Neville Centre of Excellence in Cement and Concrete Engineering

Professor Andrew Beeby

As remembered by Professor John Forth

There are many within our industry who feel grateful, even privileged, to have worked with Professor Andrew Beeby and who appreciate the breadth of his knowledge and the insightfulness that he possessed, not just in the area of Structural Design. There are also many who never had the chance to meet him but still hold him in high regard for his numerous highly relevant papers and contributions to, for example, our current design codes. His proposed theories remain relevant, and even some that were seen as controversial at the time are now gaining credence 30 years later.

Andrew joined the School of Civil Engineering, University of Leeds, in 1991 as the Institution of Structural Engineers’ Chair of Professor of Structural Design and as Head of Structures. He spent 13 years at Leeds before he retired in 2004 (although he was still active for several years after his retirement; for example, he was instrumental in the success of the EPSRC-funded joint Leeds/Durham project investigating ‘Shrinkage curvature of cracked reinforced concrete elements’ which finished in 2008). His Civil Engineering career actually began with John Laing following his graduation from the now City University. He then spent 27 years working at the Cement and Concrete Association (CaCA) before moving to Leeds. It was an exciting time to start a career as a Civil Engineer – for example, he was part of the surveying team that performed the setting out for the first stretch of the M1 motorway! Of his time at the C and CA, Andrew always said how inspiring it was and how lucky he felt to be able to immerse himself in research into Reinforced Concrete, all day, every day, something that he sadly accepted is simply just not possible these days. He said that his first project was on estimating crack widths in reinforced concrete – this was definitely a case of the right person, right time! His dissection of the phenomenon and his understanding of the mechanism and its influence on design performance since then is historic. Andrew also used to praise the environment at the C and CA, and the conversations with his colleagues – there was always someone to discuss his findings with; it was a true utopia for research!

In some ways, this was a very noticeable difference he hadn’t expected when he joined academia in 1991. I remember him saying to me after I joined the School in 1999 that there were often more conversations about university car-parking than about the technicalities of CE – I knew what he meant; however, I think this was also an indication of his sense of humour, which was very sharp. Although in this different environment, with many other demands on his time, Andrew still managed to lead his field of expertise. He was a Technical Expert for the development of Eurocode 2, being contracted to the European Commission; this continued his significant impact on the previous CP110, BS8110, and BS8007 design codes. He was an active member of several editorial boards and Editor of ‘Structural Concrete’. He received several awards, including the Henry Adams Bronze Award in 1997 and the Lewis Kent Award for service to the Profession and the Institution of Structural Engineers in 2001. He was also very proud to be made a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 1993. His productivity, whilst at Leeds, is a testament to his strength of character and is unlikely to be seen again; his impact as a role model is immeasurable.

In terms of the structural behaviour of concrete at the SLS, Andrew was ‘the oracle’. His roles outside of the University were not just based on his knowledge, but also on his ability to apply his knowledge to create guidance for practising engineers/industry. He had the ability to ‘commercialise’ his research, and through his philosophy, he helped reduce the conservatism of design guidance for practising engineers, a philosophy which, in a way, was ahead of its time, as this philosophy is now a necessity within all of us as we strive towards the industry vision of net-zero construction. Within academia, it wasn’t just his esteem that inspired his colleagues and students; he infected everyone with his enthusiasm, particularly MSc and PhD students. His legacy continues to attract academics to the School today. (Author: Prof. John Forth).