Jane Melville Wernick

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

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 arou ...

(born April 1954) is a British structural engineer and a consultant to engineersHRW. Having founded Jane Wernick Associates in 1998, she gave the firm to an employee trust in 2010 and it was incorporated into engineersHRW in May 2015. Previously, she worked at Arup (1976–1998). During her career with Arup, and later with Jane Wernick Associates, she was closely involved with projects including

Stansted Airport Stansted Airport is an international airport serving London, the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It is located near Stansted Mountfitchet, Uttlesford, Essex, northeast of Central London. As London's third-busiest airport, Stan ...

terminal building and the

London Eye The London Eye, originally the Millennium Wheel, is a cantilevered observation wheel on the South Bank of the River Thames in London. It is the world's tallest cantilevered observation wheel, and the most popular paid Tourist attractions in the ...

Early life and interests

Wernick was born in 1954, the eldest child of Irving and Doreen Wernick, and has lived in

Hampstead Hampstead () is an area in London, England, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, located mainly in the London Borough of Camden, with a small part in the London Borough of Barnet. It borders Highgate and Golders Green to the north, Belsiz ...

, London. She attended

Haberdashers' Aske's School for Girls Haberdashers' Girls' School is a Private schools in the United Kingdom, private day school in Elstree, Hertfordshire. It is often referred to as "Habs" (or "Habs Girls" to distinguish it from the neighbouring Haberdashers' Boys' School). The sch ...

in Acton and graduated from the

University of Southampton The University of Southampton (abbreviated as ''Soton'' in post-nominal letters) is a public university, public research university in Southampton, England. Southampton is a founding member of the Russell Group of research-intensive universit ...

in 1976.

Career

From 1976 to 1998, Wernick worked for

Ove Arup & Partners 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 was in charge of Arup's Los Angeles office from 1986 to 1988. Wernick was the RAEng Visiting Professor of Design at Southampton University and has taught at the

Harvard Graduate School of Design The Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD) is the graduate school of design at Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It offers master's and doctoral programs in architecture, landscape architecture, urba ...

, the

Mackintosh School of Architecture The Mackintosh School of Architecture (MSA) is one of the five schools which make up the Glasgow School of Art, situated in the Garnethill area of Glasgow, Scotland. The Mackintosh School of Architecture is the Glasgow School of Art's only acad ...

, Glasgow, and the

Architectural Association The Architectural Association School of Architecture in London, commonly referred to as the AA, is the oldest private school of architecture in the UK. The AA hosts exhibitions, lectures, symposia and publications. History The Architectura ...

, London. Wernick has been a member of the EDGE think tank and the

RIBA ''Riba'' (, or , ) is an Arabic word used in Islamic law and roughly translated as " usury": unjust, exploitative gains made in trade or business. ''Riba'' is mentioned and condemned in several different verses in the Qur'an3:130

Building Futures Steering Committee, in addition to a member of the

Design Council The Design Council, formerly the Council of Industrial Design, is a United Kingdom Charitable trust, charity incorporated by royal charter. Its stated mission is "to champion great design that improves lives and makes things better". It was instr ...

CABE Design Review Panel and has been the Chair of the Diversity Task Force of the

Construction Industry Council Construction Industry Council may refer to: * Construction Industry Council (Hong Kong) * Construction Industry Council (United Kingdom) Construction Industry Council (CIC) is the representative forum for professional bodies, research organisati ...

. From 1996 to 1999 Wernick was a member of the Council 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 ...

. She was also on the CABE Design Review Panel from 2001 to 2006 and the CABE Schools Panel from 2007 to 2011. In 2016, Wernick and her work were featured in the V&A's Engineering Season.

Notable projects

* 1986: Cerritos Centre for the Performing Arts, Los Angeles * 1990–1993: Lille TGV station * 1990–1998:

* 2004–2006:

Young Vic The Young Vic Theatre is a performing arts venue located on The Cut, near the South Bank, in the London Borough of Lambeth. The Young Vic was established by Frank Dunlop in 1970. Nadia Fall has been artistic director since 2025, succeeding ...

, London * 2005: Tickle Cock Bridge,

Castleford Castleford is a town within the City of Wakefield district, West Yorkshire, England. It had a population of 45,106 at a 2021 population estimate. Historic counties of England, Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, to the north of the t ...

* 2010–2011

Living Architecture Living or The Living may refer to: Common meanings *Life, a condition that distinguishes organisms from inorganic objects and dead organisms ** Living species, one that is not extinct *Personal life, the course of an individual human's life * L ...

houses, including the Balancing Barn, near

Aldeburgh Aldeburgh ( ) is a coastal town and civil parish in the East Suffolk District, East Suffolk district, in the English county, county of Suffolk, England, north of the River Alde. Its estimated population was 2,276 in 2019. It was home to the comp ...

, Suffolk; the Shingle House,

Dungeness Dungeness (, ) is a headland on the coast of Kent, England, formed largely of a shingle beach in the form of a cuspate foreland. It shelters a large area of low-lying land, Romney Marsh. Dungeness spans Dungeness Nuclear Power Station, the ham ...

, Kent; the Long House, Cockthorpe, Norfolk and the Dune House,

Thorpeness Thorpeness is a seaside village in the East Suffolk district of Suffolk, England, which developed in the early 20th century into an exclusive resort. It belongs to the parish of Aldringham cum Thorpe and lies within the Suffolk Coast and Heat ...

, Suffolk

Awards

* 1988: First prize in the

Institution of Civil Engineers The Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) is an independent professional association for civil engineers and a Charitable organization, charitable body in the United Kingdom. Based in London, ICE has over 92,000 members, of whom three-quarters ar ...

(ICE) Bridge Competition * 2006: 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 ...

* 2009: Fellow 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 ...

* 2013: First Woman of the Built Environment *

2015 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2015 were appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebrati ...

: Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) – For services to Structural and Civil Engineering

External links

Interview with Jane Wernick

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wernick, Jane 1954 births English civil engineers Alumni of the University of Southampton Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering Female fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering Living people Fellows of the Royal Institute of British Architects 21st-century British women engineers