"The Buro Happold Travel Scholarship gave me the opportunity to investigate many aspects of structural engineering that I find fascinating... the entire experience has greatly widened my knowledge and appreciation of structural innovation and design."
John Orr
John studied an MEng in Civil Engineering at Bath University from 2005 to 2009. During this time he worked as an intern with Ramboll, focusing on a residential development in Woolwich, and with Woodrow Construction on the £230 million DLR 3 Car Capacity Enhancement Project.
He was awarded the Happold Travel Scholarship in 2009, and subsequently spent a month investigating structural innovation in Europe. His trip included visits to many fascinating feats of engineering, including innovative bridges in the Alps, early Timbrel vaulting in Spain, and the works of Luigi Nervi in Turin.
For further information on John's work, please visit his website.
In addition to being a Happold Travel Scholar, John was awarded the Mike Barnes Prize for his dissertation on "Shear Capacity of Circular Concrete Subsections". He has also won the Civil Engineers Prize for the top undergraduate Civil Engineer, and the prestigious "Basil Spence Prize" for an interdisciplinary design project.
John is now an Mphil/ Phd student at Bath, investigating the use of fabric formwork as a means of moulding concrete into interesting, predictable, and optimised shapes. He is being sponsored by with an EPSRC CASE Award (joint with Atkins, University of Edinburgh and University of Manitoba).