Newsletter – Q1 2024

08.04.24

Hello and happy spring from all at Rodgers Leask. A warm welcome back to our quarterly newsletter – the best place to hear about the projects, events and networking that kept us busy during the first few months of a promising 2024.

As always, don’t forget, we’re also interested to hear what you are working on and if we can support you. To get in touch with one of our team, make sure to email us using rlladmin@rodgersleask.co.uk or call on 01332 285000.

To be the first to hear more news as it happens, follow us on LinkedIn too: https://www.linkedin.com/company/rodgers-leask-ltd/

Behind the scenes

We kicked off the year with two senior appointments. The first was Darcy Kitson-Boyce who joined as the head of geo-environmental engineering in our Nottingham office.

With more than 12 years’ experience, Darcy is determined to continue our sustainable focus and meet the rising demand for environmental support in the East Midlands city.

On his most immediate focus, Darcy said: “I will be building a dedicated geo-environmental engineering team that will work alongside our other disciplines in Nottingham, the wider Midlands region and beyond. I resonate with the values that Rodgers Leask operates with, which will be vital as I move forward not only representing the business but also helping it grow.”

You can read more on Darcy’s appointment here: New head of Geo-Environmental Engineering for Nottingham office – Rodgers Leask

Our second senior appointment was Matt Leask who rejoined us as associate based in our Derby headquarters, bringing with him more than 20 years of industry experience, particularly in civil engineering.

Matt will be involved with the design of projects across the East Midlands, and beyond, and the delivery of the Derby office’s ambitious growth plans.

Matt said: “Rodgers Leask is a consultancy that has an enviable foundation and presence in the civil engineering industry. Rejoining this experienced and ambitious team comes easily and I’m more than ready to utilise my expertise at such a busy time, both in the industry and across our offices throughout the country, to expand our client base even further.”

You can read more about Matt here: New Associate joins our Derby HQ – Rodgers Leask

Our experts across multiple disciplines in the East Midlands are leading the design team working on designs for the Derbyshire Rail Industry Innovation Vehicle (DRIIVe) in Chesterfield.

Appointed via the ESPO 2664 framework, our involvement so far includes a full-service offering, comprising structural and civil engineering consultancy, geo-environmental engineering investigations and transport planning advice.

More about our involvement in the DRIIVE project is detailed on our website here: Derbyshire Rail Innovation Centre on track for Planning Permission – Rodgers Leask

Last, but definitely not least, we were awarded a place on a highly coveted procurement framework with the University of Cumbria, achieving the highest score of any of the bidders in the chosen lot.

The opportunity was secured by our team in Liverpool – which specialises in civil and structural engineering – led by director Chris Pollett. The four-year framework is divided into seven lots, with our team successful on Lot 5; Structural and Civil engineering.

Read more about the framework here: Framework success with the University of Cumbria – Rodgers Leask

Industry insights

Our own graduate structural engineer Joe Walker was awarded the ‘ICE prize for outstanding performance over both penultimate and final years’ by the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE).

Joe joined us in July 2023 shortly after completing his degree in Civil Engineering, where he graduated with 1^st Class honours. A huge congratulations to Joe on receiving this well-deserved award and recognition from ICE!

We are proud to be expanding our transport planning discipline by offering a Road Safety Audit (RSA) service, led by senior transport planner and road safety auditor Mike Dutton.

These audits review the road safety implications of engineering interventions for all road users and make recommendations to reduce the risk of accidents occurring, which helps inform designs for highway schemes.

Mike said: “Road safety auditors are independent from the design process, it’s our job to give recommendations that are proportionate and viable to eliminate or mitigate the identified problem. As such, the safety audits are a vital part of ensuring that safety is paramount to our clients’ design development process.”

More information about this new offering can be found here: Green light for new Road Safety Audit offering – Rodgers Leask

In March, our director for land regeneration Howel Morris was sharing his industry knowledge within both popular publications Building and CIOB People.

In Building, Howel discussed why geo-environmental and civil engineering synergy is the key to saving time and money and reducing waste within our industry. Our work at the Glan Llyn development near Newport, was explored as a demonstration of how smarter and earlier collaboration is essential to the brownfield regeneration boom. You can read Howel’s article here: The money’s in the ground: engineering a solution to brownfield regeneration costs | Comment | Building

In CIOB People, Howel shared insights into his career and detailed how the built environment has changed since joining the sector. It’s a worthy read for anyone wanting to get to know our director and his career journey so far. Find the article online here: This much I know: ‘Gather interesting and useful knowledge early’ – CIOB People

In the community

Florence Trahair, Owen Brice, Charanpreet Matharu and Mark Wheeler from our Longbridge office visited the University of Birmingham for its Spring Careers Fair. Darcy Kitson-Boyce and Mohammad Akhtar, who is currently working with us on a placement year, attended Nottingham Trent University’s Apprenticeship Open Day.

Meeting the next generation of engineers and making them aware of the many opportunities available to them within construction is crucial for the industry. We want to thank our teams for continuously making sure we are having those engaging conversations on the ground.

Continuing the theme of university outreach, Matthew Koren presented a lecture on structural and concept design to architecture students at Nottingham Trent University. While Andy Miles also gave a lecture at UWE Bristol on Transport Planning to MSc Urban Planning students. We are sure these students found both lectures informative and gave overviews of these important disciplines.

If you know someone who might be interested in a career in engineering consultancy, check out our careers page here: https://rodgersleask.com/careers/

Recently, we took part in Mather Jamie’s annual basketball tournament at the Mattioli Arena – home of the Leicester Riders.

Our team ‘RL Rockets’, led by regional director Peter Sparham, included Emily Rafferty, Corey Johnson, Shannon Franklin, Adam Stringer, Dylan Brereton, Stewart Friel, Sarah Wills and a youthful Dylan Harvey.

The RL Rockets reached the final, but most importantly took the win which saw them lift the trophy! Congratulations to all the teams who took part on the night and thank you everyone at Mather Jamie involved in organising and running the tournament – we are more than ready to defend our title next year!

At the beginning of the year, we checked in with a few of our offices to receive updates on what has been happening within their regions and their teams. Dave Bathurst gave us the breakdown in Bristol, while Chris Pollet offered the lowdown in Liverpool. Both regional directors talked of forward momentum within their teams and ambitious plans to continue growing our presence in their respective regions.