Adrian Long

Adrian Long was born in Dungannon, County Tyrone in Northern Ireland.[1] He states that he comes from a carpentry and blacksmithing background and has a degree in civil engineering.[2] Long became a professor of civil engineering at Queen's University Belfast (QUB) in 1976.[3] His work has largely been in the field of concrete structures; particularly in chloride resistance, maintenance problems and arch bridge structures.[4] Long has published 20 papers in journals managed by the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) and has won eight of the institution's medals for these, including the ICE Gold Medal.[5]

By 2002 Long was appointed dean of the faculty of engineering at QUB.[3] In November of that year he was appointed president of the ICE for the 2002-2003 session; the first Northern Irish person to hold that position.[3][6] Long is also a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and of the Institute for the Advancement of Engineering.[2]

Long was appointed an officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 2006 New Year Honours for services to higher education and civil engineering.[7] He resigned as professor at QUB in 2006 but has remained since then as an emeritus professor in the School of Natural and Built Environment.[4][5] In 2015 the ICE Northern Ireland awards the Adrian Long medal to the best paper in an ICE journal to be authored by a Northern Ireland member. The medal features a bust of Long.[5]

A FlexiArch bridge constructed adjacent to an existing structure in Soundwell, Gloucestershire

From 1997 Long worked on the FlexiArch, a pre-cast concrete arch in which the individual voussoirs are joined by a flexible polymeric membrane.[8][9] The arch arrives to site flat packed and when lifted into position by a crane the gaps between the voussoirs close under gravity and form the correct arch profile. Long patented the product, which is produced by Irish pre-cast manufacturer Macrete, in 2004.[9] The product can be constructed within a day and, containing no corrodable elements, has been stated to have a design lifespan of 300 years.[9] More than 50 FlexiArch bridges have been constructed in the UK and Ireland and spans up to 30m are possible.[8]