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Katie Wood

Katie Wood

Director, ARUP

Expertise

Environment

Location

United Kingdom
My highlights

Becoming an ICE Fellow in 2019

Working on projects across the UK, Australia and Canada

Being an expert on healthcare, health and wellbeing projects

A day in my life

What I particularly like about my career is that there’s no typical day. I’m always doing different things.

In some phases of my career, I’ve travelled a lot internationally. Right now, I’m responsible for leading a team in London, so my travel is more limited and almost all UK-based. However, I still don’t spend more than a couple of hours at my desk at any one time or more than a day or two a week just in the office.

I juggle leading the team project work, business development, thought leadership, and various internal Arup initiatives.

I’m a civil engineer, but I’m also ... an advisory on healthcare and health and wellbeing, a project and programme manager, and a management consultant.

Katie at the Calgary Cancer Centre
Katie at the Calgary Cancer Centre

We asked Katie…

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

All of it really – when I started, I didn’t have much idea about what it would be like to work as a civil engineer.

which civil engineering myth(s) you would like to bust?

The civil engineering profession in the UK is very wide in scope. It’s not just designing or building things in the ground.

I’ve been so pleased that even though my career has developed a long way from where it started, what I’m doing is still “a vital art, working with the great sources of power in nature for the wealth and wellbeing of the whole society”.

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

I’m not going to be greedy; I’m really happy with the projects I’ve worked on so far!

what about being a civil engineer inspires you?

I enjoy the complex challenge of the work, the variety and the potential to make a real difference to people.

would you recommend a career in civil engineering?

I’m motivated by sharing ideas and contributing to projects and programmes that will result in positive change for people.

Education

  • MEng in civil engineering at Birmingham University
  • Training agreement with Tarmac Construction, worked on Canary Wharf Jubilee Line Station, among other projects
  • Became a member of ICE
  • Fairly short stints with O’ Rourke and Bovis
  • Started with Arup 2000 and have been with them ever since!
  • Worked in the project management team on a wide variety of projects
  • Started working on a healthcare programme for the Department of Health around 2006
  • Moved to Australia in 2008 to work on the new Royal Adelaide Hospital project, then became healthcare lead for the Australasia Region
  • Moved to Canada in 2014 to build up the healthcare sector, worked on the Calgary Cancer Centre project, among others
  • Returned to London in 2016, lead the operations consulting team and currently working on Defence and National Rehabilitation Centre and the Royal St redevelopment in London