Managing director, HV-E
Expertise
Design, StructuralLocation
United KingdomWorking on various infrastructure projects all over the world
Setting up our own company, HV-E, and expanding it internationally
Becoming a Fellow of the ICE
Since the Covid pandemic, I’ve luckily kept to hybrid work, so I can have breakfast with my family at least every second day, and help my children get to school.
Then, due to time difference, I get in touch with colleagues from Asia who are finishing work when I start.
I check emails and messages to see whether my support is urgently required on any of our projects.
Then, I’m lucky to have a very mixed type of work, from bids and strategies to construction details.
Some days I stay at home, some days I’m in our London office or at a site or external meeting. Occasionally I travel abroad for projects or to our other offices.
When there’s a chance, I interrupt work for a half an hour of sports, and I tend to finish around 7pm.
Chartership with the ICE is widely recognised and has helped me in job search and bid situations.
The funny thing is nobody.
My parents were musicians. None of my relatives or friends were engineers.
I liked to play pretend construction when I was young and after finishing A-levels I went to a career fair and decided to give it a go with civil engineering.
… of (some of your) projects becoming physical reality.
Tower of single Duplo blocks approximately 2.5m high (with my children).
To do my best so my team has a safe and good job.
How many different specialists of very varying fields are involved in the construction industry.
After many pressure points and engineering challenges, it simply gave me the confidence that I will (almost) always find an alternative or some way through a difficult situation.
Construction is dirty and noisy (my point is the majority doesn’t have to be if the right methods are employed).
Tidal Lagoon (hope it comes back one day).
To learn about all the different aspects of engineering that were required for the chartership review that hadn’t been part of my core job.
Also, I simply had to become chartered to further progress in my career at my previous employer.
Chartership with the ICE is widely recognised and has helped me in job search and bid situations.
I only became a Fellow recently but I’m sure it will also open doors.
Rather than receiving the title (although of course this was satisfying), I felt it was the process of preparing, studying, and gaining experience in the chartership attributes that weren’t part of my day-to-day that made me a much better engineer all around.
It gave me confidence to participate in discussions outside of my original core areas.
General support with training and career development, and more specifically internal sessions to review reports and presentations that were to be submitted for the chartership review.
For the fellowship preparation, I put together the necessary documents.
Access to a network of engineers, manuals and publications.
… a façade engineer, and more importantly, a father and husband.
During my Erasmus exchange year, I met an engineering colleague from Mexico who is now my wife. I lived and worked as an engineer in Mexico for several years before coming to the UK.
Studied civil/structural engineering at TU Vienna in Austria and went for an Erasmus exchange year to UPC Barcelona.
I started work in Austria, then went to Mexico. I joined ICA Fluor, where I worked on oil and gas projects, including blast-resistant design.
I ended up in London, first at Ramboll, and then joined Brydenwood where I had the opportunity to start and lead a structures/civils group which grew to over 100 people last year.
In 2024, I set up HV-E and have since grown an international specialist engineering team.
