Roger Sainsbury (engineer)

Roger Sainsbury (born 11 June 1940) is a British civil engineer. He spent much of his career with the construction contractor Mowlem, including work on Immingham Oil Terminal and the Natwest Tower. He rose to become a director of the firm and was responsible for Mowlem’s participation in the creation of the Manchester Metro and for the company’s role as creator and developer of London City Airport. Sainsbury left Mowlem in December 1995 and subsequently devoted much time to the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE), being president for the 1998-9 session. Sainsbury resigned his membership in 2001, in protest at the mishandling of a ballot of the membership, becoming the first president to take such a step.
Early life and career.
Roger Sainsbury was born in Hitchin in Hertfordshire. From 1959 to 1962 he read engineering at Keble College, Oxford, and then began his career as a designer at consultants Rendel, Palmer and Tritton. In 1966 he joined Mowlem and a year later was promoted to lead the team designing Immingham oil terminal, a design-and-construct undertaking. The project ran into difficulty owing to flow-induced oscillation of the tubular piles – a phenomenon capable of destroying major structures, never before encountered. Sainsbury led a multi-skilled team in solving the problem.
Sainsbury also worked as project engineer and later as project director on the construction of the Natwest Tower which was completed in 1980. For this project he devised a 36m-high temporary propping system that automatically adjusted itself to compensate for changing compression and thermal strains. Sainsbury was subsequently promoted to director of Mowlem. With a colleague he was named joint winner of the 1979 "Construction News" Man of the Year award for his work on the tower.
During this time the company was working on a renovation of a London town house. Sainsbury received a legal letter from a neighbouring property complaining about noise disturbance that ended: "In considering your response, we think you should be aware that our client is British Petroleum and that this house is the chairman's London residence. We mean what we say". Sainsbury's reply ended "In considering your response, we think you should be aware that our client is HRH The Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia". The matter was dropped by British Petroleum.
In 1982 Sainsbury was promoted to become a director of the main board of Mowlem. He had responsibility for approving the company's bids for the construction of the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge at the Dartford Crossing (opened 1991) and the Manchester Metrolink (opened 1992). He was involved in the decision-making process to increase the length of the runway at London City Airport to allow its use by the British Aerospace 146 regional jet, despite having little airport experience, the project was completed in 1992. The airport project, which Sainsbury bid for and won, was commercially unsuccessful for Mowlem, and Sainsbury left the company in 1995. He subsequently became more involved in the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE).
Institution of Civil Engineers.
Sainsbury campaigned for new safety standards for linkways following the September 1994 Prins Filip ferry disaster in which a collapse killed six people at the Port of Ramsgate. He joined former ICE president David Green in a campaign for funding from the government that was still ongoing in 2000. He also served as a judge for the "Construction News" Quality in Construction Awards. Sainsbury was chairman of the ICE's commercial arm, Thomas Telford (Holdings), in 1995 and supported the sale of the magazine publishing business.
Sainsbury was elected president of the ICE for the November 1998 to November 1999 session. He was elected the same year as the institution brought in a new director-general. Sainsbury stated that this focus would be on implementing the 200 recommendations of the previous presidential commission and to strengthen the local associations and communications with members. His official ICE portrait was painted by Christian Furr. Sainsbury undertook official ICE tours of West and South Asia in February and March 1999, which included visits to Manila, Delhi, Dhaka and Pakistan, and to Spain and Portugal in September and October. In October 1999 Sainsbury issued a written warning to ICE vice president (and future president) Mark Whitby for bringing the profession into disrepute. Whitby had written a column in the ICE's "New Civil Engineer" magazine criticising ICE Transport Board chairman David Bayliss for comments reported in the national press "blaming others" for the past errors of municipal engineers. Whitby later voiced his frustration at the "irrelevance" of the "old-fashioned" ICE.
Sainsbury became involved in controversy after the end of his presidency. In April 2000 he was present at an ICE Council meeting that discussed the amalgamation of the previous incorporated engineer class of membership with that of full members. Incorporated engineers had previously only been able to hold associate membership. The class provided for those engineers who did not meet the new requirement of a master's degree for chartered engineer status. However previously chartered engineers were allowed to retain their status, many of them only holding a bachelor's degree. As such it was proposed that the incorporated engineers be permitted to use the "MICE" member's post-nominals in recognition that their qualification was the same level as that of many existing members. The distinction between Incorporated Engineer (IEng) and Chartered Engineer (CEng) post-nominals would remain.
At the meeting Sainsbury spoke out against the move saying "it takes away from the Institution and drives at the heart of the Institution". At the September 2000 full council debate on the issue he stated "I agree with the need to attract good quality people into the Institution. But the letters MICE will no longer designate the professional standard of the holder. We have set aside the original intention of raising the standard of MICE". The decision was passed by council, who also voted not to put the decision to a full ballot of all members. Sainsbury, one of the ICE's most senior fellows, was supported in his opposition by David Green.
In February 2001 Sainsbury became the first past president to resign his membership of the institution in its history (the ICE was founded in 1818 and the first president elected in 1820). He gave the reason for his resignation as the irregular conduct of a membership ballot. He had also instructed lawyers to oppose the implementation of the decision. The then president, Joe Dwyer, who supported the changes, stated that he was "personally disappointed" by the resignation which he thought had been made for a "misplaced" reason.
Personal life.
Sainsbury is married to Susan. In 2014 the couple presented a new college register - which is signed by all matriculating students - to his alma mater, the previous and first register having been filled after 145 years. Sainsbury has a reputation as being an intellectual of the contracting industry, being a fan of the theatre and also having toured Europe in search of rare orchids. Sainsbury himself stated that "I don't think I fit people's normal image of a contractor". He is active in his local church. He is a board member and former Chair of Hampstead Garden Opera.