Having just marked 40 years with Atkins, I have witnessed many changes in the sector over that time. Among the biggest changes in the industry I’ve seen over the years has been a shift to a more multidisciplinary way of thinking, an evolution towards a multi-system approach.
Mike McNicholas is managing director at Atkins
Infrastructure is part of a system, whether that’s a social system or an environmental system for example. So, when we come to look at infrastructure programmes there are multiple project interlinks within the overall programme as all the different parts need to be connected.
That is a long way from the training we had as engineers more than 40 years ago when I joined Atkins as a fresh graduate.
It’s a bit like in football when you trained to be at right back, in defence, and you trained to be the best right back you can be. Today, you need to be able to play in every part of the pitch. I think the Dutch took that approach and called it “total football”. Today it’s very much a case of “total engineering”.
The increasing use of technology and data to make better-informed decisions, along with the shift in project collaboration, also stand out as among the biggest changes. Being able to use the available technology not only to meet clients’ needs but also to share work and collaborate remotely on projects has become the new normal.
It’s no longer necessary to turn up to an office in London, Birmingham, Glasgow to do great work. We can work with people all over the globe on projects, so technology that fosters collaboration and connectivity has been vital. Lockdown helped accelerate that, but it was the direction of travel in any case.
But undoubtedly one of the most significant changes concerns the people working at Atkins and in the industry more widely, which still struggles with representation of females and people of colour.
I started my career as a young working class man from the North, so I can understand how difficult it is to walk into a business where there are very few people from the same background.
The Atkins office at Epsom in 1982 was a different world from what I was used to. There were no women engineers; we didn’t really see them until well into the 1990s. And of course we didn’t see people of colour or people from around the world coming to work here.
Today at Atkins, inclusivity and diversity are fundamental, but recent research we have undertaken has highlighted that as an industry, there are still many challenges to be tackled.
It’s important to take a step back and look at the image of our industry and ask why engineering is not being seen as a career route for some sectors of our society.
But the way we've embraced projects and created societal benefit, social value really, with initiatives like the London 2012 Olympics and Crossrail - has enabled us to create role models. Through media such as TV and radio, the profile of engineers has risen, but it is also about representation and giving people a chance.
One of the greatest things you can do is place your trust in somebody to go and do a job well. That’s the experience I had early in my career when I was trusted to go and design an island in Dubai, mostly on my own. I was given that chance, but it came with the support of a network.
We have to make it clear that this is a career that's tolerant, a career where we're going to sponsor the development of people, and accelerate them through so they can succeed and transcend the perceived barriers I felt when I started.
I believe I can use my experience to connect; connect my various clients together, connect my teams to each other and use the fact that I've seen a lot and experienced a lot to enable them in what they need to do.
I still feel this is a great industry to be part of, always changing and evolving. Technology and priorities change, but at the core is that realisation of the difference we make to people's lives. That's a thread that has held strong across 40 years.
- Mike McNicholas is managing director at Atkins
Like what you've read?To receive New Civil Engineer's daily and weekly newsletters click here.
