NCE Graduate & Apprentice Awards  |   Interviews

AI meets civils to drive innovation and accolades

Interviews by Belinda Smart​

The civil and digital engineering skills of early career professionals have been recognised at the NCE Graduate & Apprentice Awards 2023.

This year’s event, held at the ICE in November, was produced in partnership with the ICE and sponsored by Amey Consulting, Balfour Beatty, Binnies, GHD, Heathrow, Joseph Gallagher, Mott MacDonald and Stantec.

The 2023 winners (left to right): Charles Hemming-Clark, Ellie Carter, Jihane Tahri Hassani, Ella Barker, Dylan Powell

A total of 119 entries was submitted across the three categories – Graduate of the Year, Degree Apprentice of the Year and Apprentice of the Year – from which 17 candidates from 12 organisations were shortlisted.

Shortlisted candidates were also eligible for the overarching awards of Outstanding Contribution to Carbon Net Zero, Outstanding Contribution to Digital Engineering and Outstanding Contribution to the Industry.

During the live judging sessions the candidates gave a presentation to a panel of industry experts.

This year’s theme was the potential of artificial intelligence to drive change and the barriers to the wider adoption of this technology.

The 15 judges for the final stage were impressed by the candidates’ deep understanding of the topic and how much they have achieved in their short time in the industry.

GRADUATE OF THE YEAR 

​DYLAN POWELL

​Dylan Powell is a graduate civil engineer who has been working at consultant Binnies since late 2022. He plays an active role in sustainability, including working with the Emerging Contaminants Focus Group with Binnies and its parent company RSK.

A key recent project that defines Powell’s contribution was the Millbrook Wastewater Treatment Works as part of a Southern Water framework job in Southampton. For this project he harnessed digital tools to identify carbon saving opportunities.

Powell led the development of an expansion of the weir at the works, which took as its starting point the identification of potential options for increased capacity.

These included constructing a new distribution chamber for the weir, extending the existing chamber, reducing the weir widths and splitting a downstream chamber into two, to provide an extra weir.

The easiest solution would have been to extend or replace the distribution chamber. Instead, Powell created computational fluid dynamics models to determine whether narrowed weirs would be able to accommodate the required flow without breaching the coping level. This would have negated the need to build an additional weir and therefore save the carbon impact of additional construction.

His use of digital modelling proved this was the case, providing carbon and cost savings as a result.

Powell’s command of civils and artificial intelligence belies early challenges. He says that at school, he grappled with dyslexia and felt hampered by conventional learning methods. But he was pushed to work harder and succeed.

Ultimately, he says that this struggle set him up well for the problem-solving requirements of civil engineering.

“I’d always been interested in civil engineering and now that I’m working in this sector, I know this is the area I’d like to be in. In particular, hydraulics really drew me in. I think the water sector is for me.”

APPRENTICE OF THE YEAR

ELLA BARKER

National Grid assistant project management apprentice Ella Barker is passionate about decarbonising the UK’s electricity system.

Sustainability is a key area of interest for her. As a civil engineering technician apprentice at Kirklees Council, she wrote articles promoting sustainability and was part of the council’s Green Employee network. She also successfully rolled out flood management and drainage schemes.

Barker is keen to promote science, technology, engineering and mathematics (Stem) as well as inclusion and diversity.

“I’ve done a lot of Stem workshops and careers events going into schools, promoting apprenticeships and getting kids involved with building a bridge with spaghetti and marshmallows. As kids, they don’t really want to be doing serious tasks, but it’s a great way to engage them. Ten years down the line they could be doing that for real.”

She is also particularly motivated to support the talents of neurodiverse people. “I’m dyslexic myself, so I’m interested in making resources more accessible instead of everything being in a written format.”

“I always say I never want to stop learning“I did a couple of weeks of work experience at Mott MacDonald and I loved it. That’s when I decided that this is what I want to do.”

An early decision to pursue an apprenticeship rather than a university degree was the key to Barker’s success and enthusiasm for civil engineering.

“Throughout school I had no idea what I wanted to do. I found studying hard, so I felt I’d rather get into a job.

After completing her GCSEs, Barker went on to do a Level 3 apprenticeship in civils and followed that with the Level 4 project management apprenticeship.

“I always say I never want to stop learning,” Barker said.

OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTION TO INDUSTRY

CHARLES HEMMING-CLARK

Frankham Consultancy Group graduate engineer Charles Hemming-Clark is particularly proud of a recent project that leveraged artificial intelligence (AI) to extend the life of a cast iron footbridge dating back to 1900.

Avoiding the need for demolition and reconstruction saved materials and carbon emissions on the project in a Woolwich dockyard.

Using digital modelling, HemmingClark designed larger U-Frames to make the bridge’s top chord more rigid and increase its capacity.

Hemming-Clark has also contributed to the company’s digital engineering capability by implementing Lidar scans in its inspection work. He says the resulting 3D visualisations give clients a better understanding of their assets.