Francis Walley

Francis Walley (30 December 191818 October 2012) was a British structural engineer and civil servant, who had a key role in advancing the use of prestressed concrete. During the Second World War he became an expert in the blast impact of explosives on concrete. Therefore much of his work no longer exists, and some of it destroyed by Walley himself. One notable structure to have survived this destructive onslaught is the Blue Bridge, a footbridge that crosses the lake in the centre of St James's Park in London.

Early years Francis Walley was born in Hereford, as the youngest of five children. His father, Reginald Walley, was a customs and excise officer, his mother was Maria (née Thomas). His eldest brother was to become Sir John Walley, a senior civil servant in the Ministry of Pensions and National Insurance, who had a significant part in the roll-out of the Beveridge reforms. in Sighthill, Edinburgh. Walley was the building's designer, with his Ministry of Works colleague Stewart Sim as architect, deploying innovative and economic functional Modernism on a large warehouse block. This was the first multistorey building in Europe built using prestressed concrete. It was officially opened on 9 December 1950. The warehouse was given a Category A listing in 1990 by Historic Scotland, the highest level of building protection. He wrote about his engineering approach in a paper presented to the Institution of Civil Engineers.