People

Profile of Peter Irwin

Irwin
Name
Peter Irwin
Position
Senior Executive Consultant | Founding Partner
Email
Summary

A founding partner of RWDI, Peter joined the firm in 1980 and has served in a variety of key roles, including Principal Engineer and President and CEO. In the latter capacity he led the firm’s international expansion across Canada, the UK, the USA and India and saw its business triple in volume, making RWDI the world’s largest private wind engineering firm. In addition to his business leadership, Peter has made widely noted engineering contributions. He has pioneered special techniques for the prediction of wind and snow loads on structures; designed and executed studies of the impact of wind and aerodynamics on some of the world’s greatest structures; and developed the Irwin wind sensor for pedestrian wind studies, used in laboratories around the world. Peter remains active at RWDI, providing technical advice on projects, assisting with business development, and offering management counsel to the executive team.

An eminent wind engineer recognized around the world for his contributions in the areas of structural response to wind, aerodynamics, wind tunnel testing methodology and building code development.

  • EDUCATION

    • Doctorate (Aeronautical Engineering), University of Southampton, United Kingdom
    • Doctorate (Mechanical Engineering), McGill University, Canada
    • Bachelor of Science (Aeronautical Engineering), University of Southampton, United Kingdom

  • AFFILIATIONS

    • Professional Engineer, Ontario, British Columbia
    • Fellow, American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)
    • Fellow, Canadian Academy of Engineering
    • Fellow, Canadian Society for Engineering
    • Fellow, Engineering Institute of Canada
    • Fellow, Structural Engineering Institute of the ASCE
    • Member, Standing Committee on Structural Design, Canadian National Building Code (1990-2015)
    • Chair, Task Group on Climatic Loads, Canadian National Building Code (2005-2015)
    • American Society of Civil Engineers
      ASCE 7 Standard, Task Committee on Wind Loads
      Past Chair, Wind Engineering Division
    • Chair of the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat
      Task Group on Wind Tunnel Testing
      Past Board Trustee
    • ISO Committees on Snow and Wind Load Standards

  • SPECIALTIES

    • Aerodynamics
    • Aeroelastic response
    • Building codes and standards
    • Business development
    • Long span bridges
    • Long span roofs
    • Pedestrian wind
    • Snow loading
    • Tall buildings
    • Wind environment
    • Wind tunnel methodology

  • AWARDS

    • Gzowski Medal for Civil Engineering, Canadian Society for Civil Engineering, 1995
    • Coopers Hill Medal for Civil Engineering, Institute of Civil Engineering, UK, 2003
    • Jack E. Cermak Medal for Wind Engineering, American Society of Civil Engineers, 2007
    • Innovation Award, American Association of Wind Engineering, 2013
    • Fazlur Khan Award, Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, 2014
    • Alan Davenport Medal for Wind Engineering, International Association for Wind Engineering, 2015 Irwin Lecture inaugurated by the American Association for Wind Engineering and the International Association for Wind Engineering in 2016. Special lecture to be given by a highly recognized practitioner/researcher every two years at major conferences of the two associations in honour of Irwin’s contributions to the practice of wind engineering.