Sir Alexander Gibb & Partners

Last updated

Sir Alexander Gibb & Partners was a British firm of consulting civil engineers, founded in 1922 by Sir Alexander Gibb, and initially headquartered in London before moving west to Reading in Berkshire in 1974 to the former site of Suttons Seeds. In 1989, the firm merged with Atlanta, Georgia-based Law Engineering and Environmental Services. In 2001 Law sold the Gibb business to another US-based firm, Jacobs Engineering Group.

Contents

History

The firm had been founded in 1922 by Scottish civil engineer, Brigadier-General Sir Alexander Gibb, whom was President of the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1936. [1]

For the first ten years the business was not very rewarding financially although it was engaged on several important projects. Gibb and his colleague, noted electrical engineer Charles Hesterman Merz, designed Barking Power Station and later (between 1930 and 1936), the modernist power stations of the Galloway hydro-electric power scheme, the first major work of its kind to be linked to the National Grid. The firm also worked on Maentwrog New Dam in Wales (1928). [2]

In 1936, it designed the Kincardine Bridge across the Firth of Forth, then Britain's largest road bridge. [3]

In 1937, the firm designed the Capper Pass and Son smelting works (as well as a row of houses) in Hull. [4]

Allied Bakeries, St Pauls Cray, London and its art deco inspired tower. Allied Bakeries, Orpington - geograph.org.uk - 724931.jpg
Allied Bakeries, St Pauls Cray, London and its art deco inspired tower.

In 1939, Gibb designed the new Allied Bakeries building, in St Pauls Cray (near Orpington). Originally the Tip Top Bakery in Cray Avenue, it is now part of the Allied Bakeries division of Associated British Foods. [5]

From 1939 Sir Alexander Gibb & Partners designed three large ordnance factories (including ROF Swynnerton) for the Ministry of Supply; three other smaller factories followed later. [1] Also during World War II, the Drakelow Tunnels near Kidderminster were designed and constructed.

In 1949, Cliff Quay Power Station in Suffolk was designed. In 1954, the firm completed the Owen Falls Dam in Uganda. [6]

In 1967, it started working on the Cerros Colorados Complex in Argentina, provided design and construction management until its completion in 1979.

Between 1967 and 1970 Sir Alexander Gibb & Partners designed Baghdad International Airport.

In 1968, Sir Alexander Gibb & Partners was joint consulting engineer on the Cleddau Bridge in Wales. [7]

Other later works included the Tripoli International Airport (1978), Devonport Dockyard, Limehouse Link tunnel (1989-1993), Great Man-Made River Project in Libya and several defence and airport projects in the Middle East, and several hydro-electric dam projects including the design and supervision of Tongariro Hydroelectric Scheme in New Zealand, the Lar Dam in Iran, Victoria Dam in Sri Lanka (1975-1985), [8] and the Samanalawewa Dam project also in Sri Lanka (1993). Problems emerged on the Samanalawewa project and two years after its completion, its reservoir still could not be filled because its base was leaking. One Sri Lankan geologist has warned: "Samanalawewa is a write off". Also, the Victoria Dam in Sri Lanka has not produced the amount of energy envisaged by the designer. [9]

By the late 1980s/early 1990s, the firm was organised as a number of specialised departments in Reading, namely Water and Energy (WAE), Transportation and Marine (TAM), Structures and Services (SAS), Project Management Services (PMS) and Gibb Architects. Outside of the United Kingdom, the firm had associated practices including Gibb Africa (headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya), Gibb Botswana (operating from Gaborone), [10] Gibb Petermuller (headquartered in Athens) and Gibb Mauritius. [11]

In the UK, the firm worked on Waterloo International Railway Terminal between 1988 and 1993, with Grimshaw Architects and Bovis Construction (as the main contractors), [12] Brook House in Park Lane in London (with Squire and Partners), [13] Reading Crown Court, and HM Prison High Down, Surrey.

In 1989, the firm merged with the larger American company, Law Engineering and Environmental Services, based in Atlanta, Georgia.

In June 1994, GibbAnglian, a partnership created by Sir Alexander Gibb and Partners and Anglian Water International, won a two-year contract from the United Kingdom Government's Overseas Development Administration to study the impact of industrial effluent in the city of Tianjin in China. The partnership's task was to investigate the technical, institutional, environmental, and financial issues involved in reducing industrial wastewater production and improving the quality of effluent discharges. [14] In 1997, remedial works were carried out on Owen Falls dam under supervision by the consulting firm. [6]

American parent Law sold Gibb to the US-based Jacobs Engineering Group in February 2001. [15] [16]

Notable engineers

Location

The firm was based at Queen Anne's Lodge, Queen Anne's Gate and subsequently Telford House, Tothill Street, Westminster, London, until 1974, when it relocated to Earley House, 427 London Road, Reading, Berkshire. [1] which was also referred to as Gibb House.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alexander Binnie</span> British civil engineer

Sir Alexander Richardson Binnie was a British civil engineer responsible for several major engineering projects, including several associated with crossings of the River Thames in London.

Sir William Halcrow was one of the most notable English civil engineers of the 20th century, particularly renowned for his expertise in the design of tunnels and for projects during the Second World War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mott MacDonald</span> Consultant company

The Mott MacDonald Group is a management, engineering and development consultancy headquartered in the United Kingdom. It employs +18,000 staff in 150 countries. Mott MacDonald is one of the largest employee-owned companies in the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cleddau Bridge</span> Bridge on the River Cleddau, Wales

The Cleddau Bridge in Pembrokeshire, Wales, carries the A477 road over the River Cleddau between Neyland and Pembroke Dock.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Galloway hydro-electric power scheme</span>

The Galloway hydro-electric power scheme is a network of dams and hydro-electric power stations in Galloway, south west Scotland. It was built between 1930 and 1936.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alexander Gibb</span> British civil engineer

Brigadier-General Sir Alexander Gibb was a Scottish civil engineer. After serving as Civil Engineer-in-Chief to the Admiralty and Director-General of Civil Engineering at the Ministry of Transport, he established the engineering consultancy firm Sir Alexander Gibb & Partners.

Sir Henry Charles Husband, often known as H. C. Husband, was a leading British civil and consulting engineer from Sheffield, England, who designed bridges and other major civil engineering works. He is particularly known for his work on the Jodrell Bank radio telescopes; the first of these was the largest fully steerable radio telescope in the world on its completion in 1957. Other projects he was involved in designing include the Goonhilly Satellite Earth Station's aerials, one of the earliest telecobalt radiotherapy units, Sri Lanka's tallest building, and the rebuilding of Robert Stephenson's Britannia Bridge after a fire. He won the Royal Society's Royal Medal and the Wilhelm Exner Medal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scott Wilson Group</span> Former engineering consultancy

Scott Wilson Group plc was a global integrated design and engineering consultancy with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. Founded as a civil engineering firm in 1951, the company broadened its range of services through acquisitions. Scott Wilson offered consultancy and professional services in the railways, buildings and infrastructure, environment and natural resources and roads sectors, and at its peak employed 5,500 people in 80 offices worldwide. Scott Wilson became a public limited company in 2006, and in 2010 was purchased by URS Corporation that in turn was purchased by AECOM.

Halcrow Group Limited was a multinational engineering consultancy company, based in the United Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alexander Kennedy</span> British civil and electrical engineer and academic

Sir Alexander Blackie William Kennedy FRS, FRGS, better known simply as Alexander Kennedy, was a leading British civil and electrical engineer and academic. A member of many institutions and the recipient of three honorary doctorates, Kennedy was also an avid mountaineer and a keen amateur photographer being one of the first to document the archaeological site of Petra in Jordan following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire.

Sydney Bryan Donkin was a British civil engineer. His parents were Bryan Donkin Junior and Georgina Dillon. Donkin was educated at University College, London before beginning work for Sulzer Brothers, mechanical engineers, later the Sulzer company. Whilst based at this company's headquarters in Switzerland he became interested in Alpine climbing and spent much of his spare time climbing the nearby peaks. He was a founding member of the Climbers' Club and served on their committee in 1908 and later as vice-president and president.

William James Eames Binnie was a British civil engineer. William was the son of Alexander Binnie, the famed civil engineer and William would enter the same career. He was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge before completing an apprenticeship with his father's firm. His primary area of work was in hydraulic engineering and he completed works in Britain, Egypt, Nigeria, Singapore, Hong Kong and Burma on reservoirs, dams and hydroelectric power generation.

Sir Thomas Angus Lyall Paton was a British civil engineer from Jersey. Paton was born into a family that had founded the civil engineering firms of Easton, Gibb & Son and Sir Alexander Gibb & Partners and he would spend his entire professional career working for the latter. Following his graduation from University College London one of his first jobs was the construction of a dam in Maentwrog in Wales. Paton later became an expert on dams and much of his career was devoted to their construction. In 1931 he undertook an economic survey of Canada which recommended a programme of works for its port system. This report was still being used into the 1970s. During the Second World War Paton was involved with the construction of gun emplacements in the Dardanelles, Turkey and of caissons for the Mulberry Harbours used after the Invasion of Normandy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Atiamuri Power Station</span>

Ātiamuri Power Station is a hydroelectric power station on the Waikato River, in the North Island of New Zealand. It is the third of eight hydroelectric power stations on the Waikato River. The station can easily be seen from State Highway 1 between Taupō and Tokoroa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Victoria Dam (Sri Lanka)</span> Dam in Teldeniya

Victoria Dam is an arch dam located 130 mi (209 km) upstream of the Mahaweli River's mouth and 4 mi (6 km) from Teldeniya. It is named in honor of Her Majesty, Queen Victoria, Empress of the British Empire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Samanala Dam</span> Dam in Balangoda

The Samanala Dam is a dam primarily used for hydroelectric power generation in Sri Lanka. Commissioned in 1992, the Samanalawewa Project is the third-largest hydroelectric scheme in the country, producing 405 GWh of energy annually. It was built with financial support from Japan and the United Kingdom. It is notable for a large leak on its right bank. Power production continues as planned despite the leakage, and the water from the leak now provides two thirds of the water issued by the reservoir for agriculture in downstream areas.

John Gibb (1776–1850) was a Scottish civil engineer and contractor whose work included the construction of harbours, bridges, roads, lighthouses, and railways in the United Kingdom, primarily in Scotland. He was a close associate of Thomas Telford, who employed him on many of his civil engineering projects during the first half of the 19th century.

Geoffrey Morse Binnie FRS FEng was a British civil engineer and writer particularly associated with dams and reservoirs.

Theodore Louis Bowring, CMG, OBE is a British engineer and a colonial civil servant. He was the Director of Public Works in British Honduras, Nyasaland and Hong Kong.

Maentwrog power station was built by the North Wales Power Company and supplied electricity to North Wales, Deeside and Cheshire. It exploits the water resources of the Snowdonia mountains, using water turbines to drive electricity alternators. The 24 MW station has been owned by several organisations; since 2004 it has been owned by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority. It generates an annual electricity output of 60.6 GWh.

References

Alexander Gibb, The story of an engineer by Geoffrey Harrison

  1. 1 2 3 "Sir Alexander Gibb and Partners". Science Museum Group.
  2. ↑ Tripp, J F; et al. (December 1994). "Construction of Maentwrog New Dam". Proceedings of the ICE. Institution of Civil Engineers.
  3. ↑ "The Kincardine Bridge: Celebrating 85 Years". Scottish Roads Archive.
  4. ↑ UNKNOWN (1967). "OBITUARY. Sir HUGH EYRE CAMBELL BEAUER, KBE, LLD, 1890-1967". ICE Proceedings. 38 (4): 827–828. doi:10.1680/iicep.1967.8212.
  5. ↑ Streets, Edith. "Cray Avenue industries". Layers of London. Retrieved 6 March 2023.
  6. 1 2 Kigere, Patrick. "We need $40million for new Jinja Bridge, Nasasira". UGEE - Uganda Online. Retrieved 28 October 2012.
  7. ↑ "Cleddau Bridge". pembrokeshire.gov.uk. Retrieved 2 July 2017.
  8. ↑ "Victoria Dam and Hydro Electric project". Central Engineering Consultant Bureau. Retrieved 28 October 2012.
  9. ↑ "The UK'S Forest Footprint 2001" (PDF). World Wide Fund for Nature. p. 32. Retrieved 29 October 2012.
  10. ↑ Business Directory page
  11. ↑ "Gibb (Mauritius) Ltd". www.businessdirectory.mu. Retrieved 29 October 2012.
  12. ↑ "Waterloo International Terminal". www.engineering-timelines.com. Retrieved 28 October 2012.
  13. ↑ Details of the Brook House project
  14. ↑ "02Jun94 CHINA: GIBBANGLIAN IN THE ORIENT. | News | Construction News". www.constructionnews.co.uk. 1994-06-02. Retrieved 2012-03-16.
  15. ↑ Nguyen, Hang (14 February 2001). "Jacobs Engineering to Buy LawGibb Group". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 18 August 2023.
  16. ↑ Bolton, Andrew (22 February 2001). "Gibb sold by parent Law". New Civil Engineer. Retrieved 18 August 2023.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.