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London Materials Society: AGM & Liddiard Memorial Lecture - A Tale of Two Towers – Rescuing Pisa and Big Ben

20 May 2010, Institute of Materials, Minerals & Mining, London, UK

A Tale of Two Towers – Rescuing Pisa and Big Ben

Professor John Burland CBE, DSc(Eng), FREng, FRS 

Imagine a tower, founded on very soft material and slowly inclining to the point at which it is about to fall over.  Worse still, the masonry is so fragile that it could explode at any time.  This was the state of the Leaning Tower of Pisa at the time that the Italian Prime Minister set up a Commission to stabilise the Tower in early 1990.  After years of study and trials, stabilisation measures started in February 1999, using a controversail method of soil extraction from beneath the high side of the foundation, which brought the Tower back to its inclination in 1838. Meanwhile the inclination of the Big Ben clock tower has been influenced by a number of construction activities. These include the construction of the underground car park beneath New Palace Yard in the 1970’s and, in the 1990s, the construction of the London Underground Jubilee Line extension tunnels and the New Westminster Station.  The stability of the clock tower has been controlled by a different but equally novel method of injecting grout beneath the low side of the foundation. 

The two stories intertwine in a fascinating way as Professor Burland travels between London and Pisa supervising the stabilisation works on these two famous towers

Programme

6 to 6.30 pm Tea/Coffee

6.30 pm AGM

6.45 pm Liddiard Lecture

7.30 pm Buffet

 

For a printable version of the abstract click on the attached document below

Event Location

Institute of Materials, Minerals & Mining
1 Carlton House Terrace
London
SW1Y 5BD
UK

Organiser details

London Materials Society
Contact Name: 
Priya Pavan

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