CIVIL ENGINEERING & CONSTRUCTION
Chartered civil engineer Dave Darnell, WSP’s project director for London Bridge Station and Crossrail Bond St Station, looks to the past, present and future of civil engineering, on behalf of the Association for Consultancy and Engineering (ACE).
T
he UK is currently in the middle of the biggest rail capacity investment since
the Victorian era, but how has the role of the engineer changed in the last 200 years in developing and delivering major infra- structure projects and what should the profession do to ensure future projects are delivered more effectively?
Whilst certainly not the fi rst railway en- gineer, Isambard Kingdom Brunel was, and probably will be for some time, the best-known engineer to the British general public. In fact, he gave Winston Churchill a good run for his money in the BBC’s com- petition to establish who, in the opinion of the viewing public, is the Greatest Briton.
These days it is the transport planner and the architect who appear to be at the fore- front of the development and design of new infrastructure, with the engineer seen to be providing a supporting role. However, it is the engineer who turns visions and as-
34 | rail technology magazine Aug/Sep 11
pirations into reality, even with increasing pressures to deliver to time and budget.
This applies equally to both new rail routes - HS1 and Crossrail - as well as “on line” en- hancements such as the West Coast Main Line and Thameslink where commitments are given to minimise disruption.
Major infrastructure projects take an inor- dinate length of time to come to fruition, sometimes approaching a working lifetime, the majority of which is spent in the plan- ning stages. In this day and age of instant access, where expectations are far greater than even 30 years ago, is it any surprise that the younger generation do not see engineering as a particularly attractive or progressive profession? Consequently there is a dearth of talent coming into the industry.
Brunel was an engineer and an artist, cre- ating works both functional and beauti-
ful, embracing engineering, architecture, art, and design. He was, in the fi rst place, a man of extraordinary engineering vision and although his Great Western Railway (GWR) was not the fi rst railway, he quickly realised the potential for high-speed pas- senger transport.
When appointed as engineer for the GWR in March 1833 at the age of 27, he per- sonally took responsibility for surveying the ground between London and Bristol, choosing the best route for his railway, shepherding the necessary legislation through parliament, raising funds and con- ducting property negotiations to facilitate the project. Some fi ve months after his ini- tial appointment, he presented his propos- als, which were accepted and on 27 August he was confi rmed as the company’s engi- neer. By the end of that year, the overall de- sign for the whole of the 116-mile line was completed and in the spring of 1834 it was submitted with GWR’s parliamentary bill.
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