Kathryn Tyley

Environmental engineer, Pluviam Environmental Ltd

Expertise

Environmental Management, Water

Location

United Kingdom

My highlights

ICE President’s Future Leader 2024/25

ICE QUEST scholar during university

Volunteer with Girlguiding

A day in my life

I investigate flood risk on sites using digital tools and sometimes by visiting in person. I think about potential ways to safely slow down and store the water using a variety of methods.

These try to incorporate lots of improvements to water quality and habitats using plants and water features.

I often work with a landscape architect to consider how to make them look good and interact nicely with the site’s users and existing features.

Finally, I do a series of calculations and run computer models to check how big the design needs to be.

I make a drawing either for the local council to approve or for the builders to work from and write a report to summarise what I’ve done and why (for anyone else working on the project now or in future).

I’ll never get tired of walking, cycling or driving past something and proudly telling my friends and family that I helped make it (I can’t promise that they won’t get tired of it though…).

Which individual project or person inspired you to become a civil engineer?

An ex-pupil visited my school on a careers day and made a very convincing sales pitch to my geography class.

I’m afraid I can’t even remember her name now, but not everyone who influences you is necessarily a big famous person.

We asked Kathryn…

I would recommend a career in civil engineering because…

You can improve the quality of the environment around us everyone that interacts with it every day!

And that also means you can go around the country seeing the difference you’ve made.

I’ll never get tired of walking, cycling or driving past something and proudly telling my friends and family that I helped make it (I can’t promise that they won’t get tired of it though…).

Complete this phrase: I’m a civil engineer, but I’m also…

A hiker, a dancer and a swimmer.

What about being a civil engineer gets you out of bed each morning?

The world’s expert scientists have said that we are heading towards a very different, and probably dangerous, climate.

What I design now has the potential to improve people’s ability to cope with that climate.

What’s one great thing that you love about civil engineering that you didn’t know until you started working in the industry?

How many different roles are involved in designing and building infrastructure.

Which civil engineering project (past or present) do you wish you’d worked on?

Roman aqueducts!

Name one civil engineering myth you’d like to bust.

That you need to be good at maths – an understanding of natural processes and geography can be more important a lot of the time.

What’s the biggest/most complex thing you’ve made out of Lego? How long did it take you?

I made a Lego boat once, but really my equivalent is making fun cakes!

I’ve made checkerboard cakes with chess pieces, a cake shaped like a chicken and even one with Skittles magically pouring from the sky.

It’s a lovely way to spend the weekend and a great gift for someone’s birthday!

Has civil engineering helped you overcome any personal hurdles/difficulties?

There’s something comforting about knowing how buildings and infrastructure works.

When something goes wrong in your or your family’s house, it’s simply another problem to solve using what you know about building systems.

Anything else? i.e. personal causes, hobbies

I like to swim, hike, dance and volunteer with Girlguiding, which has also taken me around the world to massive Jamborees and Roverway events to meet up with international scouts.

Kathryn's career path

I did my A-levels in maths, physics and geography. Then, a master of engineering (MEng) degree at Newcastle University in civil engineering, with a specialism in water in my final year.

I was an ICE QUEST scholar during university, so had summer placements with a major contractor on Crossrail and with a small heritage structural consultancy in Cumbria.

After graduating I joined a major consultancy’s water team as a graduate for two and a half years before moving to a smaller, more specialised consultancy to focus on sustainability.

Major projects

While I’ve worked on some major projects such as Crossrail and flood alleviation schemes in York, mostly I do lots of smaller projects all around the country.

For example, in social housing estates and by removing individual weirs.

I enjoy this as you can clearly see the difference you’ve made to a site and the people and habitats who use it in a shorter time frame.

I’m collecting quite a busy map of projects all over the UK and Ireland!