CBE honour for ‘Beijing engineer’

Civil engineer Steve Burrows lived in Lostock and Heaton before moving with his family three years ago to San Francisco, where he heads the design, consultancy and engineering firm ArupSport.

Mr Burrows, aged 51, came to live in Bolton after graduating with an honours degree in civil engineering from Liverpool Polytechnic and began his career with Arup, working from their Manchester office.

In the following 24 years, he worked on a number of large projects, including being responsible for the structural inspection of the Arndale Centre following the Manchester bombing in 1996, and buildings around the US Embassy, in Nairobi, following a bomb attack there two years later.

More recent high-profile projects he led include the Great Northern Warehouse development in Manchester and the Imperial War Museum North.

He was also responsible for the structural engineering design of the Allianz Stadium in Munich, which hosted the opening game of the 2006 World Cup, the City of Manchester Stadium and the acclaimed Beijing Olympic Stadium.

He commuted daily to Manchester from Lostock railway station and enjoyed playing golf at Bolton Golf Club. He was also a parent governor at St Thomas of Canterbury RC Primary School.

He and wife Debbie, who used to teach at Thornleigh High School, and sons Adam, aged 15 and George, 12, now live in America and Mr Burrows regularly speaks at conferences around the world and at Stanford University.

Talking about his CBE honour, he said: “I am delighted and tremendously proud.

“I was born in a council flat and was the first person in my family to attend college and obtain a degree, so it’s been a time to reflect on the opportunities I’ve had, which my parents didn’t.

“My American colleagues have had to look up what a CBE means on the web and have then been very generous in their reaction.

“I have been inundated with emails and calls of congratulations.”