I began my WSP career as a Mechanical Engineer in the London Property and Buildings business, progressing to Principal Engineer before taking up an opportunity to work abroad in contracting. I rejoined WSP as an Associate Director, and the business has continued to provide me with opportunities to advance my career in engineering.
The supportive and approachable culture is something that sets WSP apart. No matter the level of seniority, you can always tap someone on the shoulder to get an answer or discuss something. One of the key drivers in returning was the number of familiar faces in the London team, which emphasises that people often stay, and clearly see a future with WSP.
We are always encouraged to push the boundaries of design. I recently had the opportunity to lead the retrofit of WSP’s Chancery Lane office, which involved working alongside the landlord and various stakeholders, to transform and improve the performance of building we sit in today. One of the biggest achievements was transitioning to an all-electric office, which now uses innovative building systems that bring in outside air to cool the building for free for approximately 80% of the year. This approach has drastically reduced energy consumption and is gaining significant interest from our clients and the wider industry.
I started working for WSP seven years ago, initially as an Undergraduate Engineer. At the time I was completing my dissertation on a CFD model of a double-skin facade. What was supposed to be a six-month stint ended up evolving into a 7+ year fulfilling career at WSP.
WSP has provided me with the opportunity to collaborate with people who have a completely different background to mine and learn from them. I’ve also been involved in the development and delivery of some interesting innovations like Daisy, a first-of-its-kind multi-disciplinary tool – which brings together expertise from various disciplines to revolutionise early design.
When I talk about WSP, I always share how dynamic my experience is and how I’ve been lucky to explore new career pathways and do something that I really enjoy. During the first seven years at WSP, I gained extensive knowledge in façade engineering. Eager to broaden my skillset and experience in other areas, I was given the opportunity to undertake a secondment at the Centre for Window & Cladding Technology as a Sustainability Engineer. In this role, I supported various workstreams, which included publishing guidance to promote sustainable design in facades and developing an embodied carbon methodology for industry professionals.
With WSP, I’ve had the chance to relocate and work from multiple locations such as London, Leeds and Manchester, and on various projects. Initially, I handled large-scale projects in London but later transitioned to smaller sized projects when I moved to Leeds. WSP really supports employees to move around offices in the UK and internationally to broaden your skills and experience, which has been instrumental in enabling me to develop a multifaceted career.
There’s a huge focus on developing junior employees and empowering them to excel in their careers. Early in my career, I had the opportunity to support the roll out of our Professional Growth Network, an initiative that supports early career professionals across all our offices. Additionally, I’ve fed into various other task groups, which provided me with experience working with stakeholders across different disciplines and levels of seniority. Being exposed to challenges like this early on in my career has enabled me to grow.