Author Archives: Sydney Lenssen

NCE at 50 | Editors’ key moments: Sydney Lenssen 1972-1976

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The events that dominated my time as editor actually predate the launch of NCE, but the detailed analysis of these events, right from the launch issue, really captures what the magazine set out to do. It was the collapse during construction of three box girder bridges of similar design that…

Obituary: Dr William Christopher Brown

News

BILL BROWN, perhaps the most inspirational bridge engineer of the last half century, died last week at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital aged 76.His last regret was that he did not see the Messina Straits Bridge built, according to his wife Celia. Known on this project as the 'father of…

Open to bribery

PUBLIC WORKS and construction are the sectors in which public officials are most likely to accept bribes, according to a Gallup International Association survey commissioned by Transparency International.

The Berlin-based anti-corruption lobby carried out the study last year to find which exporting countries bribe most to win contracts in emerging economies.The…

Construction is most corrupt sector says report

PUBLIC WORKS and construction are the sectors in which public officials are most likely to accept or demand bribes, according to a Gallup International Association survey commissioned by Transparency Inter- national and published last week.

The Berlin based anti-corruption lobby carried out the study last year to find which exporting countries…

Collateral flood damage

When introduced as a journalist, I spend half my conversations defending misspelling, mistakes and exaggerations in magazines and newspapers. It is in part a duty - loyalty to my second profession. But when on holiday I see the blatant damage caused by media reports, I despair.

This year's spree was to…

Do we need a golden hello?

The IES Annual Graduate Review 1998-99 gives valuable hints to all engineers in their twenties. The Institute for Employment Studies reports that many recruiters cannot attract the graduates they want to meet their business needs. It is particularly acute in civil engineering, according to Nick Jagger, an IES research fellow.

Skill…

Profile

Michel Virlogeux Milau bridge engineer

World ranking of significant contributors to cable stayed bridges - a very un-British thing to do - is unlikely to include a Brit. The French are not so reticent. Michel Virlogeux would be pretty near the top - and he wouldn't disagree.A youthful 52 year old,…

Unequal players in the power game

Nobody can be surprised that the privatised electricity industry is milked for profits, even at the expense of national interest. The Department of Trade & Industry's current review of energy sources for power generation politely exposes the tricks, but has yet to find the remedies.

When President of the Board of…

All the fun of the fair

The Greenwich Dome is now half-covered, but for most Londoners its location means it is still an obscure structure. In contrast, once erection starts this summer, the David Marks/Julia Barfield Millennium Wheel will have everyone agog as it rises on the South Bank. From January 2000, if the tight deadline…

Profile Caton Crozier

President of the 'French Civils'.

Caton Crozier becomes 66th president of the Conseil National des Ingnieurs et des Scientifiques de France at Great George Street tonight. His French is not much better than when he left school, and his talk on Ferdinand de Lesseps and the Suez Canal will be in…