AI in civil engineering: practice, risk and industry transformation

Joelle Locko

Joelle works in WSP's highways team, delivering multidisciplinary highway infrastructure projects across the South West of England. Alongside her engineering role, she also supports the management and coordination of bridge schemes as a deputy project manager.

Within WSP's Bristol office, Joelle serves as charity champion, supporting initiatives that strengthen community engagement and bring colleagues together around charitable causes. 

She is passionate about the future of engineering and particularly interested in how emerging technologies and new ways of working can enhance professional practice, improve project delivery and help the industry adapt to an evolving digital landscape.

Joelle is also chair of the ICE Bristol City Club, where she works with the committee to connect engineers and industry professionals through events that promote knowledge sharing, collaboration and professional development. 

She is the driving force behind the ICE South West AI in engineering panel event, bringing together industry leaders to explore the opportunities and challenges that AI presents for the engineering profession.

Dr Tom Bartley

Dr Tom Bartley AMICE is an independent consultant focussed on implementing digital technologies into capital delivery and asset management. He holds an Engineering Doctorate in systems thinking and Building Information Modelling for highways projects and has spent his career between global engineering consultants (WSP and Jacobs) and startups (Barbal and Mind Foundry). Tom was very involved with the development of the BIM Level 2 agenda and in particular guiding its application into transport infrastructure with roles on HS2, Smart Motorways Programme and the TfL Structures and Tunnels Investment Programme. He was also instrumental in the refresh of the Design Manual for Roads and Bridges and Specification for Highways Works leading the digitalisation efforts to make these essential standards machine-readable. At Mind Foundry, an Oxford University AI spin-out, he was general manager for civil infrastructure leading a team of machine learning scientists, software engineers and commercial specialists to conceive and implement novel AI algorithms for managing ageing bridges and structures. This including securing a significant grant from the Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA) to bring together academics, consultants and clients and define a vision and technical pathway for implementing Digital Custodians, AI assistant asset managers that can make better predictions about asset condition and prioritise interventions given the myriad of financial and operational constraints that face owners. In his current role as an independent consultant he works with infrastructure clients such as GBRX and Severn Trent Water to define and implement technology strategies that leverage the latest innovations, whilst bringing people and the business on a transformation journey. He also recently opened a bookshop and wine bar on Bristol's Stokes Croft - come for the books, stay for the wine! 

Professor Rob Deaves

Professor Rob Deaves CEng, FIET, FHEA, FLSW, FREng is a robotics engineer and systems architect with over 40 years of experience in senior leadership roles at three iconic engineering firms: BAE Systems, STMicroelectronics, and Dyson.

At BAE Systems, his early research focused on decentralised navigation architectures, where he provided the first UK industry-based demonstration of Decentralized SLAM (Simultaneous Localisation and Mapping). This is a technology that has since become the foundational "bedrock" of modern mobile robotics.

During his 11-year tenure at Dyson as a senior principal engineer, Rob was a primary architect behind the company’s robotic vacuum lines. He was the product technical lead for the Dyson 360 Heurist and the system technical lead for the Dyson 360 VisNav. His work was instrumental in transitioning complex laboratory research into robust, high-volume consumer products sold globally.

Rob is now a product manager at Oxa, a highly innovative startup, which aims to put physical AI to work in industrial automation. Specifically, he has been leading developments in autonomous robotics for renewable energy (solar farm) applications.

 As well as his industrial work, Rob has supported ‘bridging’ industry, society and academia. For institutional and government bodies this includes chairing advisory boards for EPSRC projects totalling £25m and as vice chair of the UK Government DSIT Robotics Advisory Group.

Through the RAEng Visiting Professors scheme, Rob has supported around 200 industrialists to becomes stipend visiting professors at UK Universities.

Personally, in academia, Rob has built up a network of over 40 universities worldwide through teaching and research support and has been awarded RAEng visiting professorship at Imperial College London, honorary professorship at Birmingham University and visiting professorship at the Bristol Robotics Laboratory.

Oliver Kelland

After gaining a Masters' in civil engineering at the University of Bristol in 2021, Oliver set out to not have a typical career, embracing curiosity and excellence in emergent possibilities.

He was Mott MacDonald's AI lead for Europe and innovation manager but in 2026 he decided to pause his operational endeavours to further explore opportunities in AI.

Oliver has working in machine learning to identify pavement defects, designing geospatially-linked databases, incubating Virtual Reality for design rehearsals, and leading Mott MacDonald's first investigative work into ChatGPT.

He was shortlisted for the ICE Graduate of the Year Award in 2023 and won Mott MacDonald Transportation's Best Early Career Professional (ECP) Award in the same year.  

Outside of the built environment, Oliver is passionate about innovation management, leading to being an early founder of the UK's Institute of Innovation Management. He also actively participates with Sweden's Innovation Management Association mentoring programme. 

Dave Roberts

As chief digital officer at Stantec, Dave helps teams turn data, AI and technology into real-world outcomes. He is responsible for driving enterprise-wide digital strategy and transformation, while leading the organisation's Digital Centre of Excellence. Dave is passionate about applying technology responsibly, with a strong focus on governance, data integrity and accountability, ensuring that innovation enhances professional judgement and delivers trusted outcomes.

With more than 25 years of technology leadership experience, Dave has built and scaled global teams, advanced digital operating models and driven innovation through the adoption of emerging technologies. His contributions have been recognised through several prestigious honours, including the Global CIO 100 Award, CIO 100 Visionary Leadership Award, HMG Strategy's Top Technology Executives to Watch and induction into the Cybersecurity Observatory Hall of Fame. He was also ranked number three in the CIO 100, recognising the most transformative and disruptive CIOs in the UK. David is a Fellow of BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT.

Beyond his role at Stantec, Dave is the host of the Inspiring Tech Leaders podcast, where he engages with industry leaders to explore their insights and experiences while providing guidance and inspiration to the next generation of technology professionals.

Dave has also supported Cancer Central as a member of its Advisory Panel Board, contributing specialist expertise, knowledge and perspective to help further the organisation's vision and mission, ultimately supporting its consolidation with the Cancer Awareness Trust.

In addition, he has served as a technology-focused Non-Executive Director (NED), helping the DJH Board accelerate business growth through technology and digital innovation. In this capacity, he provided independent and constructive challenge while supporting rapid technological advancement and the delivery of exceptional customer experiences.

Dave holds an MBA from The Open University, a postgraduate certificate in international technology management from the University of Warwick and a BSc (Hons) in business information systems from Liverpool John Moores University.

Jan Tribble

Jan is a design and innovation manager at Stantec focused on design quality, digital capability and delivery performance. He specialises in complex regeneration and infrastructure projects, translating strategic ambition into structured, scalable processes that teams use for delivery.

With a strong focus on digital transformation and AI, Jan actively engages with technology vendors and emerging AI platforms, ensuring Stantec stays close to the cutting edge for practical application.

Jan focuses on collaboration with international teams, including colleagues across North America, bringing global insight into local delivery challenges. Known for connecting people, systems and ideas, He aligns stakeholders and creates workflows that reduce friction. Balancing creativity with rigour, Jan champions AI adoption and innovation that improves collaboration, efficiency and supports Stantec’s high performing teams across major planning and DCO environments.