James : Project Engineer
MEng Mechanical Engineering,
University of Exeter
The attraction of engineering for me is about being able to see your work out there. It's solid and substantial, rather than just being on a piece of paper. It's like a legacy and you've given something back.
I started with Balfour Beatty in 2003 and my first project was on the West Coast Main Line upgrade for a couple of years. I was on cable route installation - we had over 110km of cabling routes to install through stations and platforms, including digging up a large part of Watford Junction, one of the country's busiest stations.
For the last two years I've been working on the Heathrow Terminal 5 Underground station and extension to the Heathrow Express and the Piccadilly Line. In terms of sheer size, Terminal 5 is the biggest construction site in Europe at the moment.
My first role was overseeing the installation of the track for the two 1.6km-long tunnels for the Heathrow Express extension. I've since been responsible for several escape and intervention shafts, as well as installing several access bridges and line-side equipment rooms. One of my biggest achievements was setting up a 1600m-long pipeline to pump concrete to do a pour at the end of the tunnel.
You feel really proud to have achieved something that people will be using daily. In a few years time I'll have to make a point of not driving to Terminal 5. I've walked up and down these tunnels enough times, it'll be nice to travel through them on a train.
