Faith Helen Wainwright (born 1962) is a British

structural engineer Structural engineers analyze, design, plan, and research List of structural elements, structural components and structural systems to achieve design goals and ensure the safety and comfort of users or occupants. Their work takes account mainly of ...

, and a director of

Arup Group Arup Group Limited, trading as Arup, is a British multinational professional services firm headquartered in London that provides design, engineering, architecture, planning, and advisory services across every aspect of the built environment. ...

. She has led in the structural design of multiple landmark buildings including the American Air Museum and the

Tate Modern Tate Modern is an art gallery in London, housing the United Kingdom's national collection of international Modern art, modern and contemporary art (created from or after 1900). It forms part of the Tate group together with Tate Britain, Tate Live ...

and holds an

honorary doctor An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hono ...

ate from the

University of Bath The University of Bath is a public research university in Bath, England. Bath received its royal charter in 1966 as Bath University of Technology, along with a number of other institutions following the Robbins Report. Like the University ...

. Wainwright was the 2018 President of the

Institution of Structural Engineers The Institution of Structural Engineers is a British professional body for structural engineers. In 2021, it had 29,900 members operating in 112 countries. It provides professional accreditation and publishes a magazine, '' The Structural Eng ...

and is the Editor-in-chief of Ingenia (the educational magazine of the

Royal Academy of Engineering The Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng) is the United Kingdom's national academy of engineering. The Academy was founded in June 1976 as the Fellowship of Engineering with support from Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, who became the first senio ...

Education

Wainwright attended

Queen Anne's School Queen Anne's School is a private boarding and day school for girls aged 11 to 18, situated in the suburb of Caversham just north of the River Thames and Reading town centre and occupying a campus. There are around 450 pupils. Nearly half are ...

and was one of the first female graduates of

St Edmund Hall, Oxford St Edmund Hall (also known as The Hall and Teddy Hall) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. The college claims to be "the oldest surviving academic society to house and educate undergraduates in any university" and was the las ...

, where she earned a degree in engineering in 1983.

Career

Wainwright joined Arup after her graduation. At Arup she has contributed to

The Shard The Shard, also referred to as the Shard London Bridge and formerly London Bridge Tower, is a 72-storey mixed-use development supertall pyramid-shaped skyscraper, designed by the Italian architect Renzo Piano, in Southwark, London, that for ...

Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank HSBC Holdings plc ( zh, t_hk=滙豐; initialism from its founding member The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation) is a British universal bank and financial services group headquartered in London, England, with historical and business li ...

Headquarters,

Velodrom (Berlin) The Velodrom (velodrome) is an indoor track cycling arena, in the Prenzlauer Berg locality of Berlin, Germany. Holding up to 12,000 people, it was also Berlin's largest concert venue, until the opening of O2 World in 2008. It is part of a large ...

, Lycée Albert Camus (in Frejus, France) and has worked alongside architects such as

Renzo Piano Renzo Piano (; born 14 September 1937) is an Italian architect. His notable works include the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris (with Richard Rogers, 1977), The Shard in London (2012), Kansai International Airport in Osaka (1994), the Whitney ...

Norman Foster, Baron Foster of Thames Bank Norman Robert Foster, Baron Foster of Thames Bank (born 1 June 1935) is an English architect. Closely associated with the development of high-tech architecture, Lord Foster is recognised as a key figure in British modernist architecture. Hi ...

, and Ken Shuttleworth. Wainwright has been instrumental in transforming the

structural engineering Structural engineering is a sub-discipline of civil engineering in which structural engineers are trained to design the 'bones and joints' that create the form and shape of human-made Structure#Load-bearing, structures. Structural engineers also ...

community, including influencing the "Confidential Reporting on Structural Safety" and has served as the first-ever woman on the Joint Board of Moderators (the professional body which regulates accreditation of university degree programmes in

Civil engineering Civil engineering is a regulation and licensure in engineering, professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads ...

). In 2014 Wainwright sat on the

Research Excellence Framework The Research Excellence Framework (REF) is a research impact evaluation of British Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). It is the successor to the Research Assessment Exercise and it was first used in 2014 to assess the period 2008–2013. REF is ...

sub-panel 14 (Civil and Construction Engineering) to assess the quality of University-based academic research in the UK. Recognizing the importance of education and structural engineering, Wainwright established Arup University.

Awards

In 2003, Wainwright was in the Arup team who won the International Information Industry Award recognizing their "innovation in knowledge management". She was awarded Fellowship of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 2003, an MBE in 2012 for services to the built environment and engineering professions and an Honorary DEng from Bath University in 2014. In 2015 Wainwright was elected an honorary fellow of St Edmund Hall. She gave her inaugural address as President of the Institution of Structural Engineers on Thursday 11 January 2018.

Personal life

Wainwright lives in

Northwood, London Northwood is an area in the London Borough of Hillingdon, North West London, located northwest of Charing Cross. Northwood was part of the ancient parish of Ruislip, Middlesex. The area was situated on the historic Middlesex boundary with Hert ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wainwright, Faith Female fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering British structural engineers Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Fellows of St Edmund Hall, Oxford People educated at Queen Anne's School 1962 births Living people 21st-century British women engineers