Ian Firth

FREng Fellowship of the Royal Academy of Engineering (FREng) is an award and fellowship for engineers who are recognised by the Royal Academy of Engineering as being the best and brightest engineers, inventors and technologists in the UK and from aroun ...

FICE, FIStructE, Hon FRIBA is a British structural engineer and bridge designer.

Early life and education

Born in Sussex into a Royal Navy family, Firth was a chorister at

Winchester Cathedral The Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity,Historic England. "Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity (1095509)". '' National Heritage List for England''. Retrieved 8 September 2014. Saint Peter, Saint Paul and Saint Swithun, commonly known as Winche ...

before going to

Marlborough College Marlborough College is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English Independent school (United Kingdom), independent boarding school) for pupils aged 13 to 18 in Marlborough, Wiltshire, England. Founded in 1843 for the sons of Church ...

and then to the

University of Bristol The University of Bristol is a Red brick university, red brick Russell Group research university in Bristol, England. It received its royal charter in 1909, although it can trace its roots to a Society of Merchant Venturers, Merchant Venturers' sc ...

where he secured a First Class Honours degree in

Civil Engineering Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads, bridges, canals, dams, airports, sewa ...

in 1979.

Career

Firth joined specialist consulting engineers

Flint & Neill Flint & Neill is a firm of consulting civil and structural engineers based in the United Kingdom. Flint & Neill was established as an engineering consultancy in 1958, and specialises mainly in the design, analysis, construction and maintenance of ...

in London upon graduation, and initially worked on a variety of projects including tall

radio masts and towers Radio masts and towers are typically tall structures designed to support antennas for telecommunications and broadcasting, including television. There are two main types: guyed and self-supporting structures. They are among the tallest human-mad ...

chimney A chimney is an architectural ventilation structure made of masonry, clay or metal that isolates hot toxic exhaust gases or smoke produced by a boiler, stove, furnace, incinerator, or fireplace from human living areas. Chimneys are t ...

s and

steel building A steel building is a metal structure fabricated with steel for the internal support and for exterior cladding, as opposed to steel framed buildings which generally use other materials for floors, walls, and external envelope. Steel building ...

s, as well as the

aerodynamic Aerodynamics, from grc, ἀήρ ''aero'' (air) + grc, δυναμική (dynamics), is the study of the motion of air, particularly when affected by a solid object, such as an airplane wing. It involves topics covered in the field of fluid dyn ...

stability Stability may refer to: Mathematics * Stability theory, the study of the stability of solutions to differential equations and dynamical systems ** Asymptotic stability ** Linear stability ** Lyapunov stability ** Orbital stability ** Structural st ...

box girder bridges A box girder bridge, or box section bridge, is a bridge in which the main beams comprise girders in the shape of a hollow box. The box girder normally comprises prestressed concrete, structural steel, or a composite of steel and rei ...

. He then attended

Imperial College Imperial College London (legally Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom. Its history began with Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, who developed his vision for a cul ...

and obtained a further degree in

Structural steel Structural steel is a category of steel used for making construction materials in a variety of shapes. Many structural steel shapes take the form of an elongated beam having a profile of a specific cross section. Structural steel shapes, siz ...

Design A design is a plan or specification for the construction of an object or system or for the implementation of an activity or process or the result of that plan or specification in the form of a prototype, product, or process. The verb ''to design'' ...

in 1982. Returning to

, he worked on the complex strengthening and upgrading of the

Wye Bridge The Severn Bridge ( cy, Pont Hafren) is a motorway suspension bridge that spans the River Severn between South Gloucestershire in England and Monmouthshire in South East Wales. It is the original Severn road crossing between England and Wal ...

, a steel box girder

cable-stayed bridge A cable-stayed bridge has one or more ''towers'' (or ''pylons''), from which cables support the bridge deck. A distinctive feature are the cables or stays, which run directly from the tower to the deck, normally forming a fan-like pattern ...

and part of the M48

Severn crossing Severn crossing is a term used to refer to the two motorway crossings over the River Severn estuary between England and Wales operated by England's National Highways. The two crossings are: *Severn Bridge ( cy, Pont Hafren) * Prince of Wales ...

. Since then he has directed several other similar projects involving strengthening of such structures, including the

Erskine Bridge The Erskine Bridge is a multi span cable-stayed box girder bridge spanning the River Clyde in west central Scotland. The bridge connects West Dunbartonshire with Renfrewshire and can be used by all types of motor vehicles, cyclists and pedestrian ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...

and the

West Gate Bridge The West Gate Bridge is a steel, box girder, cable-stayed bridge in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, spanning the Yarra River just north of its mouth into Port Phillip. It carries the West Gate Freeway and is a vital link between the inner c ...

in Australia. His other work on major long span bridges includes the independent design checks and investigations for the

Tsing Ma Bridge Tsing Ma Bridge is a bridge in Hong Kong. It is the world's 16th-longest span suspension bridge, and was the second longest at time of completion. The bridge was named after the two islands it connects, namely Tsing Yi and Ma Wan. It has two ...

Kap Shui Mun Bridge The Kap Shui Mun Bridge (KSMB) in Hong Kong, part of Lantau Link of Route 8, is one of the longest cable-stayed bridges in the world that transports both road and railway traffic, with the upper deck used for motor vehicles and the lower deck ...

and

Ting Kau Bridge Ting Kau Bridge is a long cable-stayed bridge in Hong Kong that spans from the northwest of Tsing Yi Island and Tuen Mun Road. It is near the Tsing Ma Bridge which also serves as a major connector between the Hong Kong International Airport ...

, all in

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

. He was appointed as special advisor to the client for the longest span of them all, the

Strait of Messina Bridge The Strait of Messina Bridge is a long-planned suspension bridge across the Strait of Messina, that connects the cities of Messina’s Torre Faro and the port city of Villa San Giovanni in Calabria. While the bridge has been proposed since anci ...

in Italy, which when built will have a main span of 3,300m. Firth led the team which won the Poole Harbour Crossing bridge design competition in 1997, working with Danish architects

Dissing+Weitling Dissing may refer to: * Diss (music), song primarily intended to disrespect people * Dissing+Weitling, architecture and design practice in Copenhagen, Denmark * Heino Dissing (1912–1990), Danish cyclist * Henry Dissing (1931–2009), Danish myco ...

, and has subsequently won many other bridge design competitions. These include Lockmeadow Bridge in Maidstone, the Bridge of Aspiration for the

Royal Ballet School The Royal Ballet School is a British school of classical ballet training founded in 1926 by the Anglo-Irish ballerina and choreographer Ninette de Valois. The school's aim is to train and educate outstanding classical ballet dancers, especial ...

in London, the River Oise bridge in Compiègne, France,River Oise Bridge, Compiègne, Franc

Retrieved June 2018 the Pont Schuman in Lyon, France, and

Inderhavnsbroen Inderhavnsbroen ( lit.: ''The Inner Harbour Bridge'') is a bridge across the Copenhagen inner harbour and is a combined pedestrian and bicyclist bridge directed east-west. The bridge is joined to ''Nyhavn'' (west) and ''Christianshavn'' (east). ...

in Copenhagen. He became partner in

in 1990, and when the firm joined

COWI COWI A/S is an international consulting group, specialising in engineering, environmental science and economics, with headquarters in Lyngby, Denmark. It has been involved in more than 50,000 projects in 175 countries and has approximately 7,300 em ...

in 2008 he was appointed a director. He retired from full-time employment in 2018 and now works as a consultant, continuing to provide bridge design and engineering advice, training and education. Firth was president of the

Institution of Structural Engineers The Institution of Structural Engineers is a professional body for structural engineering based in the United Kingdom. The Institution has over 30,000 members operating in over 100 countries. The Institution provides professional accreditation ...

in 2017 and is chairman of the British Group of the

International Association for Bridge and Structural Engineering The International Association for Bridge and Structural Engineering (IABSE) is a non-profit organisation with mission to promote the exchange of knowledge and to advance the practice of structural engineering worldwide in the service of the profess ...

. He is also a trustee of bridge building charity

Bridges to Prosperity Bridges to Prosperity is a United States-based nonprofit organization that partners with local governments to connect communities via pedestrian bridges. Bridges to Prosperity is based in Denver, Colorado, with staff around the world. Foot ...

Awards and honours

Firth is an Honorary Fellow of the

Royal Institute of British Architects The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally, founded for the advancement of architecture under its royal charter granted in 1837, three suppl ...

Selected projects

* Lockmeadow Bridge, 1999 * Halgavor Bridge, 2001 * Swansea Sail Bridge, 2003 * River Oise Bridge, Compiègne, 2011 * Third Way Bridge, 2011 *

Copenhagen, 2009 – 2016

References

External links

Ian Firth
{{DEFAULTSORT:Firth, Ian Living people Presidents of the Institution of Structural Engineers Bridge engineers British structural engineers People from Sussex 1956 births