2025 BGA Case Histories Award Winner announced
The British Geotechnical Association (BGA) is pleased to announce that the 2025 BGA Case Histories Award has been awarded to authors David Richards, William Powrie, and Anthony Blake for their paper “Full-scale tests on laterally loaded railway overhead line equipment mast foundations” published in Geotéchnique in 2023.
The paper can be accessed via the ICE Virtual Library HERE.
The judges agreed that the winning paper presents interesting full scale experimental work with well-explained background, motivation, and testing process. The results support current approaches and practices and will result in cost savings and new methodologies introduced for the design of cantilever overhang towers—an advancement that will yield financial benefits each time overhead electrification of railway lines is undertaken. Overall, this is a highly impactful paper with significant implications for industry practice.
The only other entry received for the award this year was a paper by Benoit David Jones and Charly Grand on “Strains in sprayed concrete tunnel linings at Heathrow Terminal 4 and back-calculation of stress”, presenting and discussing an extensive body of data from long term monitoring of sprayed concrete linings.
The judges recognised the exceptional quality of both submissions, making the final decision particularly difficult.
The BGA Case Histories Award is to encourage and recognise the importance of exchange of exemplary geotechnical knowledge and experience of the performance of constructed works. The award is presented for an outstanding contribution to the knowledge and experience of the United Kingdom geotechnical engineering profession through the publication of a well-considered and researched case history or histories, or the publication of recommended practices or design methodologies based on the evaluation of case histories that provide beneficial insights into the geotechnical aspects of constructed works.