Alan Yiu-Lun Wan

Alan Yiu-Lun Wan is Director and General Manager at Meinhardt Infrastructure and Environment Limited in Hong Kong. Meinhardt are one of the most respected engineering companies in the world and the largest independent engineering consultancy in Asia. Alan studied Civil Engineering at Sunderland Polytechnic between 1972 and 1976. Alan graduated with a first-class honours degree and was awarded The Institution of Civil Engineers Prize for outstanding undergraduate work in Civil Engineering in 1976.

After graduation Alan continued to work in the local area and as a Graduate Site Engineer participated in the construction of the northern section of the Tyne and Wear Metro within the City of Newcastle. Alan then went onto design the Redheugh Bridge river crossing in 1978.

Continuing his career in Civil Engineering designed the A171 Whitby Bridge crossing River Ask in North Yorkshire. Alan also designed a major highway bridge, across the Sungai Perak (Perak River) in the Perak State of West Malaysia. He was was responsible as the Design Manager of the Senior Management Airport Authority in Hong Kong, for the design management of all landside transport infrastructure on the airport island which was constructed from land reclamation in 1992, and opened on 6 July 1998.

“Sunderland Polytechnic was introduced to me by my Supervisor who lived in Whitley Bay when I was working as a site Foreman for the Highways Office in Hong Kong. He said Sunderland Polytechnic was a good way for me to advance my study in Civil Engineering. I was attracted to Sunderland Polytechnic when I found out that the BSc (Hons) degree course in Civil Engineering was well recognised by professional institutions, more so than a number of other polytechnics and famous universities in the UK. Graduates from Sunderland Polytechnic with BSc (Hons) Civil Engineering were exempt from Part 1 and 2 examinations, and could apply directly after they attained the required industrial/professional experience, for the Part 3 examination of Corporate Membership to five professional disciplines in the UK, including The Institution of Civil Engineers, Institution of Structural Engineers, Institution of Municipal Engineers, and Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors’ Quantity Surveying and Land Surveying Divisions. I believed that Sunderland Polytechnic offered a more robust and comprehensive training than most other polytechnics and universities, which was why I chose to study there.”

“I wish that the bridges I designed in England will be my legacy, I would also like to add “who is a graduate of Sunderland Polytechnic” to the video of the “Redheugh Bridge” so that in the documentation of the “The present crossing”, the last sentence should read “It was constructed by Edmund Nuttall Ltd to a design by Mott, Hay and Anderson's young engineer, Alan Yiu Lun Wan who is a graduate of Sunderland Polytechnic.”