In September the School of Engineering hosted the Dr George Hondros Memorial Lecture, which was delivered by Graham Coult, an expert and pioneer in glass engineering who works for Eckersley O’Callaghan, a London-based structural and façade engineering consultancy.  

Graham is well-known for his award-winning projects including iconic and record-breaking glass structures and London’s Sky Pool. His lecture provided insight into working with glass and included examples of some ingenious structural details and connections.  

Graham’s lecture marked the 30th in the series of memorial lectures. The first lecture was held  in 1968 and has since attracted prominent civil and structural engineers from around the globe, including Tristram Carfrae, the designer of the Beijing Water Cube and late Professor Mike Jamiolkowski, a famous geotechnical engineer who spoke on the straightening of the Leaning Tower of Pisa. The table attached demonstrates the remarkable range of topics covered, with a full list of lecturers dating back to 1968. 

The lecture series is held in honour of George Hondros, a member of staff from 1956-1966 in the Department of Civil Engineering at The University of Western Australia. 

Image: Graham Coult delivering the lecture.

George worked as an Assistant Building Surveyor at the City of Perth and a plant engineer at a munitions factory before joining UWA. He was renowned for his expertise in structural analysis, concrete and soil mechanics, working both as an academic and consultant engineer for the City of Perth, Main Roads and Wesfarmers. He was also a fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers and a Member of the American Concrete Institute. 

To establish the lecture series, the George Hondros memorial fund was established in 1967 from donations to the University by George’s family, together with members of the Greek community, students, colleagues and other friends. Several years ago, a second round of fund raising was undertaken, with family, friends and members of the Greek community topping up the fund. This second fund raising effort was championed by Arthur Psaltis BE '89, CEO at Pritchard Francis Engineers and George’s great-nephew. For many years Arthur has served on the organising committee of the lecture series; and is currently assisted on this committee by David Williams, Robert Johnson BE '72, Brian Hewitt BE'67, MBA '77 and the Head of the Department of Civil, Environmental and Mining Engineering at UWA, Scott Draper BCom, BE '06.

We hope to host the next lecture in the series soon.

55 Years of George Hondros Lectures