Kevin Hutchinson

National Performance Manager, Balfour Beatty

Our guest presenter Kevin, has worked in construction for over 13 years. Having spent nearly half his life working in the industry progressing from labouring on site to a traineeship and university; he has worked and managed schemes varying from new roads and fire stations to a whole new shopping centre in the centre of Liverpool.

Kevin is now a National Performance Manager and having experienced much of what the industry has to offer and has become a keen enthusiast of promoting the industry as an exciting place to work for young people. Kevin grew up around construction and engineering and enjoyed studying Geography, Maths and Science, so it can be said that STEM is in his blood and civil engineering and infrastructure was his destiny.

William Hall

Graduate Quantity Surveyor, Balfour Beatty

Will started his career as a geography teacher at a secondary school, before transitioning into the construction industry in 2017. Shortly after beginning his Master’s degree in quantity surveying at Nottingham Trent University, Will was accepted as a graduate quantity surveyor (QS) for UK Construction Services at Balfour Beatty.

Since joining Balfour Beatty as a part-time QS in January 2018, Will has had the opportunity to work on a variety of schemes including: a primary school, river flood alleviation, an offshore wind farm, and the Scarborough Cliff Stabilisation Project.

What is Will’s favourite part of his job?

My favourite aspect of this profession is the variety. I enjoy working on different schemes with different people – every day is really unique!

Cameron Dufton

Leeds Delivery Unit Commercial Director, Balfour Beatty

Cameron has 30 years of commercial experience working within a number of civil engineering sectors including: public realm, highways, coastal, flood, wind energy, power and industrial. Cameron is responsible for commercial delivery of Balfour Beatty’s Leeds Delivery Unit, where he works closely with the Operational and Managing Director to ensure each project operates profitably.

Cameron is a key member of Balfour Beatty’s work winning team and in his role, he engages with customers to ensure they are informed on the project’s financial position. He proactively assists with any issues that require resolution, focusing on delivering value for money to secure repeat business from Balfour Beatty’s customers. Cameron effectively manages risk and ensures his team of 35 Balfour Beatty commercial staff has the required training and development to deliver cost certainty to customers.

How did Cameron get started in the industry?  

At 17, I started in the construction industry as a labourer on the Scalby Mills Pumping Station project in Scarborough. A trainee Quantity Surveyor role became available on the project, which I applied for and was accepted. The company enrolled me into a college day release programme, where I attained an ONC, HNC and BSc in Civil Engineering over the following years. I worked 4 days a week on site and spent 1 day a week at college, and I found this a great way to balance theoretical learning and on-the-job training. During this time I also worked on the construction of Scarborough’s SeaLife Centre.

What does Cameron enjoy most about his current role?

I enjoy working in a dynamic and exciting industry with teams of great people, delivering incredibly interesting, important and diverse projects that support the communities we work in.

Ed Hinton

Senior Advisor, Flood and Coastal Risk Management, Environment Agency

After completing his BSc in Geography, Ed joined Yorkshire Water on their graduate training scheme in 2008. Over the next 9 years, Ed worked in various operational, regulatory and project management roles for the company, working across many large building projects including: schemes to build new anaerobic digestion facilities, waste water treatment works upgrades, and new drinking water storage reservoirs.

In 2017, Ed joined the Environment Agency as a Senior Advisor, working in Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management (FCERM).  A key part of Ed’s current role is fulfilling the Environment Agency’s strategic overview responsibility in relation to flooding and coastal erosion. In this position, he works closely with local authorities to identify, promote, fund, and deliver works to help mitigate the effects of flooding and coastal erosion on communities along the Yorkshire coast.

Hazel Farnell

Director, CAN Geotechnical

Hazel has worked for the specialist access contractor, CAN, since graduating from university in 2007 where she achieved a 1st class degree in BSc Geography. After studying maths, geography, and biology at A-level, Hazel was naturally interested in landscapes, enjoying them both in her studies and her free time.

Since joining CAN, Hazel has gained significant civil engineering project management experience, and further qualifications in rope access, health and safety, and health and wellbeing. Hazel has successfully managed several large slope stabilisation schemes in excess of £4 million, and spends her time working alongside other contractors and designers to find the best solution for each unique scheme.

Hazel has also amassed a great deal of experience in human resources (HR), and was recently appointed as a director at CAN, where she focusses on HR alongside her work as a senior project manager. Hazel is currently working towards a HND in Human Resource Management.

Jane Belton

Principal Geotechnical Engineer, Coffey

Jane has 16 years’ experience in geotechnical engineering following a 4-year MEng degree in Engineering Science from the University of Oxford.  She joined EDGE Consultants as a Graduate Engineer in 2003 and has been involved in a wide variety of geotechnical and civil engineering projects with them through their acquisitions by Coffey, and more recently Tetra Tech, enjoying the increased opportunities each transition has brought. Jane became a Chartered Civil Engineer in 2006.

Jane has responsibility for site investigation, interpretation, design, and construction supervision phases of projects and has particular interests in slope stability, deep foundations, soil-structure interaction, and dynamic soil properties.  She works on projects of varying scale from remediation of landslips in residential gardens to the cliff stabilisation works at Scarborough Spa.

Liam Cowell

Hydraulics Apprenticeship Fitter, CAN

Liam has always been interested in manual work and using his hands to create or maintain something. His favourite subject at school was product design, which included wood work and welding.

Liam knew that 6^th form wasn’t for him, so he started looking into apprenticeships that would allow him to learn on the job, and begin earning money immediately. In order to gain a place on an apprenticeship, Liam went to college to study mechanical engineering. Whilst studying, his college helped him secure a position with CAN as a Hydraulics Apprenticeship Fitter.

Liam is learning the basics of hydraulics on CAN’s specialist drill rigs, and works regularly with engines on power packs. This can mean anything from servicing an engine, to stripping it down. Liam is currently a year and a half into the apprenticeship, for which he gains a qualification each year. At the end of the 4-year apprenticeship, Liam will have a Level 3 NVQ in mechanical engineering.

Ewan Richardson

Graduate Civil Engineer, Royal Haskoning

Having completed a BEng (Hons) in Civil Engineering at Newcastle University in 2017, Ewan has constantly shown a passion for his future development within 2 years of being in the Engineering industry. Ewan currently works within the Water Europe Business line, based in Royal HaskoningDHV’s Newcastle upon Tyne office.

Since joining the company in 2017 Ewan has worked on a wide range of projects, developing experience in; options appraisal, economic analysis, GIS analysis of hydraulic modelling outputs, outline and detailed design of various flood attenuation features (such as storage ponds and conveyance channels), production of Business Cases and European Funding Applications.

Ewan is currently undertaking a part time secondment into the Environment Agency National Capital Programme Management Service working on the development of Outline Business Cases for flood alleviation schemes in the North East region.

In addition to desk based work he has performed a wide range of coastal inspections of both structural and natural coastal defence assets. This enables him to expand his experience in different sectors of his work, and the full lifecycle of a project; from appraisal, through design to maintenance & operation and ultimately decommissioning.

He is the 2019 Events Coordinator for Young Royal HaskoningDHV UK, an employee led initiative which organises various events for employees within the company.