Profile

I live on a canal boat with my dog Frankie and we travel across the UK where ever we want as my job is very flexible. On the weekends I love paragliding, kayaking, climbing or mountain biking. I have been to over 16 countries in Africa and lived in Dubai and Australia so I love to travel which is a great perk of the job !

Engineering Adviser for North East and North West of England, covering highways, infrastructure, construction, Canal River Trust and house building. The role began in 2011 after several high cost incidents, to ensure process is followed and competence ensured.

We work with Business Unit Directors to help improve safety compliance and help with action plans to make procedure easier to follow. With Project and Contract Managers, we help to work out how much it will cost to build the building as well as different ways to build it safely.

I also do lots of visits to sites for a quick site walk around to review active building. Rather than strict inspections, we are here to advise and help, not police. We also assist site teams to upskill workforce by delivering training courses and presentations.

I work on High Speed 2, Hinkley Nuclear Power Station, and lots more !

I start at 9am and look at my emails where there is usually some questions from building sites about where to find some information, maybe about a special type of concrete they have not used before or problems with too much vibration damaging neighbours buildings.

Around 11am, I head out to a site visit where the site team walk me around site and we talk about how things are being built. Sometimes things are being built wrong or not safely and we have to stop the work and think of a better way to do things.

In the afternoon, I usually try to research new and exciting engineering news or products as well as safety accidents so that I can better advise the site teams tomorrow.

Lesson focuses on the engineering behind building framing for structures, and explores examples of geodesic domes and other buildings. Students work in teams to design and build a small dome frame out of everyday items that can hold a weight on top without collapsing.

The “Design a Dome” activity explores construction and engineering design. Students work in teams to design a domed structure out of everyday materials that is strong enough to support 120 grams of coins or candy on top. They will design the frame for their dome on paper, select and gather materials, construct their dome, and test it. They present their domes to the class and complete reflections on the lessons learned.