ICE President Barry Clarke visited the South West last week (13th December), meeting with Fellows, Graduates and Members of the Institution as well as visiting two key engineering projects in Plymouth.
ICE President Barry Clarke visited the South West last week (13th December), meeting with Fellows, Graduates and Members of the Institution as well as visiting two key engineering projects in Plymouth.
The visit began with a breakfast meeting featuring a presentation from the team behind the Plymouth Energy from Waste CHP Plant; a site which will have an annual incineration capacity of 245,000 tons and is currently being constructed at Devonport Royal Dockyard, one of the oldest and largest naval bases in Europe.
The President’s first visit of the day was to the newly opened COAST Laboratory at Plymouth University. This wave tank facility provides a unique capability for testing models of marine energy devices, providing device developers the opportunity to perform scale model tests and assess performance as well as giving students experience that could not be gained elsewhere.
Barry Clarke said: ‘As an academic, this visit to Plymouth has been truly fascinating. The COAST facility is a wonderful addition to Plymouth University, as a teaching tool but also as a way of engaging with industry.’
Barry and his ICE South West colleagues also had the opportunity to visit the Energy from Waste CHP Plant construction site, which featured in the earlier presentation.
He continued: ‘Visiting the Energy from Waste CHP Plant was another example of brilliant engineering going on in the South West, demonstrating how innovation can help solve the problems of landfill and energy generation simultaneously. I was particularly pleased to see how keen the developers are to educate, both via contact with Plymouth University and by welcoming local residents to tour the site and understand its purpose.’
Peter Marsh of Kier said: ‘It was fantastic to welcome the President of the Institution to our construction site; it is very much a local project with a large number of the team being based in and around Plymouth. We are very proud of the work being done here and having Barry witness what we are trying to achieve was a privilege.’
The visit ended with a chance for the President to meet a number of active Graduate members in the region, discussing how to develop interest and inspire young people to go into engineering as a career.
Regional Chairman, Martin Borthwick, said: ‘We were delighted to welcome the President to Plymouth. There is a lot of fantastic work going on in the City and it was a worthwhile experience sharing this with such an important member of our organisation.’
IMAGE SHOWS: Martin Borthwick, Barry Clarke, Richard Fish, Trish Johnson, Peter Marsh (Kier), Nigel Elkes (Kier) and Jamie Bee (Kier)