Autobiography of a civil engineer throughout eight decades

Retired civil engineer David Easton wrote an autobiography of his lifelong career in the civil engineering industry, highlighting the industry and his progression therein from 1930 to 2008 and now gives presentations to high school learners, based on the book, to encourage them to study civil engineering as a profession.

He started working on construction sites at the age of 17 and spent nearly 50 years planning and estimating the cost of constructing major civil engineering works worldwide, visiting more than 20 countries. The autobiography, Estimating an Adventure, was published in 2011.

Looking ahead from his autobiography, Easton predicts that the South African civil industry will soon follow the trend in the UK, in that management will invest as much time in health and safety management as it does in controlling the actual work; therefore, the management costs of projects will increase in the coming years.

“My main concern for the future of the industry is the rapid increase of the cost of construction. For example, the 34 km of the N4 freeway, from Pretoria to Bronkhorstspruit, which includes eight bridges, was constructed at a cost of R12-million and was completed in 1969. More recently, a 7 km dual carriage-way, from Hillcrest to Waterfall, in KwaZulu-Natal, with one bridge, cost about R250-million. This road is expected to be completed next year.”

Also, the cost of power stations has increased sharply, with the Drakensberg pumped-storage scheme (PSS) and the Ingula PSS being constructed 40 years apart. The Drakensberg PSS cost R1-million per megawatt installed in 1981 and the Ingula PSS is estimated to amount to R19-million per megawatt installed in 2014.

The technological highlights of the eight decades reflected in Easton’s autobiography include the advent of nuclear power, which has a signifi- cant effect on the civil industry because there is more concrete in the reactor buildings than any other materials. The Koeberg nuclear power station, in the Western Cape, is the only example of nuclear power in South Africa, but there are currently about 50 nuclear power stations under construction worldwide, he says.

“Bridge building has advanced – there are now fewer foundations and larger spans that progress above the ground and traffic can flow underneath during construction.”

Excavating has also evolved. Easton started his career when rope-operated excavators were used, which were replaced by hydraulic rams. Trucks got bigger, which reduces use of motor-scrapers pushed by bulldozers, which, in turn, have been replaced by diggers and articulated dump trucks.

The roller compacted concrete method is a new method used in dam construction to place mass concrete in gravity dams.

“I arrived in South Africa at the beginning of a construction boom in the 1970s and my career in civil engineering has truly been an estimating adventure. I hope that the autobiography will encourage students and graduates to ask questions and work well with people of all cultures to contribute to the improvement of the infrastructure of the world we live in, leaving something constructive and worthwhile behind,” Easton says.