In Memoriam Dr. Melvin England
It is with great sadness that we share the news of the passing of our esteemed colleague, Dr Melvin England, on 23 October 2025. Melvin dedicated 22 years of his career to Loadtest, and later as part of Fugro, most recently serving as Global Subject Matter Expert - Foundation Testing. His contribution to the industry and the geotechnical community was profound, marked by technical expertise, a passion for innovation, and a commitment to excellence.
It is with great sadness that we share the news of the passing of our esteemed colleague, Dr Melvin England, on 23 October 2025. Melvin dedicated 22 years of his career to Loadtest, and later as part of Fugro, most recently serving as Global Subject Matter Expert - Foundation Testing. His contribution to the industry and the geotechnical community was profound, marked by technical expertise, a passion for innovation, and a commitment to excellence.
Melvin was passionate about enhancing foundation design through an improved understanding of foundation-soil interaction and began innovating from the moment he joined the civil engineering industry working with Dr Ken Fleming at Cementation Foundations. Later in his career he formed his company, Loadtest, to advance bi-directional static load testing in Europe, a method that allows engineers to test pile foundations more safely and efficiently than traditional approaches. He advocated this technique, pioneered in the 1980s, which would enable higher load testing with a smaller footprint, making it especially valuable in dense urban environments like London. In 2009, Loadtest was acquired by Fugro as a valuable service offering with Melvin at the helm.
Melvin played a key role in advancing bi-directional static load testing across Europe, and indeed the world, helping clients optimise their designs, reduce unnecessary construction, and ensure quality in foundation installation and overall build. His work contributed to major projects, including land reclamation efforts in Monaco and Gibraltar, and infrastructure developments in the UK such as HS2. He also helped automate foundation testing and develop advanced analysis methods that are still in use today. Fugro Loadtest continues to employ these techniques to deliver more reliable and detailed data with predictive, high quality modelling to give clients industry-leading foundation insight.
Melvin championed a forward-thinking approach to geotechnical engineering, encouraging designers to test early, build smarter, and embrace optimism in their work. His message remained consistent over decades: test your foundations and optimise your design. Melvin was respected by his colleagues and by peer professionals from other companies, contractors and engineering firms across the global piling and foundation industry. Melvin will be missed dearly, and our thoughts are with his family and all those who had the privilege of working alongside him.
