Percy Allan (12 July 1861 – 7 May 1930) was a

civil engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing ...

who designed many public works in

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, including the design of 583

bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

Early life

Allan was the son of Maxwell Rennie Allan, principal

Under-Secretary of State Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (or just Parliamentary Secretary, particularly in departments not led by a Secretary of State) is the lowest of three tiers of government minister in the UK government, immediately junior to a Minister o ...

for New South Wales, and was born in Elizabeth Street, Sydney on 12 July 1861. He was educated at Calder House, Redfern, and joined the government Works Department in 1878 as a cadet.

Career

Between 1893 and 1896 he designed 349 bridges and punts in New South Wales, and between 1896 and 1899 he designed a further 126 bridges including the

Pyrmont Bridge The Pyrmont Bridge, a heritage-listed swing bridge across Cockle Bay, is located in Darling Harbour, part of Port Jackson, west of the central business district in the City of Sydney local government area of New South Wales, Australia. Opened ...

and the

Glebe Island Bridge The Glebe Island Bridge is a heritage-listed disused swing Allan truss road bridge that carried Victoria Road (as Bank Street) across Rozelle Bay, located in the inner city Sydney suburb of Pyrmont in the City of Sydney local government a ...

. In 1900 he was appointed Principal Assistant Engineer for Rivers, Water Supply and Drainage, and supervised the completion of the Sydney low level sewerage system, which was a pumping system to replace harbour sewage outfalls. Following this he was appointed to the Hunter District Water Supply and Sewerage Board. He returned to the Public Works Department in 1912, and had overall design responsibility for the

steel Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistant ty ...

Pratt truss A truss bridge is a bridge whose load-bearing superstructure is composed of a truss, a structure of connected elements, usually forming triangular units. The connected elements (typically straight) may be stressed from tension, compression, or ...

type

Tom Uglys Bridge Tom Uglys Bridge are two road bridges, completed in 1929 and 1987, that carry the Princes Highway across the Georges River in southern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The bridges link the St George area at Blakehurst to the ...

over the

Georges River The Georges River, also known as Tucoerah River, is an intermediate tide-dominated drowned valley estuary, located to the south and west of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The river travels for approximately in a north and then easterly ...

. He is also credited with designing his own type of Truss Bridge, the

Allan Truss A truss bridge is a bridge whose load-bearing superstructure is composed of a truss, a structure of connected elements, usually forming triangular units. The connected elements (typically straight) may be stressed from tension, compression, or ...

. He was awarded a Telford Premium by 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 ...

for a paper on port improvements in

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

, including excavation of the channel and extension of the breakwater.

Retirement and death

Allan retired from the public service in March 1926; and died suddenly at his home in

Darlinghurst Darlinghurst is an inner-city, eastern suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Darlinghurst is located immediately east of the Sydney central business district (CBD) and Hyde Park, within the local government area of the City of Sydney. I ...

on 7 May 1930. He was survived by his wife and two sons.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Allan, Percy 1861 births 1930 deaths Australian civil engineers Engineers from Sydney 19th-century Australian engineers Colony of New South Wales people

Early life

Career

Retirement and death

See also

References