Famed designer of bridges passes on (From Free Press Series)

Famed designer of bridges passes on

WHAT DO the following well-known bridges have in common?

The Forth, the Severn, the Humber - and further afield, the Bosphorus and the planned Messina Crossing.

The answer is that Cwmbran-born engineer William Brown played a leading role in the design of them all.

Dr William Brown OBE died of heart problems on March 16 in London, aged 76.

Such was his influence on engineering, his obituary has appeared in newspapers including the Times and the Scotsman.

This, briefly, is his story, including details researched by Cwmbran historian Graham Lawrence.

Mr Lawrence said: "I read about William Brown's death in the Times and decided to find out more. He was a superb engineer and someone everyone in Cwmbran should be proud of."

William (Bill) Christopher Brown was born in Beech House, Woodland Road, Croesyceiliog in 1928.

In the late 1930s the family moved to Clomendy Road, Cwmbran, where his father Alderman W E Brown, beside being the village undertaker was also a prominent local councillor, county councillor, member of the board of the Cwmbran Development Corporation and a Justice of the Peace.

His elementary education began at the local primary school in Croesyceiliog. He went on to West Mon School, before studying engineering at University College, Southampton, and the Imperial College, London.

He joined the famous engineering firm of Freeman Fox in 1956 serving as a partner from 1970 to 1985. At Freeman Fox he worked as No 2 to Gilbert Roberts on the Severn and Forth bridges, both adventurously long spans. The two went on to design the breathtaking span of the Humber Bridge, then the longest suspension span in the world.

Bill Brown played a leading role in the construction of the first Bosphorus bridge linking Europe and Asia. The opening of the bridge made Brown something of a hero in Turkey, not least because it paid for itself within two years. He was both engineer and project director of the equally elegant second Bosphorus bridge.

His life-long mission was to make bridges lighter, leaner and more athletic, graceful in silhouette but also cheaper in terms of building materials and construction time.

After leaving Freeman Fox he started his own practice - Brown, Beech & Associates in 1987 - Beech was not a colleague but the name of his childhood home in Croesyceiliog.

Bill Brown continued to work at a formidable pace until illness overtook him.

Near the end he was working on the design of a number of projects that have not yet proceeded including a suspension bridge in Hong Kong and a tunnel crossing for the Strait of Gibraltar.

He is survived by his wife, Celia, and his brother Doctor Jehoida Brown who lives in Scotland with his own wife and family.