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Bernard Wex - Obituary

The Times - Tuesday, August 14, 1990

Bernard Wex, OBE, designer and engineer-in-chief of the Humber bridge, died on July 31 aged 68. He was born on April 24, 1922.

BEST known in the profession as the designer and engineer-in-chief of the Humber bridge, the world's longest clear span, Bernard Wex combined outstanding ability and courage with modesty and a finely-tuned sense of humour to win the hearts and support of all around him.

Educated at Acton Grammar School, he volunteered in 1940 for the RAF, but when his burning desire to be a pilot was frustrated by the discovery of a minor eye defect he opted for the Royal Armoured Corps and was commissioned as a tank commander in the 23rd Hussars . On demobilisation in 1947, he entered Imperial College, London University, to read civil engineering, graduating in 1950, top of the pass list with first class honours and gaining the year's Unwin medal.

He was at once recruited into Freeman Fox & Partners, where he worked under Gilbert Roberts and Oleg Kerensky, both eminent engineers with international reputations in the design of steel structures. Under them he worked on design aspects of many major bridge projects in New Zealand, India and Africa as well as the Forth and Severn suspension bridges. He also played a senior role in the design of large power stations such as Castle Donington and High Marnham.

By 1960 he was starting to take charge of whole projects including a series of oil and gas pipeline bridges of marked novelty and economy of material where the fluid transmission pipes doubled as structural members. These crossed major rivers in India and Pakistan where not the least of the problems was that of the deep scour which occurs in times of flood. Responsibility for the Avonmouth Bridge, a twin steel box structure carrying the M5 over the River Avon at Bristol, led to a partnership in 1969.

In the following years he was responsible for the Foyle bridge a graceful 234 metres span steel twin box girder with pre-stressed concrete approaches in Londonderry and the Myton bridge, a 55 metre span cable-stayed steel box swing bridge in Hull. Overseas work included the steel shell of the first cross harbour immersed tube road tunnel in Hong Kong and a slender 165 metre span reinforced concrete arch bridge in South Africa.

Undoubtedly, however, his main achievement was the Humber Suspension Bridge with a main span of 1,410 metres which will remain the longest in the world for a few more years. He was responsible for the development, design and supervision of construction of the scheme from the time he became a partner until its opening by the Queen in 1981. The design contained a number of features unusual in a major suspension bridge such as slip formed concrete towers (a continuous casting process) and 40 metre deep foundations on clay, but it was during construction that his abilities proved themselves. This was a time of industrial unrest and spiralling inflation fuelled by the oil crisis in the early 1970s. Throughout this difficult period Wex retained his confidence and sense of humour, guiding both client and contractor to bring the project to a successful conclusion. At one point, he was able to take advantage of the three-day week and arrange the hire of several thousand tons of temporarily surplus steel ingots from BSC at Scunthorpe to help sink one of the deep coissons which was proving difficult.

For his work on the Humber suspension bridge he was appointed OBE in 1982. In the same year his old college honoured him with fellowship of the City and Guilds Institute and the Fellowship of Engineering elected him a fellow. He was the first chairman of the Steel Construction Institute, founded in 1986, and held the office until recently forced to resign through ill health.

He contributed much over the years to the work of the International Association for Bridge and Structural Engineering holding office as chairman of the British group, chairman of the technical committee and vice-president of the executive committee. From 1969 to 1976 he chaired the committee of enquiry into Moor television mast. He published some 18 papers and lectured extensively at home and overseas. At home, he had a life-time interest in the history and development of aeronautics, was a keen and able amateur photographer, and an expert woodworker.

In 1945 he married Sheila Evelyn Lambert, nee Thompson, the widow of an RAF pilot, who survives him with their two sons and four grandchildren.