George Fleming is a Scottish civil engineer specialising in environmental issues. Educated at the Royal College of Science and Technology, Stanford University and the University of Strathclyde he is a doctor of philosophy. His research started with studies of the hydrology of the River Clyde that expanded to a range of subjects including, flood risk, dredging, nuclear waste management, decommissioning of North Sea platforms and contaminated land. He has written reports on flooding for the Institution of Civil Engineers and the British government. Fleming was involved in the planning stages of the Glasgow Garden Festival of 1988 and established a way of reusing dredgings from the Clyde to provide topsoil for the event. He has served as a non-executive director of British Waterways, Port of Tyne boards and for WRAP, a government quango whose aim was to promote recycling and resource efficiency. He is founder and chairman of the EnviroCentre environmental consultancy, of which his son, Duar, is managing director.
Early life and academic career Born in Glasgow, Fleming grew up in a house in Knightswood, Glasgow near to the Forth and Clyde Canal. His childhood spent playing on the canal may have inspired his career as a water engineer. Fleming studied for a Bachelor of Science degree at the Royal College of Science and Technology, just as it was transitioning into the University of Strathclyde. He found that structural engineering was too straightforward and preferred to focus on what he considered the more complex, and then less well researched, challenges of hydrology and the environment. As an undergraduate in 1965 he researched the Flood Frequency of Scottish rivers and produced design curves that became a standard used in design. Fleming also investigated the impact that droughts and floods have on soil erosion with a particular focus on the River Clyde. He was granted a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree which was, unusually, split between Strathclyde and Stanford University in California. His PhD investigated the movements of water and sediment in the Clyde system using digital simulation software he helped pioneer at Stanford. He published a paper on the computer simulation of flows in the Clyde, a first ever. After this he returned to Strathclyde and became a professor of civil engineering. Fleming has authored or co-authored more than 200 academic publications and 9 books and also produced four video documentaries. Fleming is a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE), the Royal Academy of Engineering, the Chartered Institution of Wastes Management, was a fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). and was appointed President of the Smeatonian Society of Civil Engineers for 2023. He is also a Chartered Environmentalist. Fleming was elected president of the ICE for the November 1999 to November 2000 session. He co-authored a 2001 ICE report into the Autumn 2000 western Europe floods which recommended a 1 in 200 year flood depth standard, a doubling of expenditure on flood defences, the training of more river engineers and better investment in flood prediction. Fleming stated that at that time flood defence works were viewed as "a second class operation". He was later asked by deputy prime minister John Prescott to chair a commission into the effects of the flooding, which resulted in a report entitled "Learning to Live with Rivers". Fleming's commission recommended the establishment of a separate body for flooding, taking responsibilities from the Environment Agency which had to deal with the conflicting interests of flood protection, habitat protection and management of development. He later reiterated the recommendations to Prime Minister Gordon Brown. The recommendation of raising the flood design to 1 in 200 year was not implemented. Fleming's singular achievement as president was to remove the barrier preventing Technician Engineers to proceed to Chartered Civil Engineer status. On 23 May 2001 Fleming was elected a fellow of the Transport Research Foundation at which point he was deputy dean of engineering at the University of Strathclyde. Fleming co- founded and served as chairman of the charity Engineers Against Poverty in 2000 and later the Association of Environmental and Ecological Clerks of Works from its formation until January 2018.
Career in industry
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