As technical head of waterways and coastal engineering, Peter plays a pivotal role in leading our exceptional team to deliver projects that protect communities and create sustainable legacies, in the UK and Ireland. With expertise from across the UK and Middle East, he supports the feasibility, design and delivery of water resource projects, whilst also taking a hands-on approach to recruitment and skills development within the water sector. Peter is a revered Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) and actively champions careers in civil engineering.

What inspired you to join the industry?

My career as an engineer came about more by chance than design due to some incredible advice from a great aunt – she clearly knew what I should do when I couldn’t see it for myself, and I owe her a great deal.

Water and the environment are important to me. I grew up sailing and enjoying reservoirs, rivers and our coasts, and I have always found being close to, in or on water incredibly energising and relaxing. It is such an undervalued natural resource. I feel very fortunate to be able to combine this passion with my work. You could say I’ve discovered my ikigai (sense of purpose).

Canals have also been a common theme during my career, having worked on the Millennium Link, restoring the world’s first sea to sea canal across Scotland as a graduate. Whilst I have to admit, the first one I travelled on was the Panama Canal on a two-year sailing sabbatical, so I’ve seen both ends of the scale.

I began my career with ArchTam in 2008 managing the flood risk and hydrology team in Edinburgh, then was promoted to lead our Water business in Scotland, before leading the UK ArchTam team working on the Jazan Economic City Port and Infrastructure Programme.

What is your favourite ArchTam project that you’ve worked on and why?

It’s got to be the Glasgow Smart Canal – a first for Europe and recognised through multiple awards. I worked on conceiving this project in 2013, which aimed to repurpose the 250-year-old canal system to support society today, and well into the future. We combined our engineering expertise with innovative technology to create a digital representation of the canal system, which allows for the effective and accurate management of water.

By actively lowering the normal water level, the system creates a capacity to absorb stormwater runoff, which has enabled north Glasgow to be regenerated, transforming the area with growing communities. By repurposing the canals, the project helped avoid the estimated 5,000 tonnes of capital carbon and 30,000 tonnes of operational carbon over its agreed lifespan.

Paddle boarding along the canal has become one of my favourite pastimes and the BBC even came to capture it:

Tell us a story of how your work positively impacted the community

The Smart Canal project delivered so much more beyond what was initially considered a technical solution to a technical challenge. The ripple effect of creating a sustainable solution focused around blue and green infrastructure shouldn’t be underestimated. The spaces that this approach create are invaluable to local communities, appreciated more so in the context of the recent pandemic, when everyone was forced to appreciate their local surroundings much more.

The canal corridor in Glasgow has been subject to research considering the improvements driven by this and similar projects, with evidence showing how providing space for all species to thrive, including humans, is critical. This evidence shows a reduction in chronic and mental illness, and an increase in life expectancy from the local communities and I’m proud of having been able to develop and deliver a significant project that contributes to this.

Share a piece of career advice

Challenge the norm and collaborate. Work hard to develop foresight and avoid the lessons of hindsight.

Much has changed over the past few years with regards to the impacts of climate change, with increasing periods of floods and droughts having major impacts on communities and environments. As an engineer, it’s important we bring innovative thinking to project delivery, embracing nature-based and least carbon solutions to build resilience.

Working as part of ArchTam’s integrated offering allows us to question ideas, embrace new technology and collaborate to find the best solutions to very complex problems facing the water environment.

The post People Spotlight: Meet Peter Robinson appeared first on Blog.

As ArchTam’s healthcare lead for North of England, Chris is responsible for developing business and client relationships, positioning for strategic pursuits, being a focal point for clients and design partners, developing sector plans with the UK&I leader, as well as managing project delivery.

Tell us about what inspired you to join the industry

My introduction into mechanical engineering came from early careers guidance, where I was introduced to the role of a building services engineer and how they can influence the built environment. This includes designing systems that provide a safe and comfortable environment, working closely with the architect to influence and optimise the building envelope and implement sustainable engineering strategies to reduce lifecycle energy consumption.

I entered the industry through an employer sponsorship programme, which allowed me to attend university while working in a full-time role. I trained as a mechanical engineer, working alongside electrical and public health colleagues within the building services team.

This introduction provided me with the ability to apply my learning on complex projects daily, which was invaluable and enabled me to use my knowledge of complicated engineering subjects.

I have always been passionate about working on complex building and infrastructure projects and introducing energy and low carbon solutions to ensure that they operate sustainably.

Throughout my career, I have actively pursued employers that share my passions and can provide me with this experience. When I saw the career opportunity at ArchTam, I was keen to join the company, which would provide me with the experience and challenges I craved and help me to develop the next chapter of my career journey.

What is your favorite ArchTam project that you’ve worked on and why?

Working within the healthcare team at ArchTam has allowed me to work on many rewarding projects. We have recently been involved in delivering a new state-of-the-art Clatterbridge Cancer Centre, a visually striking specialist cancer treatment facility in Liverpool, UK.

My role in this project was leading the delivery of the building services engineering, which included developing complex design strategies, coordinating specialist services, and developing low-carbon design strategies to ensure that the building could operate as efficiently as possible.

Central to this design concept is a glazed curtain walling system that provides patient areas with a strong connection to the external environment and provides views across the city. In collaboration with the architect, a high-performance walling system was developed that maximises natural lighting and reduces glare without compromising patient comfort.

Cancer patients can be sensitive to light and temperature—patients may overheat or experience photophobia as a reaction to their treatments. Patients can also experience sensitivity to room air movement through lower body mass. To assess patient visual and thermal comfort, we undertook dynamic simulations to ensure that the specification of the façade systems was balanced against operational requirements, energy performance, and ability to provide a comfortable patient environment.

The success of this project is due to the team of dedicated ArchTam professionals that worked hard to ensure the design solutions we developed fully met the client’s specific operational requirements.

The hard work and efforts of the ArchTam team helped to develop excellent relationships with the client, design team and construction partners. Our collective efforts ensured that the design team provided the client with a fantastic award-winning building that transforms the way cancer services are provided to the Liverpool and Merseyside regions.

Tell us a story of how your work positively impacted the community.

I am fortunate to see the positive impacts our hard work and efforts can provide to a community or region—and our work in Liverpool and the surrounding Merseyside region is a prime example. Merseyside is one of the UK’s most deprived counties, which can lead to health issues within the population.

For example, cancer rates within Merseyside are seven percent higher than the national average. This includes extremely high rates of lung, trachea, and bronchus cancers, 59 percent higher than the national average, and although rare, incidence rates of liver cancer are 75 percent higher than national average.

The clients’ existing cancer facilities were located on the Wirral peninsula. The project case for change identified they were isolated from modern medical and surgical practices. The new facility would be linked to the new Royal Liverpool University Hospital development to provide greater linkage to research (bench to bedside) and to the patient’s journey (diagnosis to discharge), with services located on the same site, with the same team.

Since opening, the cancer centre has been offering pioneering clinical trials and care for more complex and seriously unwell patients, which could not have been provided without the linkage to the new Royal Liverpool University Hospital. Patients are now benefiting from clinical trials that are still at their very earliest stages including Phase 1 or ‘first-in-human’ trials.

In 2022, a Merseyside man became the first in the UK to receive a new cancer vaccine that was tailor-made to his own personal DNA and designed to help his immune system ward off head and neck cancer permanently. This groundbreaking treatment would not have been possible without the Clatterbridge Cancer Centre.

I am extremely proud to have been involved in the delivery of both the Clatterbridge Cancer Centre and the Royal Liverpool University Hospital and contributing to new social infrastructure for the area.

These state-of-the-art facilities are treating patients and undertaking state-of-the-art research that is starting to tackle these regional inequalities.

Share a piece of career advice

You will never know where your career will take you. Embrace the challenges that your career will bring.

ArchTam provides great opportunities to all employees across career levels. The support, resources and training available can help employees to pursue alternative fields of interests and take on new and diverse challenges.

The post People Spotlight: Meet Chris Taylor appeared first on Blog.

Darren Carlile leads the national security market sector across UK&I and is based in ArchTam’s London office. His work focuses on providing a full range of multidisciplinary services delivering infrastructure solutions to the UK’s Ministry of Defence, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), UK Intelligence Services and the U.S. Department of Defense around the world.

Tell us about what inspired you to join the industry

I joined the British Army at 16 years of age as an apprentice and went on to pursue an education in building and civil engineering. I was responsible for designing and delivering military infrastructure projects around the world in support of military operations. Delivering infrastructure projects that can improve people’s lives or provide military capabilities to keep the world safe inspires me to continue doing what I do in the Defence and National Security sector.

Being a veteran, I have many transferable skills to offer. For example, I champion mentoring and support to service leavers as they transition away from the military. In my role leading the National Security sector, I actively support Armed Forces charities and events and lead the revalidation of our UK MOD Employers Recognition Scheme Armed Forces Covenant Gold Award. This is the highest award that recognizes ArchTam’s support to veterans and reservists.

In addition, as an industry leader, ArchTam has been selected as a finalist in the Ex-Forces in Business Awards as Employer of the Year and was a finalist myself for the Service Leaver of the Year award, with the awards ceremony held in London in September 2022.

What is your favorite ArchTam project that you’ve worked on and why?

As the lead for the National Security team, it has been fantastic to build on our relationship with our key client, the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), supporting them with specialist services including climate and resilience. ArchTam works with all branches of the UK FCDO and other Partners Across Government (UK Intelligence Services, UK Home Office, UK MOD, National Crime Agency) and the United Nations as part of the World Food Programme and Conflict Stability & Security Fund (CSSF) across the UK&I and globally.

Since 2017, we have delivered projects for the FCDO across five continents and over 35 counties. This has included securing several high-profile and multidisciplinary British Embassy projects, notably Washington DC, Cairo, Mumbai and Nairobi, refurbishing the UK’s diplomatic missions globally.

More recently, we have delivered social value workshops in Jordan. As suppliers to the CSSF, we have supported our client, Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) working with FDCO in using a whole-of-government approach to find creative solutions to meet the most complex national security challenges and promote international peace and stability. ArchTam is the first-ever international leader to provide engineering and technical skill support in Jordan. This valuable endeavour further fortifies a strategic relationship/objective between the UK and Jordanian government as part of the CSSF Fund.

The activities were for underprivileged Jordanian youth, both males and females, within the age group of 18-23 who lack skills, opportunities, and/or resources in technical and soft skills. The social value workshops allowed the youth to learn about the engineering industry, network with ArchTam and local contractor’s engineering specialists and learn the fundamentals of resume and cover letter writing. It also provided a six-month paid internship with the local contractors. This allowed the supply chain (EUBC, SABTI and Al Hassanah and other stakeholders) to hire talent that helps enhance project delivery standards in Jordan.

The project work and added value we are supporting FCDO with, truly deliver our key mission within the national security team – safeguarding nations for a better world.

Tell us a story of how your work positively impacted the community.

I am proud to have been involved in the creation of London’s Olympic Park, which provided a setting for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. I was involved in creation of the athlete’s village dining tent, which was built to the size of four football pitches, catering for 6000 diners at any one time. There were walk-in fridges built to the size to two tennis courts and required kitchens to cater for different cultures and cuisines – meeting these specifications was a key deliverable of the project.

The temporary dining facility was nestled amongst the athlete’s village, which as part of the legacy of the project, provided over 9,100 new homes for local residents. This is just one part of the incredible legacy left for the local community to celebrate sport within their economic, cultural and social development.

The project was particularly challenging – the date of the Olympics opening was non-negotiable, and building a temporary building was reliant on the permanent buildings meeting their deadlines. Security was also an everyday challenge with airport-style checks across the site.

With multiple stakeholders, communication and regular on-site meetings meant we were kept up to date on the constant changes and requirements of the Olympic organising committee.  

Share a piece of career advice

Believe in yourself, seize opportunities and seek your goals, you can achieve anything if you set your mind to it—anything is possible!

The post People Spotlight: Meet Darren Carlile appeared first on Blog.

We asked our male leaders to share why International Women’s Day is important to them and how they’re contributing to celebrating women’s achievement and raising awareness against biases.

Dave Beddell – Inclusion & Diversity Lead and Strategy & Growth Director for UK&I
As our clients seek more innovative and sustainable solutions to meet the changing needs of the communities we serve, developing a diverse workforce becomes increasingly important. The first IWD event in 1911 was supported by more than a million people who came together to support a common goal of gender equality in what was a very different world than the one we live in today. In 2020, the IWD platform will reach people many more times that number. This year’s theme of #EachforEqual perfectly sums up the concept of allyship; it is about using the power of collective action and shared responsibility to drive positive change. It cannot and should not be women alone who push for gender equality. As a male leader in the industry, as a father and as a human being, I am proud to embrace my role as an ally in supporting equality, inclusion and diversity, both within ArchTam and society as a whole.

Jay Duncan – Senior Vice President, Americas, and Director of Transportation Planning

My mother taught me that capability rather than gender is the most important attribute for progressing in the workplace. As a nurse practitioner and certified physician’s assistant, she showed me that women are just as capable as men — and that biases do exist.

When I joined ArchTam, my manager and three of the six planners on our team were women. It was clear that ArchTam was a strong supporter of women in the workforce and it still is providing women with the same opportunities afforded to men and highlighting the value that women bring to our company, country and the world. Celebrating International Women’s Day is an important way to show this support.

I survey the room during meetings and industry events and at times see less than 5 percent of attendees are women. I am actively working to change this by volunteering to serve on ArchTam’s Women’s Transportation Seminar (WTS) coordinating committee, which works with women to help raise awareness, mentor and advance their industry standing. The tides are shifting, but being a woman in an engineering firm is still challenging. Organizations like WTS are taking proactive steps toward changing the landscape.

Karl Jensen – Executive Vice President, National Governments, Americas

International Women’s Day is important because the ability to share common goals and experiences to influence change is extremely valuable. I joined the U.S. Naval Academy 10 years after women were integrated. I assumed equity was normal. When I got out to the fleet, I realized there was still work to be done. I’m honored to have been in the company of the first wave of female aviators on aircraft carriers in 1994. I remember the ups and downs of the integration, but most of all, that those pioneers were brave and that our team was stronger with them aboard.

When I joined the private sector in 2002, I was surprised to discover how slowly positive progress was being made outside of the Navy. Since then, I have worked for two female CEOs and have increased the diversity of my teams with every position I have held. We should all accept the challenge to cultivate inclusion and diversity. We need more agents of change to achieve gender parity and I am thrilled to be part of the movement.

Billy Wong – Southeast Asia Regional Executive

The power of allyship begets the question: “Who and what is an ally?” To me, allies are people who advocate for others and provide an avenue for each other to build confidence, have share of voice and access to equal opportunities.

At ArchTam, our people display the spirit of allyship in actionable and concrete ways. I am so proud to be part of an organization whose leadership recognizes the importance of diversity and inclusion and takes decisive strides in accelerating leadership opportunities for women. Our words and action are in sync. We ensure equal opportunities are given to competent colleagues, regardless of gender. Whether it is representation at the leadership levels or empowering colleagues who are in various life transitions to continue to stay in the workforce by introducing corporate policies such as flexible working arrangements, ArchTam is investing resources to support its people and make a difference to their lives.

In Southeast Asia, I am proud that we celebrate the achievements of all, regardless of gender. At a recent Singapore townhall, we recognized our top performing employees who are delivering transformative work to our clients. Of the six Quality Excellence Awards, five of them went to our female colleagues. It is also particularly inspiring that our two biggest markets, Singapore and Malaysia, are helmed and led by Jee Yi Yng and Ailee Loh, both outstanding and capable leaders. As country representatives, they are role models to our younger engineers and are now shaping the success of our business and operations in their respective markets.

As we celebrate International Women’s Day, it is especially important that we continue to reward and celebrate the accomplishments of all. Equal opportunities will open doors for our best people to be recognized for their leadership and performance, and ensure excellence in everything we do.

Ed Cettina – Chief Operating Officer, Construction Management

As leaders, it is our job to be actively engaged in building a diverse and inclusive workforce. In the New York Metro region, I’m the executive sponsor and chair of a grassroots employee group, ArchTam Women’s Initiative Network (AWIN), that aims to connect all talent, men and women, through networking events and career development workshops. It has been a privilege to champion this group, guiding their vision and helping to obtain executive buy-in. Our ultimate goal is to have AWIN chapters in all our major metropolitan areas to support and empower the next generation.

The post #EachforEqual: The Important Role of Allyship appeared first on Blog.