Appreciation: Eng. S. A. Karunaratne

Singappuli Arachchige Karunaratne had his school education at the St. John Bosco College in Hanwella and Dharmapala Vidyalaya, Pannipitiya. He was among the top performers at the GCE (Ordinary Level) examination of 1956; and graduated with a BSc Engineering degree from the Department of Civil Engineering at the Faculty of Engineering in the Peradeniya Campus of the University of Ceylon in 1966. Since graduating from Peradeniya, Eng. S.A. Karunaratne worked for 55 years in structural engineering, around 10 of those overseas. He died in harness, while being the Managing Director of Stems Consultants (Pvt) Ltd.

Like many other eminent structural engineers of his vintage, Karunaratne started his professional life at the State Engineering Corporation (SEC), coming under the influence of the legendary Dr A.N.S. Kulasinghe. After this he had a spell of around 10 years overseas, first in Nigeria, and later in Brunei and Oman too. However, the bulk of his practice was at Stems Consultants, a firm that he helped to set up with his SEC colleagues Dr B.M.A. Balasooriya and Eng. Ananda Senarath. He was Managing Director of the firm since the untimely demise of the former in 1994, until his own demise on the last day of the year 2022.

Stems at its inception was unique in that it was a specialist structural engineering practice. It continues to be special also in the training it imparts to young recruits and even undergraduate trainees, in addition to the quality of the work it produces. Eng. Karunaratne is widely known to have contributed directly and immensely to the afore-mentioned training. Undergraduate trainees were required to meet him weekly, and report to him not only on what they had learnt at their various construction sites, but also on what they had read in the daily newspapers! He was in the business of producing engineers with rounded personalities, not least of which involved the instilling in his young charges a sense of honesty and integrity. Graduate engineers were so well trained at Stems that some of them developed the confidence to start their own consulting firms.

Some of the major projects he was directly involved in at Stems are the Tri-Zen High Rise Development Project with 3 towers over 50 storeys, the ‘On 320’ at Union Place, Colombo with 3 towers of 39 storeys, the 39 storey Empire Residencies at Braybrooke Place, the 22 Storey Secretariat Building for Personnel Identification at Battaramulla, the 17 storey Ceylinco Seylan Towers at Colombo 3, the 14 storey Administrative Building for the Sri Lanka Ports Authority at Hambantota, the Head office for the National Development Bank at Nawam Mawatha, and Phase II of the Katunayake International Airport Project in collaboration with Japan Airport Consultants, a feature of which is a novel roof design.

Perhaps greater even than his contribution through Stems has been Eng. Karunaratne’s contributions to structural engineering through learned society and professional association activities. He was one of the few Sri Lankan Fellows (since 1990) of the Institution of Structural Engineers, U.K. and an active Fellow (also since 1990) of the Institution of Engineers, Sri Lanka (IESL). He was also a member of the Institution of Civil Engineers, U.K. since 1970. He was a regular member of examination panels for the Charter Examination of the IESL. He made significant contributions through the Institute for Construction Training & Development (ICTAD) in the committee for drafting the Construction Industry Bill, and in the panel for the Construction Excellence Awards. He served on and chaired many of the code drafting panels for the Sri Lanka Standards Institution, making notable contributions in developing Sri Lankan Annexes for the globally established Eurocodes.

His greatest contributions were however, through the Society of Structural Engineers, Sri Lanka (SSESL), of which he was a founder member in 1990. He was wholeheartedly involved in the Society, especially as President from 2004 to 2008, significantly raising the profile of the profession in the process. He co-authored an SSESL publication titled Reinforced Concrete Detailing to Mitigate Seismic Effects and spearheaded the introduction of seismic design and detailing to Sri Lankan practice. He was made an Honorary Fellow of the Society in 2009.

Eng. Karunaratne also engaged with academic institutions, especially at the Universities of Moratuwa and Peradeniya, serving on their Industry Consultative Boards. He was much sought after by these institutions for such engagement, since he always had constructive suggestions. He was not averse to helping even emerging institutions such as the Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology (SLIIT), in spite of heading a busy consulting practice. He was a visiting lecturer at the University of Moratuwa Master’s programme in Structural Engineering. Over and above all this, he obtained the specialist services of engineering academics in his practice, thus giving them opportunities for industrial experience. Many of them were much younger than him, but he always treated them with deference and respect.

On the other hand, Eng. Karunaratne was outspoken when defending the interests of the various groups he belonged to, most of which needed a voice to plead their causes. He looked after the interests of private sector consultancies vis a vis their much larger state sector counterparts. He canvassed for a better fee structure for structural engineers vis a vis the much better positioned architects. But he was a spokesman for the entire construction industry as well; and was recognized by all relevant parties as a leader in their common cause. Such recognition came probably because he did not hesitate to speak truth to power. He once told an over-enthusiastic Head of State that a piling project could not be completed on time – while all the engineers at the meeting knew this, only SA Karu as he was affectionately known, had the guts to articulate it.

Karu’s natural flair for the aesthetics of structures may well have originated from his gift for drawing and painting, for which he won many prizes in school, and also a poster competition for the yearly calendar of the then Shell Company. He was also highly commended, at the Peradeniya Art Circle, for a portrait of Professor M.P. Ranaweera, another SSESL Honourary Fellow and Peradeniya’s most recognised structural engineering academic.

Eng. Karunaratne is survived by his wife for 53 years Manrl and his children – Dushyantha, originally a pilot but now a successful restaurenteur in the U.S., and Missara, herself an architect married to a Moratuwa University civil engineering graduate and domiciled in Canada. We extend our condolences to them, and to his wider family at Stems.

As Managing Director of one of the earliest structural engineering practices, Honorary Fellow of the Society of Structural Engineers (and President for five consecutive years), and elder statesman for the entire construction industry, Eng. S.A. Karunaratne came to be known as the face of Sri Lankan structural engineering. Although his would be a difficult act to follow, he has now passed his mantle on to others, who will no doubt strive to continue his commitment to excellence, while staying true to the priorities he held and the values he lived by.

Emeritus Professor Priyan Dias

On behalf of the Executive Committee of the Society of Structural Engineers, Sri Lanka.