William Gordon Harris

Add links
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

William Harris
NationalityBritish
OccupationEngineer
Engineering career
DisciplineCivil
InstitutionsInstitution of Civil Engineers (president)

Sir William Gordon Harris

ground investigation at pre-tender stage and the development of new motorway signalling and telecommunications systems. He later entered private practice as a consulting engineer and was chairman of the Port of Dover. Harris also served as president of the Institution of Civil Engineers and of the Smeatonian Society of Civil Engineers
.

Early career

The docks at Faslane

Harris was born in

Faslane, the submarine base.[2]

Director-general of works and highways

In the 1963

ground investigation was required into the subsoil prior to tender and that this information should be shared with the contractor.[4] He also implemented the use of standard methods of compaction in place of the more time-consuming method of validation testing after the works were completed.[4] Harris implemented a new signalling system for motorways and implemented a new telecommunications system, for which he allocated £27 million of funding.[4] Harris's tenure as Director-General saw the construction of 650 miles of motorways and an expenditure of £2.2 billion on new road construction.[2][6]

Harris was appointed a

Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1969 Birthday Honours.[7] Harris was the chief British delegate to the Permanent Association of Navigation Congresses (PIANC) from 1969 until 1985 and from 1970 to 1971 was the country's chief delegate to the Permanent Association of Roads Congresses.[4][2] Harris was a vice-president of the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) from 1971 to 1974 and president from November 1974 to November 1975.[8] He also updated the ICE's contract documentations (including the 5th edition of ICE Conditions of Contract published in June 1973) and its standard method of measurement.[4][9]

Later career

In 1973 Harris left the Department of the Environment and became a partner at Peter Fraenkel & Partners, a position he held for the next five years.[2] From 1976 to 1979 Harris was chairman of the Construction Industry Manpower Board and from 1978 to 1987 was the chairman of the B&CE Holiday Management Company and Benefit Trust Company, a provider of benefits, holiday pay and pensions to the construction industry. Harris was the deputy chairman of the board of the Port of Dover for 1980 to 1982, having been a member of the board since 1959.

In 1977 he was elected a Fellow of the

US Army Corps of Engineers in recognition of his work to secure an international agreement upon the disposal of dredged material. His wife, Margaret, died in 1991 and in 1992 he married Rachel Bishop. Harris died at East Carlton, Northamptonshire on 20 February 2005.[2] PIANC, in conjunction with the ICE, holds an annual "Sir William Harris lecture" in his honour.[11]

Notes

  1. ^ Masterton, Gordon (2005), ICE Presidential Address (PDF), retrieved 3 November 2008
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Baldwin, Peter (14 April 2005), "Sir William Harris", The Independent, retrieved 6 December 2008[dead link]
  3. ^ "Sir William Harris". The Times. 13 April 2005. Retrieved 29 January 2018.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Bridle, Ron (28 March 2005). "Obituary: Sir William Harris". The Guardian. Retrieved 29 January 2018.
  5. ^ "No. 43010". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 May 1963. p. 4795.
  6. ^ a b Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation, The Motorway Archive: Volume 1 Part 7, retrieved 6 December 2008
  7. ^ "No. 44863". The London Gazette (Supplement). 6 June 1969. p. 5968.
  8. ^ Watson 1988, p. 254.
  9. ISBN 9780203473726
    . Retrieved 29 January 2018.
  10. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U19225
    .(subscription may be required or content may be available in libraries)
  11. ^ "Sir William Harris lecture, London". Institution of Civil Engineers. Retrieved 29 January 2018.

References

  • Watson, Garth (1988), The Civils, Thomas Telford Ltd,
    ISBN 0-727-70392-7


Professional and academic associations
Preceded by
President of the Institution of Civil Engineers

November 1974 – November 1975 		Succeeded by
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=William_Gordon_Harris&oldid=1082971981"