University’s work on Cutty Sark wins national award
The University of Greenwich was awarded ‘Outstanding Engineering Research Team of the Year’ at the Times Higher Education Awards ceremony in London last night (15 October).
Greenwich won the national prize for its help in saving the Cutty Sark ship, the popular heritage attraction which nearly decayed beyond repair a few years ago.
The Cutty Sark Trust called in the university’s experts in computational mechanics – who use computer models to predict how structures will behave – to assess what the risks to the ship were and how best to dismantle and reassemble her.
Professor Chris Bailey, who leads the winning team, says: “We are thrilled that this partnership with the Cutty Sark Trust, which has led to techniques which can help other heritage structures, is being recognised in this way.” The team normally applies its analysis to complex engineering systems in engines, computers, cable technology and precision medical equipment.
The judges said: “Greenwich has demonstrated the rare combination of outstanding research and real impact in an area not normally noted for engineering. The application to cultural heritage will have an enormous impact on the UK’s long-term economy.”
Peter Mason, chief engineer at the Cutty Sark Trust, says: "This is excellent news, and well deserved by the team at Greenwich. I have every confidence that our next two, very different, collaborations, the predictive modelling of future degredation of the iron frame, and working out why the ship was faster than others, will be equally successful."
For a high-res image of the team at Greenwich and interviews contact:
Hester Brown, Press Officer
University of Greenwich
Tel: 020 8331 7663
Mob: 07876 193 481