What civil engineering projects in Asia taught me about innovation

When I attended the ICE’s ‘Shaping a digital world conference’ years ago, we were told that diversity drives innovation.

That it’s different experiences that deliver better ideas and therefore better solutions.

Since then, I’ve looked for every opportunity to diversify my own experiences and to drive innovation in my work.

As an example of this, I used my funds from the QUEST Technician scholarship I received in 2018 to visit engineering projects the Middle East.

Although the trip was fantastic, I still wanted to develop myself further and the ICE’s QUEST Travel Award offered a perfect opportunity to do just that.

Planning the trip

I mentioned the scholarship to Grant, one of my best mates from school, who’s also a civil engineering apprentice and on the same degree at Liverpool John Moores University.

On our weekly five-hour return journey between Carlisle and Liverpool, we planned how we would obtain the scholarship.

The application process required us to write about the proposed experience and the budget we needed.

We planned for two weeks in Bali to support a school’s construction, followed by one week in Vietnam to visit construction sites.

In 2020, we received a call to say that we’d been successful!

However, the Covid lockdowns saw us lose our contact in Vietnam, so we changed our trip and added on Dubai, Singapore and Hong Kong using our own savings.

So many people were willing to help with our visit – it’s your mission to find those supportive people.

The first leg: Dubai

After delays due to Covid, I finally set off in 2023.

In Dubai, I first met up with an Autodesk representative to find out how digital technology is being used in the Middle East.

Autodesk’s software, Tandem, is used for facilities management and as a digital twin solution.

After reading a lot about what digital twins could do, I found this really put things into perspective of how the technology is actually being used.

I visited the WSP office and met with David Kimmerly, the director for property and buildings.

He gave me some insights to projects across the region, including Sharaan, a new resort carved into the desert hills of Saudi Arabia.

I also met with a director at Mace Construction to talk about the challenges and opportunities the region faced.

I’m grateful for his time as he gave me some brilliant advice and insight.

A fresh perspective in Bali

In Bali I was ready to get to work. Day one on the construction site was a real eye-opener.

I met many civil engineers from around the world and worked in a team.

We overcame communication barriers to achieve a common goal: building a school for local children.

Over two weeks, I had a go at tiling, laying blocks, plastering and painting.

The project opened my eyes to working with limited resources and how developing countries take more risks to get the infrastructure they need, or risk falling behind.

That’s of the reasons why they need volunteers – particularly ones who value health and safety!

Civil engineering at its best

In Singapore, I first met with Grant Associates, a landscape architect firm who designed one of the symbols of Singapore: Gardens of the Bay.

All their projects aim to integrate people, the environment and engineering together, with one of their practices being ‘reconnecting people and nature’.

At WSP, technical director Tim Aldeburgh introduced me to some of the airport work being completed in Malaysia.

He showed me how the position of shops in an airport are determined from data that indicates when people are most likely to make a purchase on their journey.

Although this was interesting, I’ll now forever be sceptical when making an airport purchase!

Principal engineer and ICE member in the region, Stephen Folkes, also gave me a walking tour of the city.

This showed me how the city has integrated heritage, environment and innovation through civil engineering.

It wouldn’t have been a trip to Singapore without visiting the top of Marina Bay Sands, or the Jewel Changi airport that has won 680 awards since opening.

The experiences didn’t disappoint, and I gasped at seeing what can be achieved in our industry!

Unexpected learnings

The final week of my trip was in Hong Kong – a great way to round off the six-week-long experience.

I visited Victoria Park, fishing villages, and Buddhist temples.

I also went on a boat trip to see the ‘road’ to Macau, the longest sea-crossing bridge in the world with a tunnel at a section where the bridge couldn’t be built.

I also frequented the WSP office and went on site visits, which included a new airport terminal, a theatre and a highways tunnel under the bay.

All these visits blew my mind, particularly being at the bottom of a 40m deep pit with the Hong Kong bay on the other side of some sheet piling!

On these visits, I met with a temporary works engineer which put a spin on the way I looked at a sites.

So much so, that I purchased the ICE introduction to temporary works book and made a commitment to myself to gain practical experience of putting designs into construction.

A new perspective?

Going back to the reason for applying for the QUEST Travel Award, the trip certainly diversified my experience in a way that encourages innovation.

But I know it’s going to be a never-ending game.

The more exposure I have to different cultures, disciplines and ideas, the more I realise I don’t know.

But that awareness to me feels like the first step in finding the best way to do something.

I’m looking forward to seeing where my quest for innovation takes me next.

For Grant