Citation on the award of NZSEE Fellow, April 2023
Andrew Thompson is awarded Fellowship of the New Zealand Society for Earthquake Engineering for his services both to the Society and for his leadership to earthquake engineering practice in New Zealand.
Andrew (Andy), a Technical Director at Holmes, brings his keen problem-solving ability and attention to detail in leading and contributing to structural engineering projects of all shapes and sizes in his work from large health care developments to commercial, heritage, and institutional developments. He is an active proponent for resilient design and low-damage technologies, having designed or provided input into several recent base isolated projects in New Zealand, including the new Acute Services Building at Christchurch Hospital. He also has extensive experience in the assessment and retrofit of existing buildings, amassing a strong working knowledge of local NZSEE guidance past and present, as well as other international guidelines and methods.
Andy, who joined the NZSEE management committee in 2019, has brought his considerable skills in structural engineering in support of the Society by contributing to the NZSEE technical work programme, and also by contributing to the Society’s activities in outreach, and sharing technical advancements across the membership and the profession. Specific projects where Andy has made particular contributions include:
• The rapid re-organisation of the NZSEE 2020 conference to an online webinar series when the conference was forced to be cancelled due to Covid restrictions.
• The organisation and presentations at NZSEE webinars in both 2021 and 2022.
• A leading author of the recently published “Earthquake Design for Uncertainty” Advisory jointly published by NZSEE, SESOC, and NZGS, which outlined practical considerations and approaches engineers could take to improve building resilience and to reduce the sensitivity of the seismic response of buildings to potential future changes in seismic hazard.
• Membership of the Joint Committee for the Seismic Assessment of Existing Buildings, representing NZSEE in this cross-industry initiative, focussed on further development of the approaches for assessing existing buildings for seismic loads.
• His role as a very active supporter of inter-society initiatives bringing SESOC, NZ Geotechnical Society, and NZSEE closer together for the mutual benefit of the societies and the profession.
• Presented in the Earthquake Design for Uncertainty Seminar series presented in the immediate wake of the release of the new National Seismic Hazard Model in October 2022.
• Encourages younger member engagement with the society, through a collection of initiatives, including by leading a programme to encourage young professionals to contribute subject papers to the NZSEE Bulletin, and by encouraging support of the SESOC Emerging Structural Engineers Network.
Andy also contributes more widely across the structural engineering sector including to the Chapter C5 evidence gathering project, in order to consider its citation under the Earthquake Prone Building legislation, is on the NZ3404 Steel Structure standards committee, and sits on the Precast Flooring Assessment Monitoring Group, facilitated by Engineering New Zealand.
Andy’s contributions and leadership in structural engineering, and his willingness to share his knowledge of the seismic performance of buildings across the profession for the benefit of all is appreciated by the Society and is acknowledged with the award of a New Zealand Society for Earthquake Engineering Fellowship
