Awards for individuals

Alan retired in the spring of 2011 after 45 years with Halcrow. He joined the company as an engineering student in 1966 before graduating in 1971 and becoming a full-time employee.

Tunnels and tunnelling said of Alan: “His CV reads like a who’s who of tunnelling projects of the latter part of the last century and into the new millennium.

Alan himself has said there are monuments around the world where parts of his soul are buried”. He has worked on a global scale, on the delivery of major tunnelling infrastructure from the 1970’s to the present day.

IAHR’s UK division holds a young person’s paper competition during its annual event, this year themed “From theory to practise”, which aims to bring out the young talent from the water sector in the United Kingdom.

Kashif presented a paper on the developments being made with ISIS FAST to provide cost effective real time flood forecasting solution to local authorities. ISIS FAST is already being used to deliver cost efficient flood modelling solution internally in Halcrow and hopes to be released industry wide by April 2011.

ISIS FAST has been developed with the help of Halcrow’s Innovation Fund. This internal system was established in 2007 and aims to support staff in technologically innovative projects where research knowledge can be translated into new and improved products and services.

Saeed Alabbar won the title of young consultant of the year for his drive and commitment to his profession. At 26, Saeed is experienced beyond his years. His passion for sustainability and affecting change in the United Arab Emirates drives his career. With an aim to become a thought leader on these areas, Saeed is working towards this at an alarming rate. He has already had many offers to speak at various conferences and being asked to project manage the design and fit-out of the Emirates Green Building Council headquarters. His submission stated him as the individual to watch and the British Expertise agreed!

Halcrow’s global technical director for tunnelling Martin Knights, has been recognised by the British Tunnelling Society with presentation of its coveted James Clark Medal honour.

The award is presented in recognition of outstanding contribution to the national and international tunnelling industry.

Martin is the immediate past president of the International Tunnelling Association, having followed in the footsteps of past prominent Halcrow holders of this position, Sir Alan Muir Wood and Colin Kirkland.

Graduate engineer, Nariba Gittens has won the prestigious title of Young Consultant of the Year at the Association of Consulting Engineers (ACE) and New Civil Engineer Consultants of the Year awards.

The Young Consultant of the Year Award recognises young excellence and talent in the field of consultancy and engineering. Anyone under 35 providing consultancy services in the built and natural environment was eligible to enter.

Halcrow’s Nariba Gittens and Melanie Buckley accounted for two of the four shortlisted young stars. The New Civil Engineer described Nariba as having “an infectious energy for the profession that may well inspire an entire generation of engineers both in the UK and around the world”.

Halcrow’s Paul Starr was highly commended as individual of the year for his work on the Dames Point Container Terminal project, Jacksonville, USA

The British Expertise International Awards recognise excellence in design, planning, management and construction of overseas projects. They support the continued outstanding success of UK professional services throughout the world.

Halcrow engineer, David Phillips, won the prestigious Sir Arnold Waters Medal for his paper on Fiji’s New Rewa River Bridge, published in The Structural Engineer magazine.

The paper chartered the impressive engineering feats that were employed by Halcrow to ensure that the longest bridge of its kind in the South Pacific opened to traffic both early and on budget by Fiji’s president in August 2006.

With an overall length of 425m, the dual two-lane carriageway bridge has seven internal spans of 49.5m and end spans of 39.25m.

Neil Currie
The awards recognise ACE-member-company projects and people that demonstrate a high degree of achievement, value and engineering excellence.

Neil is a technical manager responsible for the development of innovative engineering solutions within Halcrow. These are shared with teams worldwide, through the company’s intranet, lunchtime seminars and presentations.