Annual Dinner

The modern trend of structural development is to reduce weight, and simultaneously to increase structural efficiency. A powerful means for realising these aims is to be found in the use of sections of thin walled proportions. Such sections, on account of their lightness, together with outlines chosen for maximum stiffness, give a high load-carrying capacity to structural weight ratio. W. Shearer Smith

This month's letters discuss foundations in shrinkable ground and highlight a survey on structural optimisation in practice.

Shalini Jagnarine-Azan describes how the impact of a heating planet is already being felt by islands in the Caribbean, and discusses the challenges of trying to build back more resiliently following a disaster.