Douglas Oakervee

Douglas Edwin Oakervee CBE FREng FICE FHKIE (born December 1940) is a British civil engineer who is a past chairman of both HS2 and Crossrail,[1] and was the 139th president of the Institution of Civil Engineers.[2] He was awarded the CBE in the 2010 Birthday Honours for his contributions to civil engineering.[3][4]

Early life and education

He was born in 1940 in northwest London[5] and attended Willesden Technical College.

Civil engineering projects

In 1991, Oakervee was appointed as project director for the Hong Kong International Airport project, built on a man-made island in the South China Sea. Before that he was the chief tunnel engineer on the Hong Kong mass transit railway project. From 2012 to 2014 he was chairman of the company constructing the High Speed 2 (HS2) railway in England.[6]

HS2 review
Further information: High Speed 2 § Oakervee Review

In June 2019, Boris Johnson, then a candidate for the Conservative Party leadership, said he would ask Oakervee to lead a review of the plans for HS2.[6] In August, with Johnson now Prime Minister, the review was announced[7] and terms of reference were published by the Department for Transport.[8] Work was completed in November but its report – known as the Oakervee Review – was not published until February 2020. The report concluded that the original rationale for HS2 was still valid as "there is a need for greater capacity (both more trains on tracks and more seats on trains and reliability on the GB rail network).[9]

Irish Sea tunnel

In October 2020, it was announced that Sir Peter Hendy would lead an independent review into the feasibility of various projects designed to improve the UK's infrastructure, among them a potential fixed link between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.[10] This could take the form of a bridge (referred to as the Irish Sea Bridge) or a tunnel, and investigation of a potential rail tunnel will be undertaken by Oakervee. He observed that the collapse of Flybe had reduced opportunities to fly into Northern Ireland.[11]

Honours and awards
  • 2000 Awarded the OBE in the diplomatic list of the 2000 New Year Honours for services to civil engineering overseas
  • 2003 Appointed president of the Institution of Civil Engineers
  • 2008 Awarded the Institution of Civil Engineers Gold Medal.[12]
  • 2010 Awarded the CBE in the Birthday Honours for services to civil engineering
  • 2020 Elected president of the Smeatonian Society of Civil Engineers

References
  1. Stephen, Paul (28 August 2019). "Industry and business leaders back HS2 as review launched". RAIL. 886: 28.
  2. "Institution of Civil Engineers - Past presidents". 22 August 2010. Archived from the original on 22 August 2010. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
  3. "Douglas Oakervee Consulting Engineers Ltd - Company Profile - Endole". suite.endole.co.uk. Retrieved 9 September 2019.
  4. "Douglas Oakervee Consulting Engineers Ltd find contacts: address, phone, email, job, responds". ypage.uk. Retrieved 9 September 2019.
  5. "Douglas Oakervee: 'I think the name HS2 is unfortunate'". The Independent. 8 September 2013. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
  6. Walker, Jonathan (17 June 2019). "Former HS2 chairman to lead review of new rail line". Birmingham Post. Retrieved 9 September 2019.
  7. "Government announces independent review into HS2 programme". GOV.UK. Department for Transport. 21 August 2019. Retrieved 21 August 2019.
  8. "HS2 independent review: terms of reference". GOV.UK. Retrieved 21 August 2019.
  9. "Oakervee Review". Department for Transport. Retrieved 12 February 2020. original rationale for HS2 – still holds: there is a need for greater capacity (both more trains on tracks and more seats on trains and reliability on the GB rail network)
  10. "Study to explore feasibility of fixed link across the Irish Sea". Bridge Design & Engineering. 5 October 2020. Retrieved 10 December 2020.
  11. Webster, Laura (6 November 2020). "Boris Johnson 'now considering rail tunnel between Scotland and Northern Ireland'". The National. Retrieved 10 December 2020.
  12. Lynch, Andrew (7 April 2013). "Leading edge: Douglas Oakervee". The Sunday Times. ISSN 0956-1382. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
Professional and academic associations
Preceded by
Adrian Long		 President of the Institution of Civil Engineers
November 2003 – November 2004		 Succeeded by
Colin John Clinton



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