Ian Firth made Honorary Fellow of RIBA

PRESS RELEASE: Ian Firth has been awarded an Honorary Fellowship to the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) in recognition of the 'enormous contribution' he has made to architecture.

02.02.2018

Ian was nominated by Martin Knight, founder of Knight Architects, and endorsed by RIBA's Honours Committee which consists of Ben Derbyshire (RIBA President Elect), Edward Cullinan, Sarah Wigglesworth, Cany Ash and Lady Jill Ritblat.

RIBA's Council formally approved the Honorary Fellowship on 28 September 2017.

World Leading Expert

Ian is a world-leading structural engineer specialising in bridge design and construction.

During his career, he has been responsible for several world famous projects including the strengthening of the Severn, Erskine and West Gate bridges, and the concept design of Stonecutters Bridge in Hong Kong. Ian has also led the engineering design of many smaller award-winning bridges such as the Inner Harbour Bridge in Copenhagen, London's Bridge of Aspiration, Taunton's Third Way and Castle Green footbridges as well as the Swansea Sail and Lockmeadow footbridges in the UK.

A leading advocate of bridge-building charity 'Bridges to Prosperity', Ian also chairs the International Association for Bridge and Structural Engineering (IABSE) British Group and was President of The Institution of Structural Engineers 2017.

Select club

RIBA Honorary Fellowships reward the contributions people have made to architecture in its broadest sense: its promotion, administration and outreach; its role in building more sustainable communities, and its role in the education of future generations.

The lifetime honour, conferred annually, allows recipients to use the suffix Hon FRIBA.

Ian is one of 14 people awarded the lifetime honour this year, in recognition for their efforts in improving quality of design and influencing the delivery of the built environment in a sustainable and creative way. Also receiving Honorary Fellowships this year are Tamsie Thomson, Director of the London Festival of Architecture; Maria Balshaw, Director of Tate Modern; Evan Davis, BBC Broadcaster and journalist; and London Mayor, Sadiq Khan.

Previous recipients include Cecil Balmond, Sir Terence Conran, Thomas Heatherwick, Hanif Kara, Anish Kapoor and Sir Nicholas Serota.