Buckland & Taylor Ltd. July 09 www. bus- ex. com 51 a section, drop it down to the water and haul up a new piece, fi t it all together and get it working by 6: 00am. It's very stimulating, because if anything goes wrong at 2: 00am, you have to quickly adopt a strategy that will get the bridge open on time and safe for the public to use." Taylor can see huge opportunities on the horizon in Canada and the US, in South America and the Middle East, and possibly further afi eld in Asia. The company has recently been taking on three or four large projects at a time. " We need growth now," he says, " so that we can better handle a number of simultaneous large design- build projects. After that we can look at whether we want to expand any further." Transitioning any company from medium to large is not an easy task, and this is part of the remit of Buckland & Taylor's new president, Steve Hunt, who joined the company at the end of April this year. With 26 years' experience in infrastructure in North America, he is very well equipped to lead the company's expansion and broaden its horizons. " I think the future is interesting, but we have to stay focused. The danger is that as you get larger you become average. Managing the company to a larger size while remaining technically very sharp, a focused specialist and enthusiastic about what you do- it's an oxymoron, a contradiction. So that will be another challenge," Taylor concludes. - Editorial research by Sam Howard Working alongside Buckland & Taylor on several beautifully designed structures in North America has been a rewarding experience for specialist supplier Mageba- in the supply of record-breaking sliding fi nger expansion joints for the Audubon Bridge in Louisiana, and the uplift bearings and seismically protected modular expansion joints for the Golden Ears Bridge in British Columbia. Mageba

52 www. bus- ex. com July 09