August 1, 1901.
The Engineer, August 15, 1903.
The Engineer, April and December, 1904
The Engineer, April 7, 1905.
The Engineer, December 23, 1910.
The Engineer, October 3, 1913.
Examples of British Engineering Work in Africa.
Princes Press for the Rhodes Centenary Exhibition, 1953
Fox, Francis Sir. Sixty-three years of engineering,
scientific and social work. London, John Murray, 1924.
Fox, Francis. River, road, and rail: some engineering
reminiscences. London, John Murray, 1904.
Geographical Journal, Vol XLV11 (1916), p.6.
Journal of the Royal Society of Arts, December 19, 1913.
Journal of the Royal Society of Arts, May 22, 1914.
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. On-line,
British Library.
The Railway Gazette, 21 November, 1927.
Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers,
April 1934.The Railway Gazette, 21 November, 1927.
Road and Traffic Authority. The Story of the Sydney
Harbour Bridge. February, 1981.
Ryves, R.A. The Channel Tunnel Project, 1929.
Shirley Smith, H. Examples of British Engineering work
in Africa.
Shirley Smith, H. World’s greatest bridges.
Freeman Fox & Partners: the expansion of
the partnership, 1938 to 1987
Bridging the Humber,1981.
The Fall and Rise of West Gate Bridge, New Civil
Engineer, August 4, 1977.
Ferguson, Niall. Empire: how Britain made the modern
world. London, Penguin Books, 2003.
Freeman Fox & Partners, Consulting Engineers for 125
years, 1857 to 1982. London, 1982.
Kerensky, O. A. Gilbert Roberts, 1899 - 1978. Reprinted
from Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal
Society, Volume 25, November 1979.
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. On-line,
British Library.
Sydney Harbour Bridge, 1982 marks the 50th
anniversary of the opening on 19 March 1932 of the
Sydney Harbour Bridge. London, Redpath Dorman
Long Limited and Freeman Fox & Partners, 1982.
Wargon Chapman Partners, the first quarter century,
Sydney.
John Taylor & Sons: water engineering and
sanitation, 1869 to 1987
The Courier. London water supply, facts and fallacies,
a series of letters written and published in the
Courier Newspaper chiefly with reference to
constant service and the future source of supply.
London, The Courier, 1867.
Dublin Corporation. The Greater Dublin Drainage
Scheme. Dublin, 1986.
1869 - 1969, John Taylor & Sons. London, 1969.
The Engineer, June 17, 1927.
The Engineer, February 21, 1941.
John Taylor & Sons, Consulting Engineers. London.
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. On-line,
British Library.
Roberts, Gwilym. Chelsea to Cairo: Taylor-made water
through eleven reigns and in six continents. A history
of John Taylor & Sons and their predecessors. London,
Thomas Telford, 2006.
Sir Bruce White, Wolfe Barry and Partners:
modernisation through the merger,
1856 to 1991
The Engineer, January 25, 1918.
Journal of the Society of Arts, November 17, 1899.
Journal of the Royal Society of Arts, August 28, 1908.
Journal of the Royal Society of Arts, February 1, 1918.
Marsh, John. One hundred years: the story of Sir Bruce
White, Wolfe Barry and Partners, 1856 to 1956.
Newman Neame Limited, 1956.
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. On-line,
British Library.
White, Sir Bruce. The Artificial invasion harbours
called Mulberry: a personal story by Sir Bruce White
KBE, 1980.
120

Index
Note: Page numbers in italics refer to
illustrations
A9 Trunk Road, Scotland 64
A13 Trunk Road, London 53
A35 Yellowham Hill to Troytown Improvement,
England 102, 102
A500, Stoke-on-Trent 112
AAMI Building, Brisbane 98, 98
Abu Dhabi, UAE
highways 104
sewerage systems 75-76, 76,104,104
Acer Consultants 59, 61-63, 78, 96-108
Acer Engineering 96
Acer Environmental 97
Acer Freeman Fox 63
Acer Group 63, 96-108
Acer-ICF Ltd 96, 102, 105
Acer John Taylor 63
Acer PW 101
Acer Sir Bruce White 101
Acer Wallace Evans 105
Acer Wargon Chapman Group 98
ACLA 113
ACRC (American Capital and Research Corporation) 96
Adamus Consulting Practice 113
Adelane House, London 52
Aden, Yemen
sewerage systems 73
water supply 71
Admiralty, The 11, 37, 46
Adomi Bridge, Africa 48
African Trunk Line 26
Airport Railway, Hong Kong 100
tunnel crossing 99
A.J.Barry and Partners 85, 89
A.J.Barry, Cochrane and Partners 89
Alan Stratford Associates 102
Alfred Beit bridge, Africa 40
Algonquin Park Radio Telescope, Canada 51, 51
Almondsbury Interchange, England 53, 54
Altwell Laboratories 97
AMBRIC 76
America pumping station, Cairo, Egypt
see Greater Cairo Wastewater Project
American-British Consultants
see AMBRIC
American Express Building, Sydney 98
Anglian Water 97
Anglo-Australian Optical Telescope, Siding
Springs, Australia 52, 101
Architecture at Work Award 58
Arif Bintoak 104
Armand Safier & Partners 96
Armstrong Whitworth 37
Ashact 113
Association for Consultancy and Engineering/
New Civil Engineer Awards 113
Athens Metro, Greece 60
Avonmouth Bridge, England 53, 54
Auckland, New Zealand
Harbour Bridge 47-48, 48
main drainage 71
Austin, Bill 53
Australian Engineering Excellence Award 110
Axis Environmental 104
Axis Natural Resource Development 104
Baghdad, Iraq
main drainage scheme 74
metro system 60
sewerage system 72, 73, 74
Bahrain water towers 79
Bandung, Indonesia
Urban Development and Sanitation Plan 77
Wastewater Master Plan 77
Bangkok, Thailand
Expressway 100, 95,100
Light Railway 100
Barbados, stormwater drainage study 105
Barlow, Caroline, essay 117, 117
Barry, A.J 85, 89
Barry and Brunel 83
Barry and Leslie 85
Barry Dock, Cardiff 85
Barry, John Wolfe-Barry, Sir 38, 70, 83-85, 83
biography 83
Bechuanaland Railway, Africa 26
Beheira, water supplies, Egypt 77
Beira Railway, Africa 27, 82, 28
Beit Trust, Africa 40, 46
Belfast Cross Harbour Bridge, Northern Ireland 106
Benguella Railway, Africa 36, 36
Berlin waterworks, Germany 16
Bettridge Turner & Partners 113
Bina Runding Sdn Bhd 77
Binnie & Partners 69, 76-77, 78
Birchenough Bridge, Africa 40, 43
Birmingham New Street Station 10, 11
Black & Veatch
See Binnie & Partners
Blackfriars Railway Bridge, London 85
Blackwall Tunnel 85
Bombay Municipality, India,
sewerage system 71
water supplies 71
Bosporus Bridge, Turkey 57, 58, 59, 57
Second Bosporus Bridge 59, 59
Bradfield, John Job Crew 41, 42
Braham, Fox & Co. 10
Brahmaputra River Bridge, India 48
Bridgen, Eric 96, 96
biography 96
Bristol Waterworks Company, England 70
British Channel Tunnel Co.
see Channel Tunnel
British Mass Transit Consultants (BMTC) 59-60, 62
British Metro Consulting Group (BMCG) 60, 62
Bruce, Sir George Barclay 20, 82, 85, 82
biography 82
Brunel, Isambard Kingdom 8, 11, 15, 16, 66, 83
Brunel, Henry Marc 83, 84, 85
Brunlees, Sir James 31
Burj Dubai Tower, Dubai, UAE 113, 113
Butler Chappell & Fox 59
Butterworth Deep Water Wharves, Malaysia 90, 90
Cairn Ryan, Scotland 86
Cairo, sewerage systems, Egypt 72, 76-77, 77
Caledonian Railway 85
Calvert, John 73, 73
biography 73
Camp Dresser & McKee 76
Cannon Street Station, London 52, 83, 52
Cano Limon – Rio Zulia pipeline, Columbia 60
Cape Government Railways 26
Cape to Cairo Railway 26-28, 36, 37, 40, 28
Cape Town Railway & Dock Company 18
Cardiff Bay Barrage, Wales 105
Carnatic Railway, India 20
see also Indian Tramway
Castle Donington power station, England 50, 50
Centenary Bridge, Brisbane 98
Central Line, London 103
Centrepoint, Sydney 98
Chai Wan Station, MTR, Hong Kong 56
Channel Tunnel, England/France 15, 21, 26, 30-33, 60,
31-32
Chatham Waterworks, London 72
Chelsea Water Works Company, London 66-67
Chenab River Bridge, Pakistan 49
Churchill, Sir Winston 85-89
Citigate Centre, Sydney 112
Civic Trust Award 58
Cleveland Bridge & Engineering Co 34-35, 42, 47
Clockhouse Place, England 107
Cochrane, J.A. 89
Coedty Dam, Wales 49
Colfox School, Dorset 112
Colne Valley Water Company 69, 69
Commonwealth Games Stadium, Jamaica 105
Concrete Society Award 54
Consulting engineer
definition 2
Corniche, Saudia Arabia 92
Courier Newspaper 69, 69
Cowlyd Dam, Wales 49
Cranes 86, 91
Cresswell Associates 113
Crimp, William Santo 71, 71
biography 71
Crimp & Bruges Tables 71
Cross Harbour Tunnel, Hong Kong 61, 61
Cumberland Basin Bridges, England 64
Crystal Palace, London 9, 11-15, 46, 47, 100, 4-5, 12-15
see also Great Exhibition, The
Dammam, Port of, Saudi Arabia 92, 93
Dartford Creek Barrier, London 91, 92
Den Chai Railway, Thailand 60
“The Dish”
see Parkes Radio Telescope, Australia
Docklands Light Railway, London
see London Docklands Light Railway
Docks Napoleon, France 16
Dolgarrog Dam, Wales 49
Dome of Discovery, London 47, 47
Dorada Rope Railway, Columbia 37
Dorman, Long & Co 34, 41-42, 43, 47, 43
Doughty, Stuart 104,110, 104
biography 104
Douglas Fox & Partners 20
Dubai Marina, UAE 110
Dubai National Public Transport Study, UAE 104
Dublin Bay Project, Ireland 75
Dublin, drainage, Ireland 75
Dun Laoghaire, sewerage systems, Ireland 75
Eastern Harbour Crossing, Hong Kong 61, 98, 61-62
East India Railway, India 82
East Kent Railway, England 16
Edmund Nuttall 112
Edwards, Jack 60
biography 60
Emirates Towers, Dubai 110, 112, 109
Engineering Geology 103
Ericsson, John 6
Ernst & Young Centre, Sydney 112
Erskine Bridge, Scotland 54, 57, 54
European Steel Awards 54, 57, 58
European Synchrotron Radiation Facility,
Grenoble, France 100
Euston Station, London 9, 9
Evans, Wallace 105
Ewbank & Partners 73, 74
Exe Valley Viaducts 53-54, 54
Fairclough Civil Engineering 102
Faslane Bay, Scotland 86
Fatih Sultan Mehmet Köprüsü Bridge, Turkey 59, 59
Federal Highway, Malaysia 61
Ffestiniog Power Station, Wales 50
Festival of Britain, London 46-47, 47
Fylde Coast Water Improvement Scheme, England 97
Forth Road Bridge, Scotland 46, 48, 58
Fort Point Channel Crossing, Boston, MA 102, 102
Fortress Hill Station, MTR, Hong Kong 56
Fox, Charles Beresford 34-35
121

Index
Fox, Charles, Sir 6-20, 23, 37, 46, 63, 113,1, 6
biography 6
safety switch 10, 10
Fox, (Charles) Douglas, Sir 10, 16, 19-20, 22-26, 30, 36,
38, 19
biography 19
Fox, Francis, Sir 13, 20-22, 24-25, 33, 36, 38, 20
biography 20
Fox, Henderson & Co. 10, 11, 12-13, 15-16
Foyle Bridge, Northern Ireland 59, 59
Freeman, Sir Ralph (Senior) 35, 37, 38, 40, 41-42, 44,
47,48, 57, 42
biography 42
Freeman, Sir Ralph (Junior) 47, 46
biography 46
Freeman Fox and Associates 55
Freeman Fox & Partners 19, 46-64, 98, 102, 111
Freeman Fox & Partners (Far East) 55-56, 59, 61, 62
Freeman Fox (E&M Consultants) 59
Freeman Fox Group 63
Freeman Fox (Holdings) 59
Freeman Fox International 59, 104
Freeman Fox Limited 59, 60
Freeman Fox (Scotland) 59
Freeman Fox (Wales) 59
Freeman Fox Wilbur Smith and Associates 55
Furness Shipbuilding Company 37
Ganges River bridge, India 48
Gatwick Airport study, London 55
Glasgow Underground Railway, Scotland 85, 107
Goliath cranes 51
Grand Trunk Railway, Canada 82
Great Central Railway, England 25-26
Great Eastern Line, London 103
Great Exhibition, The 11-15, 46, 100, 12-15
see also Crystal Palace
Great Indian Peninsula Railway, India 82
Great Northern and City Railway, England 25
Great Northern Railway, England 15
Great Southern of India Railway, India 83
Great Western Railway, England 11, 66
Greater Cairo Wastewater Project, Egypt 76-77, 65, 77
Greater Dublin Drainage Project, Ireland 75, 75
Greathead, James Henry 23, 25, 30, 38
Grosvenor Bridge, London 19, 19
Guangzhou Metro, China 107
Gujerat, dock, India 92
Gyfynys Dam, Wales 49
Halcrow Fox and Associates (HFA) 55, 102
Halcrow Group 102
Hamilton-Eddy, Simon 112, 112
biography 112
Hangzhou Bay, environmental master plan, China 104
Harwich and Zeebrugge train ferry vessels,
England/Netherlands 85
Hartlepool Docks, Hartlepool 66, 68
Haseldine, John Midgley 73
Hawarden Bridge, River Dee 22, 22
Hawkridge Dam, Somerset 73, 73
Hawkshaw, Sir John 31, 33, 83
Hay Barry & Partners 96
Heathrow Airport study, London 55
Henderson, John 10, 13-14, 16
Hendrer Mur Dam, Wales 49
Hever Castle, Kent 34
High Marnham power station, England 50, 50
Hillfield Park Reservoir, Hertfordshire 72, 72
Hobson, George 22-23,28, 35, 36
biography 23
Hofuf, waste stabilisation ponds, Saudi Arabia 74
Hoogley Bridge, Calcutta 57
Hong Kong Conference Centre 101, 101
Humber Bridge, England 48, 57-58, cover, 45, 58
Hyder Consulting 110-114
Hyder plc 112
ICF Kaiser Engineers 96-97, 105
Indian Midland Railway, India 82
Indian Tramway 18, 18
see also Carnatic Railway, India
Indus River Bridge, Pakistan 49
Inner Circle Line, London 85
Istanbul sewerage systems, Turkey 80
Institution of Civil Engineers, 38, 42, 44, 63, 69, 88
International Firm of the Year 113
IPRO Halle 102
IrwinConsult New South Wales 113
Island Eastern Corridor, Hong Kong 56
Island Line, MTR, Hong Kong 56
Island of Zealand railway 16
Israel 37
Istanbul, water supplies and sewerage
systems, Turkey 78, 78
Isthumus of Darien, Canal, Panama 15
Istiqlal Street Flyovers, Kuwait 64
Iver Water Treatment Works, Buckinghamshire 73, 73
James Williamson and Partners 50
Japan National Large Telescope (Subaru), Hawaii 101
Jeff Moulsdale & Associates 113
Jhelum River Bridge, Pakistan 49
John Taylor & Sons 63, 66-80, 96, 104, 105, 111
John Taylor & Sons (International) 62
John Taylor Group 63
Johore Baru, water supplies, Malaysia 77
Jones, Horace 83, 84
J.Simpson & Co 67
Jubilee Line, London 103
Kabul River Bridge, Pakistan 49
Kafr el Sheikh, water supplies, Egypt 77
Kafue river, Africa
railway bridge 36
road bridge 46
Karachi waterworks, Pakistan 70
Kay Sai Chau Island, Hong Kong 104
Kennedy and Donkin 50
Kerensky, Oleg 47, 53, 48
biography 48
Kew Bridge, London 85
Kiel Harbour, Germany 16
Kiev Suspension Bridge, Ukraine 16
Kingston, sewerage systems, Jamaica 73
Kinhill 77
Kornhill Development, Hong Kong 56
Korsöer Harbour, Denmark 16
Kowloon Bay, Hong Kong
Depot 56
Development, Hong Kong 56, 56
Kumagai Gumi 61, 98-100
Kuwait
effluent utilisation 74, 75
highways 61,102, 61
water supplies 73-75
Kwun Tong Bypass, Hong Kong 62, 62
Lai King Station, Hong Kong 100
Lambeth Waterworks Company, London 66, 68, 70, 68
Lam Tin Development, Hong Kong 61, 62
Lancashire and Yorkshire line 15
Latitude at World Square, Sydney 112
Lea Valley Line, London 103
Leslie, Bradford 85
Lincoln Cathedral 38
Liverpool and Manchester Railway 7, 8, 2, 7
Liverpool Overhead Railway 23, 30, 23
Livingstone, Dr David 34
Llewelyn Davies 77
London and Birmingham Railway 8-9, 37, 3, 8-9
London and Blackwall Railway 15
London, Chatham and Dover line 15
London Docklands Light Railway 97, 103, 97
London Lorry Routes Study 55
London, Midland and Scottish Railway 9
London, sewerage system 67, 69, 71
London Traffic Study 55
London Underground Railway 30, 85, 103
London, water supplies 66-70
M2 Motorway, England 53
M4 Motorway, England 46
M5 East Motorway, Sydney, Australia 110, 111
M5 Motorway, England 53
M40 Motorway, England 102
McCarthy & Partners 75
McCarthy Hyder 75
Madero Docks graneries, Buenos Aires 37
Madley Earth Satellite Station, Herefordshire 52, 101
Madras Railway, India 82
Maentwrog Dam, Wales 49
Mafraq sewage treatment works, Abu Dhabi, UAE 80
Malaysia
power station 91, 91
sewerage systems 77-78
water supplies 77-78, 78
Manchester, Sheffield & Lincolnshire Railway, 22
Marcus Hodges Environment 113
Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), London 25, 25
Marylebone Station, London 25
Mass Transit Further Studies, Hong Kong 55
Mass Transit Railway, Hong Kong 55-56,97, 55-56
Mass Transport Study Report, Hong Kong 55
Masterton, Gordon, essay 116, 116
Maunsell & Partners (Maunsell Consultants) 57, 62
Melbourne City Link, Australia 110, 111
Melbourne Federation Square, Australia 110, 111
Melbourne Water Treatment Works, England 97, 97
Memorial Bridge, Bangkok 46
Mersey Tunnel 20-21, 21
Messina Straits bridge, Italy/Sicily 57
Metcalfe, Charles 26-27, 36, 38
biography 27
METR-A
see Athens Metro
Metropolitan Electric Authority, Bangkok 104
Metropolitan Railway, London 85
Metropolitan Water Board, London 70
Milford Haven Bridge, Wales 57
Mitsubishi Electro Corporation (Melco) 101
Modified Initial System, Hong Kong 56
Montego Bay, water and sewerage systems, Jamaica 73
Mott, Hay & Anderson 48-49
MTR, Hong Kong
see Mass Transit Railway, Hong Kong
Muara Port, Brunei 89-90, 90
Mulberry Harbours, England 85-89, 86-89
Multi-element Radio Link Interferometer
Network (Merlin), Cambridge 101
Munnich Projekt 113
Museum of Art, Hong Kong 101, 101
Myton Swing Bridge, England 64
‘Mystery Port’, Kent 85
Nant-y-Moch dam, Wales 50
National Highway, India 61
National Plan for Water, Egypt 77
National Railways, Zimbabwe 60
National Rural Water Supplies Project, Malaysia 77-78, 78
Naval Research Establishment, Scotland 46
Neward Dyke, England 15
Newcastle and Darlington Railway, England 82
Newfoundland, water supply 70
New River Company, London 70
New Thames Bridge, Maidenhead 46
New Victoria Bridge 19, 19
New Zealand, drainage 71
Niagra Falls suspension bridge, Africa 18
Nishimatsu 99
Noble’s explosive factory, Carmarthenshire 37
Nolan-ITU 113
North Eastern Railway, Brazil 37
122

Index
Northern Freight Railway, Thailand 60
Northhampton and Peterborough Railway 82
North London Line, London 103
North Middle Ring Road Bridge, Tai Yuan, China 4
North-South Highway, Malaysia 61
Novelty 7,7
NRTS, UK 114
Nyasaland Railways, Africa 37
Observatorio Del Roque de Los Muchachos,
La Palma, Canary Islands 52, 52
Oresund Crossing, Denmark/Sweden 99
Otto Beit Bridge, Africa 40
Paddington Station, London 11, 16
Pamela Youde Hospital, Hong Kong 101, 101
Paris and Marseilles Railway 16
Parkes Radio Telescope, Australia 51, 51
Park Plaza Development, Sydney 98
Paul, P. Nicholas 104
biography 104
Pauling & Co 34, 37
Paxton, Joseph 11-12, 14-15
Peter Clarke & Associates 113
Peter Hayes-Watkins & Partners 96
P H McCarthy & Partners
See McCarthy & Partners
Princeton screw warship 11
Project Aquatrine, England 111, 111
Provincial Water Supply Study, Egypt 77
PSC Engineers and Consultants Inc 102
Psytallia Sewage Treatment Works, Athens, Greece 108
PW Consulting 101
Queen Elizabeth ll Conference Centre, London 100
Rainhill Steam Locomotion Trials 7,7
Rama Vl Bridge, Thailand 46
Redpath Dorman Long Ltd
See Dorman Long Ltd
Regional Water Production and Distribution
Programme, Egypt 77
Rendell Palmer & Tritton 90
Rheidol power station, Wales 50,50
Rhodes, Cecil 26-27, 40
Rhodesia Railways, Africa 27, 27
Richborough Port 85-86
Rimrose Brook Main Drainage Scheme,
Merseyside 72-73
Ringsend Treatment Works, Ireland 75
River Danube Bridge, Budapest 16
River Lee Crossing, Eire 99
Roberts & Partners International 113
Roberts, Gilbert, Sir 47-48, 50, 49
biography 49
Roberts, Gwilym 63, 73, 74, 75, 100, 74
biography 74
Robert White and Partners 85, 89
Rocket 7-8
Roll-on roll-off ferry 93
Roman Catholic Cathedral, Hong Kong 52
Roughton & Fenton 96
Royal Border Bridge, Northumberland 82
Royal Commission on the Main Drainage
of the Metropolis, London 69
Royal Naval Propellant Factory, Monmouthshire 46
RPA Quantity Surveyors 113
Rural Water Supplies Project, Malaysia 77, 97, 77
Rustamiyah Treatment Works, Iraq 74
St Paul’s Cathedral 38, 52, 39
St Petersburg water supply, Russia 70-71
Salalah, well drilling, Oman 79
Salisbury Cathedral, England 52
Sandringham Estates, England 52
Sao Paulo railway, Brazil 37
Sarawak, jetties 93
Scott Wilson 61
Second Malaysia-Singapore Crossing 103, 103
Second Peripheral Motorway, Istanbul 59
Seven Spirit Bay Report, Northern Territory 98
Severn Road Bridge, England/Wales 46, 48-49, 58, 49
Severn Trent Water 96-97
Shams Sky Tower, Abu Dhabi, UAE 113, 113
Shanganagh Long Sea Outrall, Ireland 80
Shanghai Waterworks Company, China 70, 70
Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford 52
Shenzen Special Economic Zone, China 104
Shire Highlands Railway, Africa 37
Shuwaikh Water Distribution Project, Kuwait 74
Simon Bolivar Suspension Bridge, Panama Canal 57
Simplon Tunnel, the Alps 24, 36, 24
Simpson, James 66-68, 66
biography 66
Simpson, Thomas 66-67
Sinclair Knight & Partners 73
Singapore Container Port 91, 81, 91-92,
Sir Bruce White, Wolfe Barry and Partners 82-94
Sir Charles Fox & Son 15-16, 18-20
Sir Charles Fox & Sons 20
Sir Douglas & Francis Fox 22, 25, 27
Sir Douglas Fox & Partners 28, 32-44, 49, 60
Sir John Wolfe Barry and Partners 85-89, 101
Sir William Halcrow and Partners 48, 55
Six New Towns, Malaysia 55
Ski Dubai, UAE 114
Skylon, London 47
Snow, Dr John 67
Snowdon Mountain Railway. Wales 24, 36, 17
South Bank Exhibition, London
See Festival of Britain
Southend Pier, Essex 68
Southern and Western Railway, Queensland 19
Southern Indian Railway 82
Special Award of the East Yorkshire Borough,
Beverley 58
Special Award of the Institution of Structural
Engineers 58
Star System Light Railway, Malaysia 104
Stephenson, George 7-8
Stephenson, Robert 7, 9, 15, 20, 82
Strategic Sewage Disposal Scheme, Hong Kong 97
Stratford, London
Depot 103, 103
Station 103, 103
Structural Steel Design Awards 54, 58
Stwlan Dam, Wales 50,50
Sutlej River Bridge, Pakistan 49
Suez Canal, Egypt 85
Sydney, Australia
Skywalk 111
Tower, Centrepoint 98, 98
Sydney Harbour, Australia
Bridge 41-44, 46-47, 29, 41-44
Bridge Climb 110
Tunnel 98, 98
Taipei Mass Rapid Transit System, Taiwan 59, 59-60
Taiwan High Speed Rail Link 111, 111
Tarmac 99
Taylor Binnie & Partners 76-78
Taylor, (Edward) Brough 68-72, 69
biography 69
Taylor, Godfrey Midgley Chassereau 71-73, 72
biography 72
Taylor, (Gotfred) Midgley 68,70-71,70
biography 70
Taylor, John 63, 66-70, 68, 73
biography 68
Taylor, Oliver Midgley 73
TecnEcon 102
Tees River, port works, England 37
Tehran Transport Planning Advisory Services, Iran 55
Terengganu sewerage systems, Malaysia 77
Thames and Medway Railway, England 11, 15
Thames Estuary, flood barrier, England 90
Three Valleys Water Company 69
Tianjin Chi Feng Bridge, China 114
Tilbury container port, England 91
Tin Hau Development, Hong Kong 101
Station, MTR, Hong Kong 56
Tinsley Viaduct, England 54
Toronto & Nipissing Railway Company, Canada 19-20
Tower Bridge, London 83-84,101, 83
Tractobel 97
Traffic Circulation Study for Hamilton, Bermuda 55
Trans-Zambezia Railways, Africa 37
Trawsfyndd Dam, Wales 49, 50, 51
Tsing Ma Bridge, Hong Kong 106
Tsing Yi Power Station, Hong Kong 104
Tsuen Wan Extension, MTR, Hong Kong, 56
Tuen Mun LRT, Hong Kong 97, 97
Tube, The
see London Underground Railway
U2 Tower, Dublin 114
UK Highways 102
Unisilev House, London 52
United Arab Emirates highways 61, 102, 104
Vaughan Hosking Freeman Fox 62
Vietnam Six Towns water and sanitation project 114
Vietnam, technology transfer 105
Victoria Falls Bridge 34-35 ,43, 34-35
Victoria Station, London 19, 63
Wade, Tim 110, 112, 110
biography 110
essay 118
Walker, William 38
Wallace Evans and Partners 105
Wargon Chapman Partners 97-98
Waterloo Station, London 11
Watford Tunnel, England 9
Wave, The, Gold Coast, Queensland 112
Wearmouth Docks, Sunderland 66
Weathered Howe 113
Welsh Water 105, 112
West Gate Bridge, Melbourne 57
Western Harbour Crossing, Hong Kong 99, 99
Western Power Distribution (WPD) 112
Westminster Term Consultancy, London 103
West Rail, Hong Kong 111, 111
Wharncliffe Viaduct, Hanwell 66
White, Sir Bruce Gordon 2-3, 85-89
White, Sir Robert 85
biography 85
Wilbur Smith & Associates 55
Wilkinson Eyre 103
William Herschel Telescope, Canary Islands 52
Winchester Cathedral, Winchester 38, 38, 52
Wolfe Barry, Robert White and Partners 89
Wolstenholme, Derek 63
biography 63
Wye Road Bridge, England/Wales 46
Wynhol Viaduct, England 53-54
123