Civil Engineer with 20 years specialising in Water Environment. Reputation for optimising environmental benefit whilst minimising cost.
I always had a passion for problem solving. I really didn't have a clue what I wanted to do but when researching different options I was drawn towards Civil Engineering as it seemed to be confronted with the most diverse spread of problems requiring solutions.
Born in Morocco with French and Mauritian parents, both of whom were nurses and were drawn to the UK to work in the NHS.
I was a bit of a mischief-maker as a kid and only realised my academic potential when joining Grammar School at 13. Did OK at GCSE and A-level although I spent most of my time partying and playing rugby.
Lost my parents quite young, which gave me a good kick up the backside to get a bit more serious about life.
Threw myself at my last couple of years at university in Brighton and gained a 1st class honours degree. Decided that I was not quite ready to make the career leap and so sourced a European grant and found a Civil Engineering course in Grenoble, France to enrol on for a year. Ticked some boxes by passing the course, improving French, getting insight into different approaches and learning to ski.
Cue Black & Veatch. On return to the UK I found my first proper job as a Graduate Engineer designing rail, bridge and water treatment schemes and gave me some good site experience around the country as an RE. This quickly exposed my naivety about the industry and accelerated my learning about commercial and contractual games which existed in construction. In other words I soon stopped asking for tartan paint and long weights.
Made the difficult break from my beloved London to settle down with my wife-to-be nearer to her family home in Leicestershire.
Cue Haswell Consulting in Birmingham, a subsidiary of Severn Trent Water, which provided me with opportunity to quickly progress my career moving from design engineer on individual sewerage schemes through to Group Manager responsible for a large design team delivering a £100M sewerage and pollution management programme across the region. Haswell was absorbed into Severn Trent Water and it was evident that constraints and bureaucracy associated with working within a utility company did not suit me.
Cue BWB Consulting. Like a breath of fresh air a dynamic and entrepreneurial organisation which really aligned well with my own values. Initially appointed to grow a Flood Risk and Water Environment team in Birmingham but once achieved, in a framework of meritocracy I soon progressed to managing the whole division. I am now the Service Director for Water Environment and proud of my team's standing and reputation for excellence in flood risk and water sectors.
Raynesway Business Park in Derby. A site which many other consultants had tried to deliver and failed. Originally, very contentious due to its location in the floodplain. I lived and breathed the job for about a year to try and successfully resolve long standing objections. Now it has been built, with its large scale flood storage, wetland areas and hydraulic structures it is regarded by the local authority, Wildlife Trust and Environment Agency as an exemplar project for developing in areas of flood risk.
Loving life with my wife and two sons. Enjoying any spare time following Leicester Tigers, cooking, mountain biking or snowboarding/skiing. However recently rebuilt my house and may have to put ski holidays on hold for a few years.
Canoeing down the Amazon during an extreme flood within a 3d Virtual Reality river model produced by BWB.
