| Sam Thorburn | |
| Nationality: | Scottish |
| Birth Date: | 1930 |
| Birth Place: | Glasgow |
| Education: | Royal Technical College, Glasgow now the University of Strathclyde, |
| Discipline: | Structural engineer, civil engineer |
| Significant Projects: | Ibrox Stadium |
Samuel Thorburn is a British civil engineer. He was president of the Institution of Structural Engineers (IStructE) in 1997-1998 and the 2003 recipient of their Gold Medal. He served as Chairman of the Scottish Building Standards Advisory Committee.[1]
Thorburn was educated in Hamilton Academy, which he left at 16 to work under a training agreement with a civil engineering contractor, and studied during the evening at the Royal Technical College, Glasgow — now the University of Strathclyde.
In 1966 Thorburn founded the consultancy known latterly as Thorburn Colquhoun. The company was taken over by American Consultant URS in 1999.[2] One of his significant projects was the design of Ibrox Stadium, Glasgow [3] Thorburn was Chairman of the Glasgow and West of Scotland Association of the Institution of Civil Engineers for the session 1975-76 [4] He was appointed to the Football Licensing Authority formed in 1990 after Lord Justice Taylor's Report on the Hillsborough Disaster in 1989.[5] He served on the Football Licensing Authority between 1993 and 2001.[6] He was chairman of the Working Party responsible for the fourth edition of the Guide to Safety at Sports Grounds (The Green Guide 1997).[7] He was appointed first chairman of the new Scottish Registration Board for Approved Certifiers of Design (Building Structures) formed in 2004 [4]
Thorburn was the first recipient of the Rear Admiral John Garth Watson Medal awarded by the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1993. He was awarded a CBE for services to Construction and Engineering in 2003.[8] He was awarded an Hon DSc by the University of Strathclyde in 1993.[9] He was awarded the Gold Medal of the Institution of Structural Engineers in 2003