Newsletter – Q4 2024

Hello and a happy new year from all at Rodgers Leask. Welcome back to our quarterly newsletter – the go-to for all the latest updates, project insights, and events and networking that kept us busy during the past few months.

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, email us at rlladmin@rodgersleask.co.uk or call 01332 285000.  

To stay up to date with our latest news and project updates make sure to follow us on LinkedIn.

Behind the scenes

In Q4 our director Stewart Friel was delighted to join our client Goold Estates Ltd at the West Midlands Insider Media Property Awards. Their team were recognised with the ‘Industrial Deal of the Year’ award for work on the Foundry Business Park Development at Bilston Urban Village. This was a brilliant accomplishment for everyone involved in the project, including our geo-environmental and geotechnical teams who provided the necessary expertise to address the historic legacy issues in the ground and develop a robust and cost-effective remediation strategy. Keep an eye out for more updates as we look forward to the main construction phase of the development.

St. Modwen Homes invited our senior project engineer Florence Trahair to hold a guest lecture at Thomas Telford University Technical College in Wolverhampton. Speaking with students studying L3 BTEC in Construction and the Built Environment, Flo shared insights from projects such as Llanwern, Coed Darcy and Meon Vale explaining the process of conducting desk studies, ground investigations, and developing ground remediation strategies.

Our directors Stewart Friel and Howel Morris attended the Annual Conference hosted by the Land, Planning and Development Federation in London. Along with catching up with fellow professionals, the event was a fantastic platform for discussions surrounding the government’s ambitious target to build 1.5m homes and issues with the planning system.

The latest contribution to our ‘direct from our directors’ series was from our managing director Paul Spencer. Paul shared insights from his 25-year career in the industry and reflected on his transition from engineer to MD – offering his advice to those exploring a similar career path. You can read his Q&A on our website.

Industry insights

Our Bristol office has showcased its multi-disciplinary expertise in an exciting regional project to help restore the ‘missing mile’ of the Stroudwater Navigation. Working alongside Cotswold Canals Connected and The National Lottery Heritage Fund UK, our civil, structural and geo-environmental engineering teams designed a replacement aqueduct and retaining walls to help bring the waterway back to life. The project has been a great example of our ability to creatively meet the technical, budgetary and delivery demands of the scheme while expanding our portfolio of canal and waterway projects. You can read more about the project here.

Delays surrounding Schedule Three of the Flood and Water Management Act continues to cause uncertainty across the industry. Plans to provide a framework for the widespread adoption of sustainable urban drainage systems (SuDS) and give local authorities the role of sustainable drainage approval body (SAB) were initially outlined for implementation in England during 2024, however, this has not materialised.

With this uncertainty in mind, our principal engineer Alex Parkes and regional director Dave Bathurst shared their thoughts with PBC Today, discussing the impact this delay is having on both developers and local authorities, the challenges ahead, and how they can prepare for the changes. You can read Alex and Dave’s article on our website.

We celebrated National Engineering Day on 13 November, with our director Kriston Harvey highlighting his engineering role models who helped shape his career. Kriston said: “I have been very fortunate in my career to work with a number of people who I consider to be role models – amongst these notably John Rodgers who encouraged me to get involved with a diverse range of projects from day one, which gave me a very broad experience and I feel has helped to shape me into the engineer I am today. Also, Andy Leask who always made time (and still does!!) to support junior colleagues (myself included) with professional development.

“A career in Civil Engineering can be extremely rewarding, so I’m delighted to regularly be involved in various initiatives to raise awareness with the next generation – whether that be primary school students who may be just beginning to grasp the concept of what engineers do, or senior school students choosing their GCSE subjects and starting to think about what they might want to do when they complete their academic studies.

“We all have a responsibility to raise public awareness and encourage the next generation, so I’m pleased to be able to contribute toward this”.

Our South West presence was recently strengthened with the addition of Tom Holmes, who joined our Bristol office as principal structural engineer. Joining our 16-strong team, Tom has expanded our multi-disciplinary offering in the region, with the Bristol office better positioned than ever before to meet the needs of our clients across the South West and deliver on complex structural projects. Along with his wealth of structural engineering expertise Tom even once held the Guinness World Record for the tallest tower of dominoes, stacking them an impressive 5.275m high! You can find out more about Tom’s appointment and the Bristol office’s offering here.

In the community

During the Christmas season, our directors hosted a table at the annual Interact East Midlands Christmas Lunch in Derby. Interact is a forum established in Nottingham for senior property professionals to share knowledge, ideas, and opportunities. As with each year, it was a brilliant opportunity to catch up with familiar faces across the East Midlands and meet new colleagues and partners.

We got involved in some festive fundraising as part of an annual tradition, which saw our offices take part in Save the Children’s Christmas Jumper Day. We donned our best festive jumpers and helped raise £493 for the charity, which helps to create positive lasting change for children in the UK and around the world.

Our director Kriston joined students at Springwell Community College to support Chesterfield Borough Council and Direct Education Business Partnership, a business that supports children, young people and vulnerable adults to have a positive future. As part of the ‘Careers Made in Chesterfield’ session, students worked in teams on flood related activities, learning about the different job roles and skills needed.

Kriston said: “It was great to once again be involved with the ‘Careers Made in Chesterfield’ initiative. CBC and DEBP put together a fantastic workshop for the students which really tested them in key employability skills areas.

“I was really pleased to see the enthusiasm in the room and was very impressed with how the students engaged with the various activities and tackled the challenges put before them. Based upon what I saw at the workshop, the future is bright!”