Winner of the 2020 Flemming Bligaard Award

In June, former CEO for Ramboll Flemming Bligaard Pedersen stepped down as chair for the Ramboll Foundation. To honour Flemming’s accomplishments in his 44 years of serving Ramboll and the Ramboll Foundation, the Ramboll Foundation has established the Flemming Bligaard Award. This year, the award funds goes to a researcher working with Circular Economy in the built environment.

This year’s winner is Dr Colin M Rose who will do research into secondary timber in his role as a Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering, University College London – UCL.

On a mission to replace concrete with recycled timber

For the Foundation, Colin’s ultimate ambition to help the industry bring down emissions, is something to support. The Board’s motivation reads:

“The aim of Colin’s research is to replace concrete and steel with pieces of compressed secondary timber, also known as cross-laminated secondary timber (CLST). Colin proposes an action research approach to be adopted, in which theoretical and lab-based investigations are interspersed with a live demonstration project and engagement with practitioners. This iterative process can accelerate learning, bring together a network of collaborators, and exchange knowledge from research to practitioners and vice versa”.

Colin Rose became a Doctor of Engineering, urban sustainability and resilience, 2019, from the UCL and this is where he will continue his research with the funds provided by the Ramboll Foundation. In his application, Colin writes:

-“My doctoral research began to explore a solution for timber: its reuse as part of cross-laminated

secondary timber (CLST). The Award will allow me to take the next steps in demonstrating the technical and economic viability of CLST, while exploring the wider application of this approach to materials through collaboration with industry.”