In the 2018 New Year’s Honours List conferred by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth and announced on December 29, 2017, Dr. Robin Sham, AECOM’s Global Long Span and Specialty Bridges Director, was awarded with the Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for his services to the civil engineering profession. The List is an annual tradition that dates back over a century, to recognize the significant public service contributions of British citizens across all fields.
“Robin’s award is in the field of science and technology. The awards follow a rigorous screening process including approvals by the Cabinet Office’s Honours Committee, the Prime Minister and finally the Queen. CBE is one of the highest honours, and its next level is knighthood.” One of the published criteria for a CBE is distinguished innovative contributions, and Robin is the only civil engineer from a multinational infrastructure services organization to have been recognized in the 2018 List for his services to the profession.
Robin is a Chartered Civil and Structural Engineer, currently based in Hong Kong, and travelling around the globe to lend his expertise to AECOM projects. He has pioneered construction engineering to enhance the stability and safety of bridges, and his stamp is on many of the world’s longest cable-stayed bridges including the Sutong and Stonecutters Bridge with main span exceeding one kilometer, the Aberfeldy Bridge, the world’s first all fibre-reinforced composite cable-stayed bridge; Taizhou Bridge in PRC which is the world’s first three-pylon, two-main span continuous suspension bridge and designed for ecological preservation; and Kap Shui Mun Bridge in Hong Kong, the world’s longest two-level road-rail cable-stayed bridge upon its completion.
His CBE award follows a string of accolades such as being named British Consultant of the Year in 1997, winner of a Nova Award for Innovation in 2014, and the Gold Medal Achievement Award for pioneering innovations in bridge engineering in 2015 from the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET).
In 2016, Robin designed the Institution of Civil Engineers’ world record breaking, longest suspension bridge built entirely out of Lego, with a 31m main span and 60m in length, and which was the centerpiece of the Bridge Exhibition in the Institution’s Library, to inspire appreciation across generations for the art of bridge design and construction.