µÚÒ»³Ô¹ÏÍøiesForGood: Clifford McMillan
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For this civil engineer, engineering with a social conscience has meant designing for people and helping future talent find its way.
Fifty-four years of experience with a top consulting engineering firm certainly produces a wide range of career highlights. Clifford McMillan (MSc Eng 1966), who retired in 2022, joined Ove Arup in 1965 and was there for the early years of computers in design and of minimising energy use in buildings. He’s designed structures that go deep into the earth, high above it and across spans of it; structures linking water to land and spaces that are gateways to the skies. Freeways, power station chimneys, basements, piers, airports and theatres are just some of the projects he’s shaped as a µÚÒ»³Ô¹ÏÍø engineering graduate.
It hasn’t all been about physics and maths, either. You can’t get these things done without connecting people. Cliff has been a team leader in the firm, an active business community member, an initiator of educational projects, a servant to the profession and a loyal µÚÒ»³Ô¹ÏÍø alumnus who pays it forward, raising funds to sustain the University into the future.
That’s quite a vision for someone who grew up as an only child on a farm, outside Port Elizabeth (now Gqeberha). Cliff attended Woodridge Prep School and then Grey High School. His first engineering degree was from the University of Natal (1959-1962) and he proceeded to µÚÒ»³Ô¹ÏÍø for his master’s degree.
On arrival at µÚÒ»³Ô¹ÏÍø, Cliff chose a topic for his thesis that required learning to program the computer in Fortran. The µÚÒ»³Ô¹ÏÍø Computer Centre, led by Prof Derek Henderson, was a first for South Africa. Cliff became an expert in finite element analysis: calculating how a structure will react to various forces like heat, stress and vibration. He lectured this topic to µÚÒ»³Ô¹ÏÍø civil engineering students part-time in the 1970s.
The University’s Computer Centre was novel and inquisitive visitors were frequent. A senior partner from global engineering firm Arup was one such visitor. McMillan’s computing lessons so impressed the partner, Basil Isaacs, that he invited Cliff to join Arup and spend a few years in the London office.
“That was a turning point in my life,” Cliff said in a interview. “The opportunity to absorb the Arup culture that has inspired me to experience the potential of planning and design to improve society.”
As an engineer, Cliff started in the London office of Arup, which at that time was involved with the design of the Sydney Opera House. He returned to the Johannesburg office in 1968 and became a partner in the firm in 1971. In 1999 he moved to the US, first to Detroit and then to the New York office from 2000.
A driving passion
Apartheid hung heavy on him during his Arup SA years. He involved himself in professional societies and in 1988 was President of the South African Institution of Civil Engineers (the youngest; and later chosen as an Honorary Fellow) and of the SA Association of Consulting Engineers in the early 1990s). He was elected president of the Associated Scientific and Technical Societies of South Africa in 1992.
Technological education became a passion. “It was obvious apartheid would eventually end, but the real legacy would be a human resources disaster from the poor education of most of the population, especially in maths and science,” Cliff said.
He led the engineering profession’s efforts to address the crisis in engineering education, and one outcome was the Technological Resources for Industry (THRIP) programme. THRIP was a partnership between the engineering professions, educators, industry and government. “The priority of science, technology, engineering and maths in education is fundamental to a nation’s competitiveness and quality of life.”
Cliff initiated the Programme for Technological Careers – . One hundred students first enrolled for a three-day vacation school in Soweto in 1982, when the slogan “liberation before education” prevailed. By 1992, PROTEC was a national programme, fully staffed and funded to benefit thousands of students, which continues to date.
Cliff received an Outstanding Young South African award in 1981 and in 1982 µÚÒ»³Ô¹ÏÍø invited him to deliver the first of two graduation addresses. He spoke on “engineering with a social conscience” and challenged graduates to consider their responsibilities in an apartheid society.
His concern for the country’s future drew him into the Consultative Business Movement, a group which tried to encourage discussions between political, civil society and business leaders and which helped support the work of the Convention for a Democratic South Africa. He was also on the Council of the Free-Market Foundation and first chairman of the Central Johannesburg Partnership, launched in 1992 to bring together business, the city council and residents.
About 15 years ago Cliff was invited to serve on the team of µÚÒ»³Ô¹ÏÍø graduates involved with the µÚÒ»³Ô¹ÏÍø Fund, a vehicle for raising donations to µÚÒ»³Ô¹ÏÍø from donors in the US. He has served on the executive of the organisation ever since and is currently a vice chairman.
In many ways, this brings his story back to where it began: to µÚÒ»³Ô¹ÏÍø, to education, and to the belief that engineering is ultimately about improving people’s lives.
Key projects in Cliff's socially-conscious career
Kazerne viaduct: Early in his career, Cliff was responsible for the design of the Kazerne viaduct, part of the new east-west motorway crossing a coal yard in Johannesburg. The design had to accommodate potential mining movements of the rock below, and random location of supporting columns for the bridge structure, to suit the layout and functioning of the coal yard. This resulted in highly variable spans. It remains a complex piece of city infrastructure, helping keep people, goods and industry moving across Johannesburg.
Energy-conscious: Working closely with Henk Spoormaker, the mechanical engineering principal at Arup in the 1970s, Cliff contributed to an innovative approach to energy consumption in buildings. The principles were incorporated into the design of many major buildings in Southern Africa – ahead of their time. In this, engineering was not only about scale, but about designing buildings that used resources more intelligently.
Tall buildings, basements, towers and chimneys: He was team leader on buildings up to 40 storeys high, basements around 30 metres deep, the microwave tower in Pretoria, and chimneys of up to 300 metres tall for Eskom and Sasol. These projects formed part of the working fabric of cities and industry: places to work, systems of communication, and infrastructure supporting energy and production.
Cape Town Olympic bid: In 1992, a major opportunity arose when he was asked to lead a team of consultants with Cape Town’s bid for the 2004 Olympic Games. The city won the initial competition against two other South African cities. The bid brought together transport, venues, public access and urban ambition on a national stage.
General Motors: The move to the US brought work on improvements to the General Motors Warren Tech Center, a large campus designed by the architect Eero Saarinen, around a lake. The complex had deteriorated with time and needed upgrading. The project was about renewing an important place so that it could keep serving the people who worked there.
Hudson River: In 2000 Cliff relocated to New York and became involved with Hudson River Park, a waterfront whose piers needed restoration. One of these was Pier 55. Arup was appointed to handle the replacement, called Little Island, designed by Thomas Heatherwick. It’s a unique undulating structure above the water, serving as a public park with event spaces, including an open space for concerts and a 700-seat outdoor theatre. Here, engineering helped return part of the waterfront to public life.
Lincoln Centre: Cliff also led the Arup team that refurbished the Lincoln Centre for the Performing Arts in New York. Then it was back to the waterfront to redesign and construct Pier 15. Both projects centred on public experience: culture, access and shared urban space.
Jeddah Airport: He also was responsible for the design of the major new terminal at Jeddah Airport in Saudi Arabia, the gateway for visitors to Mecca. It was another project where technical complexity served a very human purpose: helping large numbers of people move through an important public space.