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 Saltire surveys a wealth of Scottish talent as we celebrate 25 years of excellence in civil engineeringScotland and a proud tradition of civil engineering go hand in hand. It's what comes of difficult terrain, scattered resources and a good education system. In 1981, Frank Johnson, the then Chief Engineer of the North of Scotland Hydro-Electric Board, approached the Saltire Society with the proposal that an award for excellence in civil engineering should be established in collaboration with the Institution of Civil Engineers.Frank Johnson was joined by John Fisher of Whatlings, Hamish Stears of Ove Arup, Bill Paterson of Lanarkshire Council and the vice-chairmen of the local Institution associations to form a committee with a wide ranging civil engineering experience. The committee held its first meeting in June 1980 to develop both the objectives of the award and the adjudication criteria and procedures. They defined the objective as the recognition and encouragement of excellence in civil engineering in Scotland. It was agreed that entries to the competition would be judged by a panel consisting of two members nominated by each of the two local ICE associations, one member by the Federation of Civil Engineering Contractors (FCEC), now the Civil Engineering Contractors Association (Scotland), one by the Association of Consulting Engineers and one by the Scottish Development Department. From 2000 the Scottish Environment Protection Agency has also nominated one member. In the early days the committee\'s Chairman was nominated by the Saltire Society. Notable amongst the early occupants of this post was Professor Sir Robert Grieve, the first Chairman of the Highlands and Islands Development Board. He was succeeded in 1990 by Stanley Agnew, by John Fisher in 1994 and in 2002 by John Carruthers, who still occupies the post. To be sure of making the kind of impact that the committee had set itself, it was agreed that the award would need to be properly funded. To this end, Stanley Agnew approached the then Secretary of State for Scotland, George Younger. He agreed to award an annual grant to the committee. This commitment was matched by successive administrations and by the new Scottish executive. Other sponsors include FCEC, ACE, the two local ICE Associations, SEPA and the Building and Civil Engineering Benefits Schemes. Originally there were three awards of for design, construction and combined design and construction. In 1993 a new category was introduced to reward the conservation elements of a project. In 2000 a project category was introduced, replacing the combined design and construction section, and at the same time a new award for environmentally sustainable construction was established with advice on this being taken from SEPA. Although many of the awards have been made to large publicly funded projects, the primary aim of the judging panel has been to find and reward examples of excellence whatever the scale of the work involved. In 1993 Aberfeldy Gold Club was one of the smaller private organisations to take an award - in their case for a lightweight footbridge crossing the River Tay. Most of the large-scale civil engineering projects which have been undertaken in the last 25 years have been examined by the judges and many well-known projects have featured in the winners list. The best known amongst these include the Falkirk Wheel and, more controversially, the Skye Bridge. Site visits have formed a key part of the adjudication process with members of the committee travelling to the furthest reaches of the country to assess the projects. In the first year of its existence judges visited a new lighthouse on Skerries, four miles north east of Papa Stour, Shetland and on another occasion undertook a nerve-racking trip to the top of the Forth Road Bridge\'s newly strengthened towers. The awards continue to attract support from the construction industry with large well-known companies and smaller firms taking the time to prepare and submit entries. The wealth of talent which Scotland has in this field has now been recognised by the Society and its partners for a quarter of a century. Civil engineering is a sector whose contribution to the general well-being of the nation has often gone unrecognised. The Saltire Society and its partners have sought to rectify this. In the words of the Committee's present chairman, John Carruthers, 'Each year (the awards) help to raise awareness of the skills, effort and art required to carry out these vital projects. I look forward to another twenty-five years during which the people who carry out this important and vital work are given the recognition they deserve.' Top of page |