Voices of Science

Robert Mair (1950-) civil engineer, is an expert in tunnelling and soil mechanics. His early career was spent working on major construction projects around the world for Scott Wilson and Kirkpatrick. Capitalising on growing expertise in understanding the behaviour of soil during tunnelling, he helped found the Geotechnical Consulting Group (GCG) in 1983 and helped to develop compensation grouting. Thistechnique to stabilise the ground during tunnelling operations has been successfully used in major projects underneath large cities, such as preventing Big Ben tilting from the construction of the Jubilee Line Extension to the London Underground beneath it. In 1997 he became Professor of Civil Engineering at Cambridge and later served as Master of Jesus College.