Crossing the Atlantic In 1966, Isherwood and his family moved to Montreal. Although there was frantic construction surrounding the 1967 Expo in Montreal, Isherwood wanted something more stable. He found work in Toronto with Franki Canada, a piling company with operations in 64 countries. Isherwood was responsible for estimating, negotiating the jobs, and finance and design. It was during this time that the idea of specialist shoring contractors was emerging. He found that he could be more economical and efficient than what had been done in the past and the company embraced his entrepreneurial attitude. Performing excavation support design, Isherwood had the freedom to create extraordinarily efficient designs by sizing soldier piles with precision and then monitoring the deformations and making adjustments such as adding internal bracing to increase the stiffness as needed. After six years with Franki, he formed Brian Isherwood and Associates, Ltd. in 1972 and began taking on work from many sources. Isherwood performed independent consulting for shoring contractor Deep Foundations. He also did some tunneling work and became an expert witness and arbitrator. About a year into his consulting work, Isherwood was approached by a developer in Toronto with a challenging shoring project: a 300 ft (91 m) long, 100 ft (30 m) wide, and 60 ft (18 m) deep excavation support system using soldier pile and lagging and only one level of internal bracing where typically three levels of anchors or bracing would be used. Instead, the piles were unusually large, spaced 5 ft (1.6 m) apart, and the bracing ended up as a major truss system—the first such project in Toronto. Isherwood was hired, not to design the system but to make sure it worked. He accepted the challenge and paid a visit to Shannon & Wilson and Slope Indicator in Seattle, Wash., where he purchased the 13th digital inclinometer manufactured and a hefty 40 lb (15 kg) readout box. Using the inclinometer coupled with strain gauges and load cells, he monitored the system daily and total deformation was limited to 1 in (25 mm) of movement. This type of project, where a robust monitoring program was used to temper a cutting- edge excavation support system, became a hallmark of Isherwood’s work. Alan Macnab, long-time colleague and author of Earth Retention Systems Handbook commented, “I first met Brian in1974 when I was a young engineer working for a contractor with Brian as our consultant. Brian introduced me to the world of anchored earth retention and how to think out of the box when it came to problem solving. As a right-brained guy, he is a very rare commodity in the engineering world. It probably comes from his considerable artistic talent outside his profession. He is a noted choir master. But on top of that, there was always something very simple and common sense-based about his work. Field crews found his designs very constructible. I have worked in many locations in North America and say from experience that the firm that he founded is without parallel in his design field.” Personal and Professional Success Isherwood began to grow the company with Nadir Ansari, the current president, joining him in 1987. Today, Isherwood Associates is a consulting business with over 55 employees. Throughout his career, Isherwood remained fully involved in his projects. Rather than spending the day in the office performing designs, he would spend an average of 4 hours per day out on construction sites. According to Bill Lardner, founder of Deep Foundations Contractors, “Brian has created what I think is the best shoring and retaining wall design company in North America. Starting in the 1970s, when the art or science was rudimentary, he refined our understanding of soil pressures by focusing on monitoring. Slope deflection readings and related instrumentation made it possible to understand how soil’s intrinsic strength can be utilised in designing safe but economical retaining systems. In doing so he has created an organisation with high ethical standards and imaginative solutions that is the first choice of knowledgeable owners and contractors.” Isherwood continues to enjoy his two greatest passions: engineering and the arts. Throughout the years Isherwood has fostered his love of theater and performing. His wife and all four of his children (2 sons and 2 daughters) are professional musi- cians, and at least one of his nine grand- children is thinking of following in their footsteps. Isherwood has enjoyed acting, helping his wife with high school musicals, being the set and lighting designer for his daughters’ ballet performances as well as producing and directing several musicals. He directed his local church choir for its first 12 years and it has grown from 8 to 60 people, including some singers of considerable fame. Isherwood remains active in many professional organizations and societies, including DFI, the Canadian Society for Civi l Engineering, the Canadian Geotechnical Society, and the Tunneling Association of Canada. He is the past president of the Toronto Civil Engineers and Canada’s representative for the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) of Britain. Isherwood was a member of the organizing committee for DFI’s annual conference in Toronto in 1997 and Isherwood Associates received the DFI OPA award for the St. Clair River Tunnel project in 1998. Isherwood has served as an adjunct associate professor of Civil Engineering at the University of Toronto and has lectured widely on shoring and foundations. Bruno Giancola of Tridel Construction Ltd., a client and con- dominium developer, remarked “Brian is the most respected shoring engineer the industry has ever seen. He has revolutionized our industry. He is also the truest definition of a gentleman.” Helen Robinson, P.E. 66 • DEEP FOUNDATIONS • SEPT/OCT 2014
