Congratulations go to Richard Key and Chris McKinstray, students from the Construction Engineering Masters Programme, on their recent awards. Richard Key has been awarded the Young Professional of the Year Award 2012 for Yorkshire and Humberside Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation.
The award is made to a young person less than 35 years of age who is considered to have provided a significant active role within the Branch by their contribution to an interesting or notable project. The aim of the Award is to celebrate individual excellence in Transport Planning and/or Civil Engineering within the highways and transportation field.
Richard graduated in 2007 and became a Chartered Engineer and Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers in spring 2012. Since September 2011 he has also been studying a second Masters Degree (Mst) in Construction Engineering here at the Department of Engineering.
Since July 2010 Richard has been working on the Highways Agency’s M1 Junction 39 to 42 Managed Motorway project. This £185m scheme uses the latest Managed Motorway techniques to make journeys more reliable by controlling traffic flows more effectively through the use of overhead gantries, lane specific signals, and driver information signs. The hard shoulder is used as an additional live traffic lane to give additional capacity. Managed Motorways support the economy by reducing the number of traditional widening schemes, creating a better return on investment and increasing safety at a national level.
Richard’s current role as Deputy Project Manager at Halcrow is very much client facing. His work involves close liaison with the HA Project Manager and her team. When Halcrow senior managers recently met with Highways Agency senior managers to get feedback on project performance, Richard was named a key player in the success of the project to date.
First European Supergrid Winner Chris McKinstray
Chris (Senior Engineer based at the Arup's Edinburgh office) was nominated as the first winner of the The Friends of the Supergrid (FOSG) Award for the best Supergrid related project of the year 2012. The award ceremony was held at the annual conference in Brussels on 19 March.
Chris's work focused on research into technical, commercial & financial risks, as well as mitigation strategies to ensure the successful development of the Supergrid. The outcome was a risk map, designed to stimulate a wider and progressive discussion toward the successful development and implementation of this ambitious project.
The Supergrid aims to create a pan-European transmission network, powered by the renewable energy assets of participating Member States. It seeks to integrate and balance the transportation of electricity, with the aim of unifying and harmonising the European electricity market.
The Supergrid 2013 Award was assigned on the basis of the following criteria:
- A concrete contribution to the Supergrid project
- Impact of the proposal at a European level
- Adding value to the research and vision of FOSG
- Quality of background material
- Facilitating investment in the supply chain
- Implying innovation, either regulatory or technical, or both
- Promoting political or administrative actions towards the realisation of the Supergrid
Twelve other submissions were received from around Europe.
www.fosg-event.eu/supergrid-2013-award.aspx
Together with his supervisor Dr Azad Camyab, Chris also presented a paper titled “The European Supergrid – Messiah or Pariah?“ at the 2nd Annual European Renewable Energy Project Finance Conference in February in London. The paper will also be presented at the prestigious Powergen Europe energy conference in Vienna in June 2013.
