Editorial

Citation

Hoxley, M. (2001), "Editorial", Structural Survey, Vol. 19 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/ss.2001.11019eaa.001

Editorial

The dreadful events of 11 September have exposed several frailties in what many people of my generation have taken for granted for most of their adult lives. The terrible images of passenger aircraft disappearing into the twin towers of New York's World Trade Centre as easy as a knife slicing through butter have demonstrated just how vulnerable tall buildings are to malicious attack of this type. The implications for designers of tall buildings are likely to be massive. What is almost as worrying is the devastating effect that the terrorist attacks have had upon the world economy and the financial markets. It is something that many people have said since 11 September, but the world is never going to be the same again. In the short term property could benefit as investors move out of equities, but all sectors are likely to be hit if there are protracted hostilities.

In this issue the subject of risk is considered by two of the papers. Anthony Mills of the University of Melbourne advocates a systematic approach to risk management for construction, citing a case study which ironically dates back to the last world recession. In their paper on the assessment of risk in conservation refurbishment projects, John Reyers and John Mansfield of Nottingham Trent University compare and contrast the approaches of the management of risk by different conservation professionals. Two of the papers are concerned with computer modelling of real world problems. Anumber and Scott's paper discusses the evaluation of a knowledge-based system for domestic subsidence management, while Malekzadeh et al.'s paper describes the modelling of culvert construction in artificially frozen ground. Chaplin and Scott-Boyle's paper presents the results of a teaching company scheme funded project to assess the snow loading on the roofs of caravan holiday homes. In complete contrast Low Sui Pheng's paper describes the construction of dwellings and structures in Ancient China.

As this issue goes to print I have received the sad news that the journal's last editor Tony Poole has passed away. Tony edited Structural Survey for six years and was involved as a member of the editorial board from the journal's inception. Our sincere condolences go to Tony's family. An obituary will appear in the next issue.

Mike Hoxley