Adrian Ernest Long OBE, civil engineer and professor at Queen’s University Belfast (QUB), is born on April 15, 1941, in Dungannon, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. He has a particular interest in concrete structures and patents FlexiArch, a precast concrete arch product. He serves as president of the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) for 2002–03, the first Northern Irish engineer to do so.

Long comes from a carpentry and blacksmithing background. In 1959, he enters Queen’s University Belfast to study civil engineering. He graduates with first class honours and then takes a PhD at Queens. In 1967, he moves to Canada, working as a bridge designer for Fenco Engineering in Toronto.

Long, however, spends only a year in Canada, returning to Belfast in 1968 to become an associate professor of civil engineering at Queen’s University Belfast. In 1976, he is promoted to a full professorship. His work is largely in the field of concrete structures, particularly in chloride resistance, maintenance problems and arch bridge structures. He publishes twenty papers in journals managed by the Institution of Civil Engineers and wins eight of the institution’s medals for these, including the ICE Gold Medal.

From 1997 Long works on the FlexiArch, a precast concrete arch in which the individual voussoirs are joined by a flexible polymeric membrane. The arch arrives to site flat packed and when lifted into position by a crane, the gaps between the voussoirs close under gravity and form the correct arch profile. He patents the product, which is produced by Irish precast manufacturer Macrete, in 2004. The product can be constructed within a day and, containing no corrodible elements, has been stated to have a design lifespan of 300 years. More than fifty FlexiArch bridges have been constructed in the UK and Ireland and spans up to 30m are possible.

By 2002, Long is appointed dean of the faculty of engineering at QUB. In November of that year, he is appointed president of the ICE for the 2002–2003 session, the first Northern Irish person to hold that position. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and of the Institute for the Advancement of Engineering.

Long is appointed an officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 2006 New Year Honours for services to higher education and civil engineering. He resigns as professor at QUB in 2006 but remains there as an emeritus professor in the School of Natural and Built Environment. Since 2015, the ICE Northern Ireland awards the Adrian Long medal to the best paper in an ICE journal to be authored by a Northern Ireland member. The medal features a bust of Long.

Long is married to Elaine and they have two children, Michael and Alison. Michael serves as the 80th Lord Mayor of Belfast from May 9 to June 1, 2022. He also serves as High Sheriff of Belfast in 2021 and serves on Belfast City Council since 2001, where he is the Alliance group leader from 2015 to 2021. He is married to Alliance Party leader and Minister of Justice Naomi Long.

Long dies at the age of 81 at the Ulster Hospital on April 23, 2022.