Newsletter – Q1 2025

Hello from all at Rodgers Leask. It’s a pleasure to kick off the first edition of this year’s quarterly newsletter – the best place to hear about the projects, events and networking that kept us busy during the first few months of 2025.

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 

Q1 was full of fantastic opportunities to catch up with familiar faces and meet new ones. The first of our netclimbing events with Banner Jones Solicitors was held in Sheffield, with novice and experienced climbers alike joining us for a morning well spent bouldering and making new contacts. We also joined forces again with Clear Group to co-host netwalking events around Eyam and Stoney Middleton and at Carsington Reservoir. Both were great mornings mixing the outdoors with networking, and a pleasure to see so many positive connections forming.

We also visited the home of the Leicester Riders this quarter as the Rodgers Leask Ballers joined the annual Mather Jamie basketball tournament at the Mattioli Arena. Coached by Riders rookie guard Jaylin Hunter and led by captain Peter Sparham, we returned to defend our title. After a close final game against Roythornes Solicitors we claimed the trophy for a second year running. A great result and another great event catching up with industry partners.

We then had some exciting news to end Q1, with our work on the Littlecombe brownfield redevelopment shortlisted at the Insider Media South West Residential Property Awards. This is an important regional project with many complex aspects, and we’re very pleased to see the team’s hard work recognised . We wish all the best to our team and the other nominees ahead of the awards in April! You can read about the project in more detail on our website: https://rodgersleask.com/2025/04/03/multi-disciplinary-work-on-gloucestershire-development-shortlisted-for-regional-property-award/

Industry insights We had some fantastic opportunities to highlight staff across the business in Q1 as we celebrated Women in Construction Week and National Apprenticeship Week. From the advice that women in our teams would give to those interested in a similar career path to how our apprentices balance their work and studies, we had the chance to hear from staff across our regional offices about their experiences working in the engineering industry.

The final contributions to our ‘direct from our directors’ series came from our director Kriston Harvey and co-founder Andy Leask. Both shared insights from their careers, with Kriston sharing his advice for those just getting started and Andy sharing what keeps him excited about the industry. You can read Kriston and Andy’s Q&As on our website.

We also got to hear from one of our civil engineers, Matt Leask as part of World Wildlife Day. With the primary reasons for the decline of nature in the UK being changing land use, climate change and habitat loss, Matt shared how we as an industry can work together to implement positive ecological schemes such as biodiversity net gain (BNG) and Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) to ensure development is protecting or enhancing the environment instead of depleting it.

He said: “I have recently worked on the delivery of a residential development in Derby that included the reinstatement of a section of the historic Derby Canal network, utilised as SuDS. This has been planted with a variety of wildflower and tree species, which have since flowered and matured, to create an amazing space for wildlife, that local residents can enjoy, as well as those using the adjacent public right of way. As a resident of Derby, I’m proud to have helped deliver a new habitat for wildlife within the city!”

In the community

This quarter saw us working with students from the University of Birmingham on their final section of the engineering geology and hydrogeology module, led by our senior project engineer Florence Trahair. The module has been a brilliant opportunity to support the university and the future engineers in their studies, and we look forward to helping out again next year. We also joined the university’s careers fair, with the team taking time to chat to students about the work we do, and what a career in engineering can look like.

Our team in the North West was also busy supporting students, joining the University of Liverpool for a session to support their second year civil and structural engineering group design project. Chris Pollett, Peter Collier, Cameron Robertson and Gavin Briscoe from our local office were on hand helping the students design a bridge between two existing buildings on the campus, reviewing and feeding back on their structural concepts, stability systems, detailed element designs and embodied carbon calculations.

Last but not least, we are very proud to be main shirt sponsor for Burton Rugby Football Club’s under 16s, and one of the sponsors for the team’s upcoming tour in Italy. It’s always a pleasure to get involved in local sports, and we’re looking forward to seeing the team in action and enjoying themselves during the season ahead!