Eminent Structural Engineer: Peter Taylor
Don Bergman, Civil Eng., COWI North America Ltd, Vancouver, Canada. Contact: dwb@cowi.com
DOI: 10.2749/101686616X1455
Brief CV
1939 Born in United Kingdom
1960 B.Sc. in Civil Engineering
from Birmingham, UK
1962 Gained M.A.Sc. in Civil Engi-
neering in Vancouver,
Canada
1965 PhD in Civil Engineering
Bristol, UK
1969 Gzowski Gold Medal, Engi-
neering Institute of Canada for
the best paper on any subject
1971 Canadian Consulting Engi-
neering Award of Merit for
Papineau Bridge
1971 American Iron and Steel
Institute Design in Steel
Award for Papineau Bridge
1972 Co-founded Buckland &
Taylor Ltd. with Peter
Buckland
1977 Canadian Consulting Engi-
neering Award of Merit for
Lions Gate Bridge
Renovation
1981 Canadian Consulting Engi-
neers Award of Excellence
for the Similkameen Ore
Conveyor Bridge
1986 Prestressed Concrete Institute
Award of Excellence in
Architecture & Engineering
for Alex Fraser Bridge
1987 Canadian Consulting Engi-
neering Award of Excellence
for Alex Fraser Bridge
1996 Awarded Fellowship by
Canadian Society for Civil
Engineering
2001 Consulting Engineers of Brit-
ish Columbia Award of
Excellence for Port Mann
Bridge
2006 Received Consulting Engi-
neers of British Columbia
Meritorious Achievement
Award
2009 Received Canadas highest
civilian honour, the Order of
Canada, for outstanding con-
tributions to civil engineering
2015 Retired
Introduction
Dr. Peter R. Taylor, co-founder of
Buckland & Taylor Ltd., is a
Structural Engineering International Nr. 1/2017
Fi g . 1: Dr. Peter R. Taylor
renowned engineer and expert in the
eld of bridge design and construction
(Fig. 1). He has been responsible for
many signicant and innovative devel-
opments in the eld of bridge
engineering, having worked on the
design of some of the worlds longest
and most important cable-supported
bridges throughout his career. He has
provided engineering for many pro-
jects across the globe, and has been a
sought-after bridge engineering expert
and keynote speaker.
Career
After completing his PhD in dynam-
ics of structures in 1965, Peter
joined Dominion Bridge Engineering
in Montreal, the largest Canadian
steel fabricator/erector. Peters early
work with Dominion Bridge was
important to his development. There
he was mentored by other eminent
Canadian engineers at the time and
received practical education in weld-
ing, fabrication and erection of struc-
tural steel and, in particular, cable-
stayed bridge design, erection and
aerodynamics. This technical experi-
ence and practical hands-on con-
struction and fabrication experience
continued to inform and guide the
way in which Dr. Taylor practiced
engineering through his ongoing
career.
While employed at Dominion Bridge,
he had the unique privilege of
directing both the design and con-
struction of the 240 m span Papineau
Bridge, which remained the longest
cable-stayed span in North America
for 11 years. This was a critical build-
ing block for Peters later work with
cable-stayed bridges around the
world. The Papineau Bridge was one
of the rst to utilize galvanized paral-
lel strand covered wires with an
extruded polyethylene cover.
In 1968, Peter travelled to Vancouver
to join a team developing a proposal
for a third crossing of the Burrard Inlet
across Vancouver Harbour. Peter led
the conceptual design of the proposed
bridge. Here he met and forged a
strong relationship with Peter Buckland
who was also part of the third crossing
bridge team. The proposed bridge,
which would have been the tenth long-
est span bridge and longest cable-
stayed span in the world at the time,
gave Peter the opportunity to further
develop his thoughts on leading edge
long span cable-stayed bridge design.
In 1970, the third crossing project fell
from political favour and was aban-
doned prior to tender. Peter elected
to stay in Western Canada, and in
1972 joined forces with his colleague
and friend Peter Buckland to establish
the rm Buckland & Taylor.
Peter went on to lead Buckland &
Taylors ground-breaking work on the
approaches to the Lions Gate Bridge
in Vancouver in the early 1970s. This
project was one of the companys
rst major bridge projects for the
B.C. Ministry of Transportation and
Highways, and it involved re-decking
the north viaduct approach to the
Lions Gate suspension bridge while
keeping this critical Vancouver trans-
portation link open for trafc during
the day. This was the rst time such a
feat was undertaken. An innovative
design focused on constructability per-
mitting the existing concrete deck to
be progressively replaced with steel
orthotropic decking during short
night-time closures.
In the mid-1970s, Peter joined forces
with Robert McLellan to design the
worlds longest span ore conveyor
bridge (Fig. 2). This suspension bridge
Eminent Structural Engineer 137
F ig . 2: Milton Madison Bridge Replacement, USA
carries 1600 t of copper ore per hour,
210 m above the Similkameen Can-
yon. The Similkameen Ore Conveyor
Bridge, with a main span of 403 m, is
entirely supported by a lightweight
high-strength network of cables for
maximum cost efciency.
In 1981 came the opportunity to design
the Alex Fraser Bridge, a 930 m cable-
stayed bridge with a main span of
465 m. Peter applied all of his accumu-
lated experience to lead the design of
the worlds longest span cable-stayed
bridge (Fig. 3). He was responsible for
the signicant design and construct-
ability innovations and advancements
incorporated into the design. The proj-
ect included several world rsts in
cable-stayed bridge design and con-
struction, and won many awards for its
engineering excellence. Characteristi-
cally, the design focused on simplicity
and constructability. When completed
F ig . 4: Peter Taylor receiving Order of Canada with Governor General Michalle Jean
138 Eminent Structural Engineer
F i g. 3: Examining soil samples for the Charilaos Trikoupis
Bridge in Greece with Dr. Ralph Peck
in 1986, the Alex Fraser Bridge
(Fig. 5) was the rst composite open
deck cable-stayed bridge constructed.
Similar composite deck solutions have
since been utilized for many cable-
stayed bridges worldwide, proving the
effectiveness of the overall concept.
Many of the details developed for the
Alex Fraser Bridge have also been
repeated worldwide. The Alex Fraser
Bridge put Buckland & Taylor on the
world stage and, in Peters words,
was a very signicant job, a very satis-
fying job and a world-leading job
for Canada on the global map. It
remained the longest span cable-
stayed bridge in the Americas for
19 years, until the opening of the
Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridgeanother
project in which Peter played a key
design role.
Together with Peter Buckland, Peter
Taylor developed a highly successful
Structural Engineering International Nr. 1/2017
bridge engineering practice. At incep-
tion, the joint decision to focus exclu-
sively on excellence in structural
engineering with a focus on bridges
was a key to success. Over time, the
Peters increasingly gravitated towards
their passion for bridge engineering.
Under their leadership, the company
grew from strength to strength to
become highly regarded as specialists
for complex bridge projects. Within
that success, Peter was a driving force
in the development of the ingenuity
and analytical skills underlying some
of the very sophisticated bridge erec-
tion projects including many cable-
stayed erection schemes, highline
erection schemes, launching schemes,
slide-ins and oat-ins undertaken by
the company. Peters relentless focus
on high quality, technical excellence
and on-time and on-budget delivery
has been a key to the remarkable suc-
cess of Buckland & Taylor over the
years.
Special Characteristics
Though Peter has worked on many
ground-breaking projects, core to his
belief is that the functionality of a
structure should lead the design.
Whilst pushing the boundaries of
structural engineering with highly
innovative projects is exciting, Peter
felt it should be done so based on the
strict needs of the project. Seeking
efciency within his projects often
drove Peter to innovative designs that
saved both time and cost. Peter rmly
believes that a design is nished when
there is nothing left to remove, rather
than when there is nothing left to add.
With Peter Taylor at the helm of the
Alex Fraser Bridge design, the worlds
longest cable-stayed bridge project
came in at 30% under budget. In fact,
he was cited as one of Engineering
News Records men of the year in
1987 for its design.
Peter taught the engineering princi-
ples he believed in so strongly in his
conceptual design course in the
Department of Applied Science at the
University of British Columbia for
many years. The course consisted of a
series of scenarios requiring a concep-
tual engineering solution. Students
were encouraged to think outside the
box, sketch solutions and use simple
hand calculations to prove their con-
cepts. Peter reviewed and commented
on all the proposed concepts, and
shared his concepts, providing valua-
ble insight into the thinking of an
Fi g. 5: Alex Fraser Bridge (Photocredit: Roger Craik, Maple Ridge BC)
Structural Engineering International Nr. 1/2017
experienced and committed concep-
tual designer.
At work, Peters willingness to dele-
gate responsibilities to those
around him was a signicant personal
strength. This characteristic contribu-
ted to the large number of very suc-
cessful bridge engineers developed
under his mentorship.
Over the 43 year existence of Buck-
land & Taylor, Peter has been
involved in more than 600 bridge pro-
jects including 16 cable-stayed bridges
in the US, Canada, Thailand, Korea,
China, United Kingdom, Sweden,
Greece and Venezuela. The ve lar-
gest of these cable-stayed bridge pro-
jects have been design-build projects,
where Peter has been able to apply
his knowledge to issues affecting both
the design and construction of the
bridges. His laser focus on economy
of design was a key to success in sev-
eral highly competitive design-build
projects.
Peter is the author of more than 30
papers on bridges. He is a recipient of
the Gold Medal of the Whitworth
Society, the Gzowski Medal and the
George S. Richardson Medal for
bridge design. His projects have
received awards from the American
Institute for Steel Construction, the
Design Build Institute of America, the
Canadian Consulting Engineers and
the Project Management Institute.
For his outstanding contributions to
civil engineering, Peter received
Canadas highest civilian honour, the
Order of Canada, in 2009 (Fig. 4).
This is a rare accolade for Canadian
engineers to receive and speaks to
Peters extraordinary contributions to
the eld of engineering.
Eminent Structural Engineer 139