It is with sadness that we announce the news that Ted Flaxman, founder of the ISTT, has passed away.

Remembering Ted, Dec Downey says "Ted, our Chairman Emeritus was the ISTT founder, he was a Past President of the Institution of Public Health Engineers who led the Committee that organised the 1985 No Dig Conference. At the end of that event on behalf of the organising committee he announced that they would set up ISTT, establish the magazine (Underground) and issue an annual prize for Trenchless innovation...."

All of us at UKSTT send our sincere condolences to Ted's family Peter, Penny and John. Ted was a great ambassador for trenchless technology and will be greatly missed by us all.

It with regret, but much fondness, that we remember the life and contribution of our Chairman Emeritus Ted Flaxman who died 8 October 2020, aged 92. Ted (EW) Flaxman, Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers, had a distinguished career with Binnie and Partners (now Black and Veatch). As Past President of the Institution of Public Health Engineers (IPHE), he chaired the organising committee of the IPHE Conference “Trenchless Construction for Utilities,’’ the 1st No-Dig Event in 1985. In his concluding address, he proposed a series of international trenchless events, the formation of the International Society for Trenchless Technology (ISTT), an industry journal, and an annual prize for innovation. With customary vigour, he made all of these promises happen, and ISTT was established in 1986. Ted served as its Chairman from 1986-2003 and as a Guarantor until 2016. In 1988 he was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineers. He received the Kurose Award in 1993 and the UKSTT’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2014. Ted was Master of the Worshipful Company of Water Conservators in 1996 and with Ted Jackson he published a “Sweet and Wholesome Water-five centuries of the history of water bearers in London.” A much accomplished leader, visionary and friend who did much to encourage generations of trenchless technologists, he had a keen wit and liked to joke ‘Ted Flaxman-fled taxman’!

 

Photo courtesy of Dec Downey.