Celebrating the successful delivery of a megaproject: lessons from the Tideway Project

Raj Pathak CEng FICE

Raj Pathak is a senior director at Amentum. He leads the Advisory and Digital business within energy and environment internationally.  

With over 25 years of experience, Raj has successfully delivered some of the most complex infrastructure projects in the UK (such as the Crossrail Southeast Section project, High Speed Two and significant initiatives within the defence and energy sectors) and oversea.  

He was also the project director for the HS2 Washwood Heath Depot and Network Integrated Control Centre through the project design development, procurement and planning approval.
 
Raj is a Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineer (CEng FICE), a Fellow of the Association for Project Management and a Chartered Project Professional (ChPP FAPM). 

Raj holds a BEng in Civil Engineering, an MSc in Construction Management and an MBA. He is completing doctoral research on megaproject governance at Cranfield School of Management.

Andy Mitchell CBE

Andy has been the CEO of Tideway, the company responsible for the Thames Tideway Tunnel, since 2014.

He joined the project from Crossrail where he was Programme Director and a Board member. He has worked around the world, including on developments such as Hong Kong Airport and Hong Kong West Rail. He also held senior roles at Network Rail, including Project Director of the Southern Power Upgrade project and Senior Programme Director of the Thameslink Programme. Andy is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Institution of Civil Engineers, and former Chair of the Infrastructure Industry Innovation Platform (i3P) and Infrastructure Client Group (ICG). He was also the Co-Chair of the Construction Leadership Council from 2018 to June 2022 and in 2020 he was named Personality of the Year at the Building Awards in recognition of his efforts working with government to prepare for Brexit and to support the industry through the Covid-19 pandemic. Andy was honoured with a CBE for Services to Civil Engineering in 2015. He is the Chair of London Youth Rowing, a youth engagement charity and longstanding partner of Tideway.

Chris Merridew

Chris is a chartered ICE Fellow with 35 years’ experience in civil & geotechnical engineering.  A graduate from Sheffield Polytechnic and postgraduate of Harriot Watt University.   Chris joined Bachy Soletanche, a UK geotechnical contractor which is part of the global Soletanche Bachy Group, as a section engineer.  He has for half of his career held senior positions, managing, leading and directing major infrastructure projects in which Bachy Soletanche have been in joint venture, such as Jubilee Line Extension, St Pancras Station redevelopment, Thames Tideway and more recently HS2.
  
He is a firm believer in developing strong multi-disciplinary teams who work collaboratively with a ‘best-for-project’ approach, through communication and strong working relationships to solve complex challenges, keeping the projects on programme, safely, sustainably, and profitably.
 
Chris has been an director of Bachy Soletanche for the past 15 years.
 
He is married with two daughters.

Roger Bailey

Roger joined the Thames Tideway Tunnel project in February 2012. He is a Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers and has held board level positions in both civil engineering contracting businesses and engineering and planning consultancies prior to joining the project. The first 20 years of his career was in the geotechnical contracting sector (mining, piling and ground engineering) in the UK and overseas followed by over 10 years in transportation consultancy (highways, rail, aviation) for clients such as Crossrail, Network Rail, TfL, Highways Agency and the Department for Transport.  Roger’s Completion & Handover Team at Tideway is responsible for technical oversight, property and commercial agreements, compliance with planning permission, system commissioning and the operational integration of the completed Thames Tideway Tunnel asset into the existing London sewer network. Having spent over 12 years at the heart of decision making and delivery on the project Roger is well placed to reflect on its critical success factors as it nears completion.

Wendy Gillies

Wendy Gillies is the Operational Excellence Lead for BAM Major Projects, problem solving on a grand scale. Leading strategy to improve process, technology, communication, and collaboration on our JV projects.
 
A Chartered engineer and Fellow of the ICE, Wendy graduated from Strathclyde University and has worked as a contractor for over 35 years, initially working as a sponsored student for Tarmac PLC, moving to work for (then) Edmund Nuttall in 1997. She has lead teams on many strategic and significant infrastructure projects in the UK including: the Jubilee Line, the Greenwich Millenium Dome, the Channel Tunnel Rail Link and the Olympic Park. More recently spending 7 years in rail, as the BAM Engineering Lead on the Southern Multi-Discipline Framework, before returning to Major Projects in 2021. 

Supporting the BAM ethos of ‘building a sustainable tomorrow’ is key to Wendy’s role within the Major Projects SLT, championing transformational change and strategic business improvement. 
Current projects include, Hinkley Point C, Devonport Dockyard, HS2 Contracts 2&3, Silvertown Tunnel and Thames Tideway Tunnel. 
Wendy sits on the JV Board for Thames Tideway West and forms part of the Tideway Alliance Board. 

Rafael Foulquie

Rafa holds a Master Civil Engineering degree by Universidad Politecnica de Madrid, a Civil Engineering Final Year Degree (ERASMUS grant) by Imperial College of London and an Executive MBA by the IE Business School (Madrid), he is also a Chartered Civil Eng and Fellow of ICE and Fellow of RICS.
 
Rafa started his career at FCC Construccion Spain holding various roles until he moved to the UK setting up a construction branch for the UK&Ireland in 2009 and the BeNeLux in 2011, taking the role of Managing Director for those countries. He joined Ferrovial Construction UK in 2015 as Operations Director and since then has been a permanent Board Member as well as a JV Board Member for Major Projects such as Crossrail, Thames Tideway, HS2 and Silvertown Tunnel projects. He is currently Commercial and Bidding Director for the UK & Ireland Ferrovial Construction.