Tony O'Brien

What do you do at Mott MacDonald?

I’m a chartered civil engineer and specialist in geotechnical and foundation engineering.

At Mott MacDonald I am the global leader for our geotechnics practice, a 600-strong international team of professionals I helped build.

I am also a leader in the field of the observational method (OM), which enables project teams to tailor ground support to actual conditions, often resulting in significant savings in materials, time, and cost, as well as improved safety for workers. The OM is often mis-understood and under-used across the industry, perhaps a better term is ‘Observational Control’.

Tell us about your career journey 

I gained my early engineering experience as a site engineer. When problems arose many of the senior engineers I worked with offered solutions...except if it was a ground related issue. On one project, problems with the ground led to a 50% increase in the original project cost.  This got me thinking: “if this is something tricky that not many people want to get involved in, is there a career in it for me?”   

So, I returned to postgrad study and was awarded a Distinction in a Soil Mechanics MSc at Imperial College. I joined Mott MacDonald in 1991 and have devoted my career to developing an industry-leading international reputation through my technical leadership of numerous complex projects. In parallel, I’m active on several international committees developing best practice and advancing the state of industry practice. I have been active in applied research through most of my career and collaborated with several Universities across the world. This led me to become a Visiting Professor in Geotechnics at the University of Southampton, and I was also appointed to the Schofield Centre Research Board at the University of Cambridge and the rare distinction of becoming a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering. 

How do you contribute to Mott MacDonald making a difference to people and planet? 

Working at Mott MacDonald has taken me all over the world, enabling me to apply my technical excellence to tackle some of the most complex geotechnical challenges.

I’m passionate about encouraging young engineers to use their skills  to seek better solutions. More people need to challenge the status quo. If we’re going to do anything meaningful in terms of sustainability, we cannot keep doing what we’re doing, so we need to get out of our comfort zones. We learn more about ourselves and create better solutions in the process.

I was also an early adopter of numerical modelling and have written industry guidance on how to best use these advanced analytical techniques. When used wisely these techniques can deliver considerable value, but if misused can be dangerous. More recently I have tested software that uses machine learning algorithms.  Machine learning has the potential to extract significant value from the data mountains which the construction industry is producing. It can help us to more efficiently interpret observed behaviour and link design to construction which will helps us to better support our clients and the communities they represent.

Do you have a mantra you live by?

"Never be satisfied with the status quo. Try to push a bit more, a bit better, and always take advantage of applied research.

Describe your role on a landmark project

Perhaps one of the most high-profile applications of the OM was during construction of the new Wembley Stadium in north London. 

The stadium’s famous 1700t, 330m tall, 315m span steel arch was assembled on the ground and then had to be lifted into position. This was done by creating a rotating connection between the ends of the arch and its foundations. The crown of the arch was then hauled up to its final position 22° off vertical. The six week lift placed huge temporary rotational and horizontal forces on the foundations.

To protect against potential excessive movement, the foundations would ordinarily have been substantially ‘over-designed’ to compensate for the complex temporary loads. However, my team and I used the OM to control the arch lift and foundation response. We designed extra contingency measures in case needed. But monitoring and back-analysis showed that the foundations were adequately stiff without, and the lift was completed successfully avoiding the additional complexity and time on a critical path activity.