It is with great sadness that we share the news of our ex-colleague Finlay (Fin) Jardine’s passing on 26 December 2024. Our heartfelt condolences to his family at this challenging time.
As a highly respected member of the CIRIA team Fin joined us in 1986 as a Research Manager and Technical Editor working on numerous research projects, conferences and technical publications includingEngineering and health in compressed air work. Proceedings of the International Conference, Oxford, September 1992 (B16), Grouting for ground engineering (C514), Remedial processes for contaminated land – principles and practice (C549), Geophysics in engineering investigations (C562), Engineering in chalk (C574), and Building response to tunnelling - case studies from construction of the Jubilee Line Extension, London. Volume 1: The project. Volume 2: Case studies (SP200 and SP201).
Drawing on his knowledge of the industry, Fin also oversaw the development of an expanded programme including projects on geotechnics, geology and contaminated land, appointing ,and being a valued mentor, to several new staff. Retiring in 2002, he devoted more time to his painting, in which he showed considerable prowess. Fin will also be fondly remembered for smoothing out the grammatical and stylistic faux pas of his authors and colleagues. When he attended a CIRIA function in 2024, former colleagues were delighted to see him again and newer staff pleased to meet the man responsible for so much of CIRIA’s legacy.
Dirk Vennix CIRIA CEO commented “I was very sorry to hear that we lost Fin as he was a valued member of the “CIRIA family” who made every effort to stay in touch with his former colleagues. Throughout his time at CIRIA until retirement in 2002, Fin was highly regarded for his knowledge, experience and quality of publications. He was generous of spirit and will be missed by CIRIA colleagues, past and present, as well as his peers in the industry.”
On learning of Fin’s passing, industry colleagues and peers offered their thoughts:
Quentin Leiper (ICE President 2006-2007) said “Fin will be remembered for steering a huge number of significant CIRIA projects that have helped to improve knowledge and understanding and which have benefited the whole geotechnical community and thereby the wider society and helping make projects safer and more efficient from both an engineering and a cost perspective. Countless people will have used those reports over the years.”
Professor Lord Robert Mair (ICE President 2017-2018) University of Cambridge commented “As an author of two CIRIA reports, I had the pleasure of working closely with him on Design of retaining walls in embedded stiff clays (R104). A particularly outstanding and exceptional contribution by Fin was his co-editing (with John Burland and Jamie Standing) of the highly successful two-volume CIRIA publication Building response to tunnelling – case studies from the construction of the Jubilee Line Extension, London (SP200 and SP201). This is a truly seminal piece of work, still widely referred to by practitioners and academics.
Fin was known for being meticulous and always exceptionally thorough in his many outputs. He combined his deep knowledge and experience of geotechnical practice (especially in ground investigation) with a considerable literary appreciation - the result was always a masterpiece of clarity.
He was a real gentleman, always kind and considerate. He will be sorely missed by all the many engineers who had the privilege of working with him.”
Professor Jamie Standing, Imperial College, London said “Fin was CIRIA’s Research Manager for the LINK CMR project Subsidence damage to buildings: prediction, protection and repair (X439), which ran from 1994, along with the construction of the Jubilee Line Extension tunnelling project (SP200 and SP201), to 2001. Fin’s role in the success of the project and the many following publications cannot be overstated. He was the central pillar that supported the many interactions with the research team, public and government bodies, academia and industry, and brought everything together. From an editing perspective, Fin’s rigour and clarity of expression are very evident from every publication he was involved in.
At the very start of the project, I was summoned to CIRIA office at Storey’s Gate to meet Fin for the first time. We had quite a discussion for more than an hour, it felt as though I was being assessed for the job I was about to take on. Fin’s closing comment that day was that one of my duties would be “taking minutes at the progress meetings” and that I should “produce minutes from this current meeting”. Having taken no notes whatsoever, I scuttled back to college and feverishly typed up what I could recall and sent them through to Fin – they arrived back a couple of days later with more red than black ink on the pages! During those years and subsequently I learnt so much from Fin on many fronts besides writing good English. Even when I write or edit now, I often think that Fin might be looking over my shoulder keeping an eye on me! I treasure and am deeply grateful for the professional interaction I had with Fin and our friendship, shared with Mary, his kindness and humour, all steadfast until the end. I will really miss him.”