The Worshipful Company of Paviors in conjunction with the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Imperial College present the 35th Annual Paviors’ Lecture on: "Engineering the Olympics," by John Armitt, CBE, FREng, FICE, Chairman of the Olympic Delivery Authority.

Abstract: In his lecture, John will describe the huge challenges faced by engineers in delivering the major infrastructure and stadia necessary to ensure a successful Olympic and Paralympic Games in
2012. He will also outline how this infrastructure will provide long term physical rejuvenation for East London, whilst setting new benchmarks for sustainable design and construction.

Biography: John Armitt was appointed Chairman of the Olympic Delivery Authority on 1 September 2007. John’s career has straddled both the construction industry and the railways. He joined John Laing as a civil engineer in 1966, and was ultimately made Chairman of Laings International and Civil Engineering Divisions in 1987. In 1993 he left to become Chief Executive of Union Railways, the company responsible for developing the high speed Channel Tunnel Rail Link. In 1997 he was appointed Chief Executive of Costain and in 2001 Chief Executive of Railtrack plc, a year later he was made Chief Executive of Network Rail. John is currently also Chairman of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, a Non-Executive Director of the Berkeley Group and a member of the Advisory Boards of PWC and Siemens plc. He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Institution of Civil Engineers and has honorary doctorates from the universities of Portsmouth, Birmingham and Reading.

Admission to the lecture is free of charge but those planning to attend, who are not Paviors, are asked to notify Colin Kerr at c.j.kerr@imperial.ac.uk. Paviors should respond to the circular from the Clerk.