Profile

I moved to Manchester from Newcastle for university where I studied for 3 years. I then studied some more over in Canada to receive my Masters of Engineering (MEng).

After graduating I lived in Canada (Vancouver) for a while where I learned to ski and spent a lot of time seeing the mountains and lakes. I saved up money whilst I was there so that I could travel around Central and South America by myself for 5 months before I returned to Manchester in 2019.

My favourite sport is Thai Boxing which started learning whilst at uni and sometimes I play netball with my colleagues. I’m vegetarian and really enjoy finding new recipes to cook, although nothing will beat my favourite, banana bread.

After I graduated my first job was for a contractor in Canada, which means I was on a site helping to build a Waste Water Treatment Plant (where all your sewage gets cleaned… sounds a bit gross but very important that it works! Luckily I never had to go near the sewage…)

The plant consisted of big concrete tanks where different mechanical operations were used to remove bacteria from the water so we had to make a LOT of concrete all arrive at the right times and pour it into moulds or ‘formwork’ so that it could dry strong enough to hold all the water. Once a tank was built it would then need to be tested to make sure that it wouldn’t leak any water out and all the switches in the control room could open and close the gates at the right times. As an engineer, I was responsible for a team of about 100 labourers and had to make sure they were there at the right time and knew what they needed to build each day.

When I returned to Manchester I began working for Mott MacDonald, a design consultant, so my work is usually based in the office instead of on a site. We create the designs which are given to the contractors on site so they need to be clear and well presented so that they’re interpreted correctly. In my team we design railway structures so my most common designs involve bridges going over or under the track, plus sometimes parts of new stations.

Different from architects, as engineers we are responsible to make sure the structures are safe to use and the designs involve a lot of maths proving that it is strong enough, but not too strong because that would cost our client lots of money!

I use both calculators and computer programmes to work out the numbers, then draw my ideas on computer software, everything has to be checked several times before it begins to get built to make sure there’s no mistakes.

My current project is to design a new bridge over a canal, for which the first step is to come up with a selection of ideas which we will present to the client for us to decide together which is the easiest to build, best value or will last the longest (depending on what the client wants most). I create big drawings showing each option and how it will be built then once one is picked start doing more complicated maths to decide what sizes are needed to carry the trains. The cool part about my job is the variety, so once this project is finished I could be doing something totally different. The new challenges make it hard to get bored.

Existing canal underbridge

When not in lock-down, my day usually looks a bit more like this:

Walk to the office and immediately get a coffee, pick which hot desk to use and log in to my computer, catch up on any emails I missed and make a plan for the day. I’m most productive in the morning so I try to do the more difficult maths work then. I like to go to the gym or for a walk at lunch to stretch my legs, in the afternoon I’ll draw things up or plan upcoming meetings with team mates or clients. Often after work, I’ll meet with friends or colleagues in the city, sometimes I go to Spanish or Thai boxing lessons.