Design Education

The facts about asbestos cement John Bridle has written from Dinas Powys in the Vale of Glamorgan, expressing concern that the facts about the safe use of asbestos cement are being distorted: Hysteria is being generated by vested interest groups over the use of asbestos cement products in buildings. There is a clear distinction between ‘asbestos cement’ and other asbestos-containing products, and everybody associated with the construction industry should make themselves aware of the situation.

Dr Sam Thorburn, OBE, FEng, will succeed Brian Clancy, JP, as President of the Institution 1997-98 at an Ordinary Meeting at headquarters on Thursday 2 October. The installation takes place at 6pm, when the new President will deliver his address ‘The challenge of structural engineering: safety with economy and harmony’, the full text of which will be published in The Structural Engineer in October. Born in Glasgow in October 1930 within a community dependent on heavy industry, and, in particular, steelworks, Dr Thorburn developed a desire to be an engineer at the early age of 8 years when visiting relatives in Thames Ditton, Surrey, who owned a building firm. During holidays in Surrey he learnt the skills of sailing on the River Thames. Tennis also became a way of life during those early years, and both sailing and tennis remain as memories of a happy boyhood.

Brian Clancy has returned from the Kerensky Conference in Hong Kong with an endorsement from the Chinese construction authorities of the high standards set by the Institution for the education and training of structural engineers. This has been just one of the highlights of a Presidential year that has seen the implementation by the Institution of its forward-looking CPD policy and the culmination of discussions with the Engineering Council on new standards and routes to registration. Brian Clancy spoke about this and other current issues in an interview with John D. Allen.