By Tom Austin-Morgan

Each year, CIHT runs assessments for engineers working in highways and transportation to become professionally recognised as Chartered Engineers (CEng), Incorporated Engineers (IEng) or Engineering Technicians (EngTech), as well as End Point Assessments (EPA) for Level 3 Transport Planning Technician Apprenticeships.

This year’s recipients of the Outstanding Professional Review awards from spring 2024 included Christopher Hunt (IEng), Daniel Phelps (EngTech) and Erin Klein (EngTech). 

Hunt, a Principal Engineer at AtkinsRéalis, chose to present an active travel project he’d been working on for the last eight months for which he could demonstrate social value and community benefits through working with schools. This was in addition to technical aspects such as the Street Master software he developed to rationalise down the time and resource requirements for assessing road corridors and retrofit them with cycle tracks and public realm facilities.

“It's a great honour to receive the award; the IEng is something that I've been working towards for a while,” says Hunt. “The CIHT platform really helped to streamline the process of application which saved a lot of time and meant you could focus on the important parts, upon which you’re being judged.

“I got some really good feedback from the reviewers, plus I was promoted from Senior Engineer to Principal after gaining my incorporated qualification.”

Phelps, a member of the highways improvement team at West Sussex County Council comments on the importance of professional registration in the industry (especially as he switched careers from archaeology): “It gives you peer recognition for the work that I've done and my experience on the career path I've taken, especially as I don’t have a degree associated with engineering.”

Klein, Programme Sponsor, Investment Planning Department, Transport for London (TfL), was told she’d been successful on the day before her birthday.

“I was absolutely delighted. I felt proud that all my effort has been acknowledged throughout the two and a half years that I've been working towards the EngTech. I want to go for chartership in the future and this has inspired me to work towards that,” says Klein.

She adds that being part of a chartered body is important because it keeps you updated of what's going on in the world of transport and presents a great opportunity for networking.

Image: Erin Klein, West Sussex County Council; credit: Erin Klein.

Decarbonisation and sustainability

With regards to change in the sector, Phelps says the industry is having to look at itself and ask questions about sustainability through reuse or different construction techniques that use less carbon.

“Working in a local authority, which are risk averse organisations, we’re aware of ‘new’ materials which have [a] lower carbon output, but it’s tricky for us to implement them because there’s a risk with using new products,” he states. “If you can bring multiple contractors onto your site while you’re working then disruption is kept to a minimum which means fewer traffic queues over a longer period.”

Klein and Hunt both work on active travel programmes aimed at encouraging people to walk or cycle rather than use a private vehicle.

Klein says: “In order encourage behaviour change we need to promote active travel with incentives [to get] increased safety and improved knowledge of health benefits. Segregated cycle lanes are the best way to achieve that. Not only will it save people time, but it’s also better for the economy too.”

Hunt adds that one of the most important areas to focus on for the industry is climate resilience and how to adapt transport projects to be more climate and pedestrian friendly.

“It's not just about cycle lanes or tracks,” he says. “It's about what multidisciplinary aspects we can build into the street, for example sustainable draining systems (SuDS), [and] how we can make places greener and bring in local, natural materials to enhance them, which also has a benefit to sustainability by sourcing locally.”

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Image: Erin Klein, West Sussex County Council; credit: Erin Klein.