The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering is the academic department at

Imperial College London Imperial College London (legally Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom. Its history began with Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, who developed his vision for a cu ...

dedicated to

civil engineering Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads, bridges, canals, dams, airports, sewa ...

. It is located at the South Kensington Campus in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, along

Imperial College Road Imperial College Road is a tree-lined road in South Kensington, London, England. It runs east–west with Queen's Gate to the west and Exhibition Road to the east. The road forms part of the boundary between Royal Borough of Kensington and C ...

. The department is currently a part of the college's Faculty of Engineering, which was formed in 2001 when Imperial College restructured. The department has consistently ranked within the top five on the

QS World University Rankings ''QS World University Rankings'' is an annual publication of university rankings by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS). The QS system comprises three parts: the global overall ranking, the subject rankings (which name the world's top universities for the ...

in recent years. The department is housed in the Skempton Building, named after the English civil engineer Sir

Alec Skempton Sir Alec Westley Skempton (4 June 1914 – 9 August 2001) was an English civil engineer internationally recognised, along with Karl Terzaghi, as one of the founding fathers of the engineering discipline of soil mechanics. He established the soi ...

, one of the founders of British

Soil Mechanics Soil mechanics is a branch of soil physics and applied mechanics that describes the behavior of soils. It differs from fluid mechanics and solid mechanics in the sense that soils consist of a heterogeneous mixture of fluids (usually air and wat ...

study, and former head of the department. The departmental building changed its name from ''Civil Engineering Building'' to its current name in 2004, a short time after Skempton's death in 2001.

History

In 1884 the Central Institution of the

City & Guilds of London Institute The City and Guilds of London Institute is an educational organisation in the United Kingdom. Founded on 11 November 1878 by the City of London and 16 livery companies – to develop a national system of technical education, the institute has ...

, later the City & Guilds College, appointed a professor, William Unwin, to teach civil and mechanical Engineering, the first teaching in the subject at the predecessors to Imperial College. In 1904, the department was taken over by William Dalby, who held the position until a separate civil engineering department was formed. From 1913 when the Department of Civil Engineering was separated, the Heads were: * 1913–1933: Stephen M. Dixon – ''(Railways and Bridges)'' * 1933–1956: Alfred Pippard – ''(Structural Analysis and Aeronautical Structures)'' * 1957–1976: Sir

– ''(Soil Mechanics)'' * 1976–1982: Bernard George Neal – ''(Engineering Structures)'' * 1982–1985: John Ian Munro – ''(Civil Engineering Systems)'' * 1986–1994:

Patrick J. Dowling Patrick Joseph A. Dowling, CBE FRS (born 1939) is an Irish engineer and educationalist. Early life He was born in Sandymount, Dublin and educated at University College Dublin, graduating in 1960 with a degree in civil engineering. Career H ...

– ''(Structural Engineering)'' * 1994–1997: Roger E. Hobbs – ''(Structural Engineering)'' * 1997–1999: Tony M. Ridley – ''(Transport)'' * 1999–2011: David A. Nethercot – ''(Structural Engineering)'' * 2011–2021: Nick Buenfeld – ''(Concrete Structures)'' * 2021–Now:

Washington Yotto Ochieng Washington Yotto Ochieng is a Kenyan academic who is Head of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Imperial College London. Previously, he was Head of the Centre for Transport Studies and Co-Director of the Institute for Secu ...

– ''(Transport)''

Academics

The Department currently consists of 6 main Sections: *

Environmental A biophysical environment is a biotic and abiotic surrounding of an organism or population, and consequently includes the factors that have an influence in their survival, development, and evolution. A biophysical environment can vary in scale f ...

& Water Resource Engineering *

Fluid Mechanics Fluid mechanics is the branch of physics concerned with the mechanics of fluids ( liquids, gases, and plasmas) and the forces on them. It has applications in a wide range of disciplines, including mechanical, aerospace, civil, chemical and ...

Geotechnics Geotechnical engineering is the branch of civil engineering concerned with the engineering behavior of earth materials. It uses the principles of soil mechanics and rock mechanics for the solution of its respective engineering problems. It al ...

Transport Transport (in British English), or transportation (in American English), is the intentional movement of humans, animals, and goods from one location to another. Modes of transport include air, land ( rail and road), water, cable, pipelin ...

Structural Engineering Structural engineering is a sub-discipline of civil engineering in which structural engineers are trained to design the 'bones and muscles' that create the form and shape of man-made structures. Structural engineers also must understand and cal ...

Materials Material is a substance or mixture of substances that constitutes an object. Materials can be pure or impure, living or non-living matter. Materials can be classified on the basis of their physical and chemical properties, or on their geolog ...

Each section has its own head and laboratories. Research carried out in the department covers experimental, analytical, computational and theoretical work. Additionally, field research is conducted, especially in the Environmental and Geotechnical Engineering sections. Each section is responsible for their postgraduate courses, taught and non-taught. The Department also houses the Laing O'Rourke Centre for Systems Engineering and Innovation.

Rankings

The college ranks 10th in the world for engineering in the

Times Higher Education ''Times Higher Education'' (''THE''), formerly ''The Times Higher Education Supplement'' (''The Thes''), is a British magazine reporting specifically on news and issues related to higher education. Ownership TPG Capital acquired TSL Education ...

subject rankings, and the department in particular ranks 3rd in the world, and 2nd in the UK after

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a College town, university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cam ...

, in the

. Domestically, the department ranks 2nd on the

Complete University Guide Three national rankings of universities in the United Kingdom are published annually – by ''The Complete University Guide'', ''The Guardian'' and jointly by ''The Times'' and ''The Sunday Times''. Rankings have also been produced in the past ...

's 2019 civil engineering table, and 1st on

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

's 2019 civil engineering university subject rankings.

Study

The Department offers both undergraduate and postgraduate level studies, as well as a number of short courses for practising engineers.

Undergraduate

The department offers an undergraduate

Master of Engineering A Master of Engineering (abbreviated MEng, M.E. or M.Eng.) is either an academic or professional master's degree in the field of engineering. International variations Australia In Australia, the Master of Engineering degree is a research de ...

course which last four years. The department has study-abroad arrangements with universities in Europe, including ETH Zurich,

TU-Delft Delft University of Technology ( nl, Technische Universiteit Delft), also known as TU Delft, is the oldest and largest Dutch public technical university, located in Delft, Netherlands. As of 2022 it is ranked by QS World University Rankings among ...

École des ponts ParisTech École may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * École, Savoi ...

and ENSHM Grenoble, as well as in America, Australia and Hong Kong. All students graduating with the MEng degree are also awarded the Associateship of the City & Guilds Institute, ACGI.

Postgraduate

Taught postgraduate courses last for one year lead to a MSc. The department also offers research degrees, leading to either a PhD or

EngD The Doctor of Engineering, or Engineering Doctorate, (abbreviated DEng, EngD, or Dr-Ing) is a degree awarded on the basis of advanced study and a practical project in the engineering and applied science for solving problems in the industry. In th ...

. The former are designed to last normally for 3–4 years whereas the latter are normally designed to last for 4 years. All students graduating with any of the postgraduate degrees (MSc, PhD or EngD) are also awarded the

Diploma of Imperial College The Diploma of the Imperial College (DIC) is an academic certificate awarded by Imperial College London to its postgraduate students upon graduation. Until 2007, Imperial was part of the University of London and Imperial College bestowed the Un ...

, DIC.

Short courses

The Department also organises some short courses which involve modules from the taught Master's programme. These courses lead to a certificate of attendance, rather than a degree proper.

Library

The department has a departmental library located on the fourth floor in the Skempton Building. It used to be part of the Imperial College Library, but from 2009 it is a part of the

Institution of Civil Engineers The Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) is an independent professional association for civil engineers and a charitable body in the United Kingdom. Based in London, ICE has over 92,000 members, of whom three-quarters are located in the UK, whi ...

(ICE) library. It covers mainly standard reference textbooks, academic journals, proceedings of conferences, geological maps, theses, electronic information resources and a collection of old historic books, some of which date back to the 19th century.

Alumni

The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering has had a significant contribution to the science over the last decades of its existence. From the department's academics, two have been knighted, several others have received other classes of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

, five people received the

Institution of Structural Engineers The Institution of Structural Engineers is a professional body for structural engineering based in the United Kingdom. The Institution has over 30,000 members operating in over 100 countries. The Institution provides professional accreditation ...

Gold Medal, nine people delivered the

British Geotechnical Association The British Geotechnical Association is a learned 'Associated Society' of the Institution of Civil Engineers,ICE Associated Societies newsletter, Spring/Summer 2011 (Accessed: 19 July 2013) based in London, England, and a registered UK charity (N ...

Rankine Lecture The Rankine lecture is an annual lecture organised by the British Geotechnical Association named after William John Macquorn Rankine, an early contributor to the theory of soil mechanics. This should not be confused with the biennial BGA Géotec ...

and several have been Fellows of the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

and the Royal Academy of Engineering and have delivered the Geotechnique Lecture. Several notable people have passed from it and some of them are (in alphabetical order): * Nicholas Ambraseys, Geotechnical Engineer & Engineering Seismologist – Founder of

Engineering Seismology Seismology (; from Ancient Greek σεισμός (''seismós'') meaning "earthquake" and -λογία (''-logía'') meaning "study of") is the scientific study of earthquakes and the propagation of elastic waves through the Earth or through other ...

at Imperial College London *

Louis Attrill Louis Mark Attrill MBE is a British rower and Olympic gold medallist. Career Attrill took up rowing at Shanklin Rowing Club on the Isle of Wight and won novice at Milford regatta. The following year he furthered his interest in the sport at I ...

, Civil Engineer –

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

Rowing Rowing is the act of propelling a human-powered watercraft using the sweeping motions of oars to displace water and generate reactional propulsion. Rowing is functionally similar to paddling, but rowing requires oars to be mechanically ...

Gold Medalist A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have be ...

* Cecil Balmond, Structural Engineer – Founder of Arup's Advanced Geometry Unit * Alan W. Bishop, Geotechnical Engineer – Founder of the Bishop's method of analysing soil slopes *

John Burland John Boscawen Burland (born 4 March 1936) is an Emeritus Professor and Senior Research Investigator at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering of Imperial College London. In 2016, Burland was elected as a member into the Natio ...

, Geotechnical Engineer – The person who stabilised the Tower of Pisa * Stephen Glaister, Professor of Transport Economics *

Rudolph Glossop Rudolph Glossop (17 February 1902 – 1 March 1993) was a British mining and civil engineer and one of the founders of Geotechnical Engineering in the UK.Ronald E. Williams, "Rudolph Glossop: and the Rise of Geotechnology", Whittles, 201accessed ...

, Engineering Geologist * Richard Jardine, Geomechanics *

Cyrus Mistry Cyrus Pallonji Mistry (4 July 1968 – 4 September 2022) was an Indian businessman. He was the chairman of the Tata Group, an Indian business conglomerate, from 2012 to 2016. He was the sixth chairman of the group, and only the second (af ...

, Civil Engineer – Chairman-elect of

Tata Group The Tata Group () is an Indian multinational conglomerate headquartered in Mumbai. Established in 1868, it is India's largest conglomerate, with products and services in over 150 countries, and operations in 100 countries across six continents ...

* David Nethercot, Structural Engineer – Involved in the development of Eurocode 3 * Alfred Pippard, Structural Engineer *

Peter Rice Peter Rice (16 June 1935 – 25 October 1992) was an Irish structural engineer. Born in Dublin, he grew up in 52 Castle Road, Dundalk in County Louth, and spent his childhood between the town of Dundalk, and the villages of Gyles' Quay and ...

, Structural Engineer *

Sarada K. Sarma Sarada Kanta Sarma is a geotechnical engineer, emeritus reader of engineering seismology and senior research investigator at Imperial College London. He has developed a method of seismic slope stability analysis which is named after him, the Sarm ...

, Geotechnical Engineer – Founder of the

Sarma method The Sarma method is a method used primarily to assess the stability of soil slopes under earthquake, seismic conditions. Using appropriate assumptions the method can also be employed for static slope stability analysis. It was proposed by Sarada K. ...

of analysing the seismic stability of earth slopes and dams *Sir

, Geotechnical Engineer – Founding father of

Soil mechanics Soil mechanics is a branch of soil physics and applied mechanics that describes the behavior of soils. It differs from fluid mechanics and solid mechanics in the sense that soils consist of a heterogeneous mixture of fluids (usually air and wat ...

Peter Rolfe Vaughan Peter Rolfe Vaughan ACGI, DIC, FREng, FICE, FCGI, MASCE, FGS, (born 10 March 1935; died 16 May 2008) was Emeritus Professor of Ground Engineering in the Geotechnics department of Imperial College London. Biography Vaughan was born in Limbur ...

, Geotechnical Engineer – Significant work on embankments and dams * Chris Wise, Structural Engineer – Designer of the

Millennium Bridge Several bridges are known as the Millennium Bridge: * in the United Kingdom **Gateshead Millennium Bridge ** Lune Millennium Bridge, Lancaster ** Millennium Bridge, Glasgow ** Millennium Bridge, London ** Millennium Bridge (Salford Quays) ** Teesqua ...

and founder of

Expedition Engineering Expedition Engineering is a London-based consulting firm, delivering structural engineering services. History Expedition Engineering was founded in 1999 by Professor Chris Wise (engineer for the Millennium Bridge, London) and Seán Walsh, bo ...

*Peter Wolf, Civil Engineer, Hydrologist – Founding Professor and Head of Civil Engineering Department at

City University London City, University of London, is a public research university in London, United Kingdom, and a member institution of the federal University of London. It was founded in 1894 as the Northampton Institute, and became a university when The City Univ ...

* Olgierd Zienkiewicz, Civil Engineer – one of the pioneers of the

Finite Element Method The finite element method (FEM) is a popular method for numerically solving differential equations arising in engineering and mathematical modeling. Typical problem areas of interest include the traditional fields of structural analysis, heat ...

and its applications

Links

The Department has strong links with industry and professional institutions and bodies. Past President of the

, (ICE) Paul Jowitt is an alumnus of the Department. The previous Head, David A. Nethercot is a past President of the

(IStructE), whereas the current President of the

Society for Earthquake and Civil Engineering Dynamics The Society for Earthquake and Civil Engineering Dynamics (SECED) was founded in 1969 to promote the study and practice of earthquake engineering and structural dynamics, including blast, impact and other vibration problems. It also supports study o ...

(SECED) is the Head of the Structural Engineering Section, Ahmed Elghazouli, who is also the UK's national delegate for international committees for Earthquake Engineering. The current Director of the

RAC Foundation The RAC Foundation (The Royal Automobile Club Foundation for Motoring) is a registered charity. It is a transport policy and research organisation that explores the economic, mobility, safety and environmental issues relating to roads and their ...

is the Department's Professor of Transport Economics, Stephen Glaister who is also Partnership Director of

Tube Lines Tube Lines Limited, initially known as 'Infraco JNP' (an amalgamation of infrastructure and company), is an asset-management company responsible for the maintenance, renewal and upgrade of the infrastructure, including track, trains, signals, ci ...

and has also been a board member of Transport for London (TfL). The current Head of the Civil & Environmental Engineering at

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

, (MIT), Andrew J. Whittle is also a graduate of the Department. The strong bonds of the Department with the outside academic and professional world can be seen through the various close collaborations with professional bodies and association. Examples are the prestigious British Geotechnical Association's

which is hosted every March at Imperial College, the organisation of the Centre for Transport Studies (a collaboration between Imperial College and

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

), several seminars organised by the

(such as IStructE Gold Medal awardsIStructE Gold Medal
/ref>), and seminars organised by the

and its associated societies such as SECED.

Notes

References

* Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Imperial Colleg

* History of the Departmen

* Gay Hannah (2007) ''The History of Imperial College London 1907–2007: Higher Education and Research in Science, Technology and Medicine''. Imperial College Press, London. . {{Authority control Imperial College Faculty of Engineering, Civil and Environmental Engineering

Civil and Environmental Engineering Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads, bridges, canals, dams, airports, sewage ...