If you cut me open you would find that I’m an engineer to my very core. For me it is a vocation rather than a job.

I’ve had the privilege to work on a very wide range of projects with some extraordinary engineers. My particular passion is working on existing buildings and complex sites. I enjoy reading the structure of buildings from the clues that can be seen on the surface. This calls on the wide experience I have of different forms of construction.

I’ve had great pleasure in working on two projects which were Stirling shortlisted, one of which won. But any project where the engineering is not straightforward gets me interested. I am a strong believer in collaboration. A building doesn’t know that part of it was designed by an architect, part by a structural engineer and part by a services engineer. It is one building, and our designs must therefore be integrated.

Away from work I am interested in anything relating to industrial history. I enjoy being outdoors and am lucky to have access to both a full-length narrowboat and a cottage in the Lake District. I also love working with my hands, particularly in wood.

Look at this rhubarb leaf from my garden. An extraordinary cantilever structure that is beautiful, renewable and carbon neutral. Well I did say I was an engineer to the core! It’s tasty too.