Michael Willford has 30 years design experience in building, civil and offshore structures. He is a specialist in structural dynamics and environmental loading, including seismic and wind effects, and in performance based design utilizing advanced numerical simulation.
Michael’s portfolio in high rise buildings started in the early 1980s including the HongKong Bank (Hong Kong) and Century Tower (Tokyo). Recent projects include Maison Hermes (Tokyo), the CCTV building (Beijing) and the St Francis Towers project (Manila) which incorporates a novel patented damping system which evolved from the design he developed to suppress the wobble of the London Millennium Footbridge. This system is now being adopted on several other buildings resulting in considerable cost savings.
He is currently Global Leader of Arup’s Advanced Technology and Research Practice, and was awarded an Arup Fellowship in 2002 in recognition of his technical contribution to the firm and industry. In 2006 he was appointed Co-Chairman of Seismic Working Group of the Council of Tall buildings and Urban Habitat.
His published books and research papers in the field of Tall Buildings include:
SMITH, R. J., MERELLO, R. & WILLFORD, M. R. (2010). Intrinsic and supplementary damping in tall buildings, Proc. Inst. Civ. Eng. Structures and Buildings 163, Issue SB2. pp 111-118.
SMITH, R. J. & WILLFORD, M. R. (2008). Performance Based Seismic and Wind Engineering for 60 Story Twin Towers in Manila. 14th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering, Beijing.
SMITH, R. & WILLFORD, M. (2007). The Damped Outrigger Concept for Tall Buildings. Journal of the Structural Design of Tall and Special Buildings. John Wiley & Sons Ltd. UK. 2007. pp.501-517.