I am a Senior Engineering Manager at HS2 working in the Hybrid Bill Technical Team. Our team provides technical support to the wider team promoting and defending the High Speed Rail (Crewe to Manchester) Bill through its parliamentary route to Royal Ascent. I grew up and studied in Australia and relocated to the UK in 2018 when an opportunity to work on HS2 presented itself.

I think I happened upon Engineering by chance, having too much time on my hands to reconsider my future career options during a gap year. I decided on going into the rail side of civil engineering in my second year of my degree whilst watching a documentary on Crossrail. 

In my spare time I am renovating a 1930s house, so consider myself a part time carpenter, plumber, and general labourer. I converted a campervan over lockdown and try to travel as much as I can around the UK and Europe.

My key skills that allow me to succeed would have to be problem solving & communication

The most obvious challenge for women within the construction industry (which is slowly changing), is a lack of representation. As Marian Wright Edelman said “You can’t be who you can’t see”.

The advice that I would give to someone joining the industry would be: be confident. No one else has more of an intrinsic right to be there than you. You might feel out of place at times, but the more diversity we can get in the industry, the more comfortable we will all feel.