He could easily have been a farm manager but his first love is construction and airports; his mentors include Michael Corless and Sir John Egan, while he admires The Shawshank Redemption's Andy Dufresne; he's excited about digital engineering and the progress to 7D; and his two Irish Water Spaniels and Aussie Rules keeps him grounded.

The aboriginal people of Australia have a story about the demise of Irish engineer Charles Y O’Connor. In the course of his construction of Fremantle harbour he ordered the destruction of a reef which was used by aboriginal men to cross the Swan River for ceremonies with their womenfolk. Angered by this destruction of their ceremonial route, they sang a mystical aboriginal song to drive him mad. Subsequently (the story goes), he rode himself and his horse off a cliff into the ocean and ...

On 6 November 1969 in Vienna, Austria, three loud bangs punctuate the evening air. The bangs originate from the banks of the River Danube where the construction of the Fourth Danube Bridge is under way. The 412m long continuous box-girder bridge hasn’t collapsed, but it is hanging in the air, kinked and distorted [1]. Seven months later and almost 2,000km away, one of the longest bridges in Europe is under construction near the seaport of Milford Haven in Wales [1]. It too is a continuous ...

In the first article in this series, Stephen Cummins and Andrew O'Connell outline the unique design and the inherent engineering challenges of the Nelson Street Cycleway and explain how it works together with the Canada Street Bridge. The Canada Street Bridge has a unique structure. The design philosophy that was adopted endeavoured to find a subtle balance between providing something simple, sculptural and elegant while also highlighting the complex engineering. For this reason, the ...

The vibrant Nelson Street Cycleway and Canada Street Bridge (Te Ara I Whiti: The Lightpath) is a spectacular realisation of the New Zealand’s Transport Agency’s (NZTA’s) vision to provide world-class cycling infrastructure throughout each major town and city in New Zealand. This new philosophy is being orchestrated through the NZTA’s Urban Cycleways Programme, with a view toward providing each town and city in New Zealand with a more liveable/sustainable attractive transport ...

Engineers Ireland continued its strong focus at maintaining and supporting links with its regional branches as it arranged for a representation earlier in the year at the annual Engineers Ireland Australia/New Zealand Region Saint Patrick’s Day Seminar, held this year at the Crown Palladium in Melbourne, Australia. ICE president Sir John Armitt earlier this year delivered his presidential address, ‘Civil engineers: Shaping ourselves and our world’, to Engineers Ireland members at Clyde ...