IABSE in Conversation...with John Roberts

IABSE in Conversation talks to eminent and interesting designers and structural engineers about what inspires them and their life and career. In this episode, we welcome Klaus Ostenfeld. Klaus is an eminent engineer, with a long and distinguished career in fixed link long span bridges such as StoreBaelt and Oresund in his native Denmark. He has worked across the world, including in the USA and France, and is currently a Professor of Engineering at Aarhus University. He is a past president of IABSE and was recently awarded the IABSE International Award of Merit. IABSE is a group of designers and engineers that are passionate and inspired by the world around us. To find out more, head to our website www.iabse.org.

In our latest ‘IABSE in Conversation’ we talk to Catherine Ramsden, a founding Director at Useful Studio which is a London based Social Enterprise of architects, designers, and practitioners. We start by exploring her transition from the US to the UK and then from work in a large practice to setting up on your own. Alongside her educational, residential and bridge projects we look at how Useful Simple Trust has been created as a ‘B-Corp’, a new type of sustainable design practice, and how that can work in a commercially savvy world. Repurposing, diversity, sustainability, and great design all come together in one ‘big pie’.Interviewer: John Roberts, CSDI 

In the latest ‘IABSE in Conversation’ we try something different – two guests, connected by the work they do at Bridges to Prosperity. Avery Bang is a Director, and Nicola Turrini is the Partnership Manager based in Rwanda. We discuss the great work B2P does around the world constructing hundreds of footbridges that safely connect isolated rural communities with health providers, schools and new sources of income. Avery and Nico describe how sites are identified, designs developed and construction organised in these remote areas. Along the way we compare the American and Italian education systems and decide that everything is our parents’ fault. 

Steve Webb is a founding Director of Webb Yates Engineers, and has led many award-winning projects and pioneered the practice’s approach to sustainability. We discuss mega projects and staircases, innovation with stone and timber, the reasons he started his own practice, and the world’s largest gazelle.

Finn Graham is a bridge engineer and project manager with COWI, and winner of the IABSE Nethercot Prize 2020. He discusses subjects ranging from high-speed rail viaducts, demolishing occupied stadia and fibre reinforced composites through to finding a job in a recession, whilst geographically wandering from rural Ireland to the wilds of Canada, the streets of London and lockdown in Munich. 

Helena Russell is a journalist and writer, and for many years she was the editor of Bridge Design and Engineering and a fixture at the regular international conferences and events that IABSE puts on. If you would like to know more about Helena please head to her website www.helenarussell.com. Head to www.iabse.org.uk for more information about the IABSE British Group. If you prefer to watch these conversations on YouTube, our channel is available here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7n7QnM1aHKIagXeohu0_6g

Ian Firth is a structural engineer and bridge designer, with a portfolio that stretches from the longest to the shortest bridges. He is the only structural engineer to give a TED talk on the main stage and has spent almost his entire career at Flint & Neill, now part of Cowi. If you would like to know more about Ian's work, his website is www.ianfirth.com. Head to www.iabse.org.uk for more information about the IABSE British Group. If you prefer to watch these conversations on YouTube, our channel is available here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7n7QnM1aHKIagXeohu0_6g

Laura Landgridge is a bridge designer and architect at Knight Architects and was the 2019 winner of the IABSE Nethercot Prize, an award for early career professionals for a paper that tells a story about their project. If you would like to know more about Laura’s work at Knight Architects please head to their website www.knightarchitects.co.uk.  Head to www.iabse.org.uk for more information about the IABSE British Group. If you prefer to watch these conversations on YouTube, our channel is available here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7n7QnM1aHKIagXeohu0_6g

Bill Harvey is a structural engineer with a career that has covered a huge breadth of the bridge industry, from ground breaking material research to site roles on extremely long span structures to his current passion for masonry structures. If you would like to know more about Bill and his work, his website is www.billharveyassociates.com. Head to www.iabse.org.uk for more information about the IABSE British Group. If you prefer to watch these conversations on YouTube, our channel is available here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7n7QnM1aHKIagXeohu0_6g

John is a structural engineer, designer and early adopter of technology with a career that has extended from London to Los Angeles to India and Hong Kong. He has worked at Arup, Atkins, Laing O’Rourke and now is an independent consultant. His website is www.csdiengineering.co.uk.  Head to www.iabse.org.uk for more information about the IABSE British Group. If you prefer to watch these conversations on youtube, our channel is available here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7n7QnM1aHKIagXeohu0_6g