Tony Gee Triumphs at Annual Awards Ceremony, Winning Prestigious Awards For People and Projects

On May 1st Tony Gee's Birmingham office celebrated numerous awards and commendations at the Institution of Civil Engineers West Midlands Annual Awards Dinner, at the Macdonald Burlington Hotel in Birmingham.

In recognition of his outstanding contribution to civil engineering within the West Midlands over the last 35 years, Andrew Kenchington was awarded the Bob Dunn Award.

Andrew said: “I am very proud and honoured to receive the Bob Dunn award as my career with Tony Gee draws to a close this year. I have been privileged to have been involved with so many interesting engineering challenges – Selly Oak and Rugeley bridge slides stand out in the Midlands but so many more just kept coming at Tony Gee!
Despite the recent cycling injuries (!) it was a hugely enjoyable evening, celebrating alongside many Tony Gee colleagues to reflect upon our engineering achievements and future exciting projects.”

From long standing experience to up and coming talent in the industry, Ben Merchant-Smith was awarded the Rising Star award.

Ben said: ‘I was just happy to have been recognised by being nominated, so to win is fantastic. Many thanks to everyone who has helped me get to where I am today’.

Alongside these fantastic individual awards, Delta Junction, which we have worked on as part of the Midland Metro Alliance was Highly Commended in both the Large Project and Innovation and Technical Excellence categories.

A Double Victory for Megan Martin at the Scottish Renewables Young Professionals Green Energy Awards

Megan picked up two hotly contested awards at the annual Scottish Renewables Young Professionals Green Energy Awards which 'shines a spotlight on the pioneers of tomorrow'.

Megan, a design engineer currently working on site at Slieve Kirk Wind Farm, was awarded the Engineer Award and the Professional Service Award at last night’s ceremony held at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Glasgow.

The judges said: ‘Megan’s engineering excellence has driven savings and carbon cuts in the design of onshore turbine foundations at Viking Wind Farm, and she continues to lead the way as a mentor shaping Scotland’s renewable future’.

Megan said: ‘I am delighted and overwhelmed to have received these awards at the YPGEA 2025. Working in the renewables sector has always been the dream and it was amazing to be part of an event celebrating the progression of the industry.
I have so many thanks for the teams I work with who have supported me and enabled me to work on incredible wind farm projects.’

Emma McGregor wins prestigious ICE James Rennie Medal

Emma McGregor, Senior Engineer, beat off two other finalists to win the James Rennie Medal, at the Institution of Civil Engineers, One Great George Street, on Monday 24th March 2025.

The James Rennie Medal recognises the best Chartered Professional Review candidate of the year which saw over 1600 candidates come forward for their review.

Emma’s presentation focused on her experience working on Viking Wind Farm, a 103-turbine, 443MW onshore wind farm on mainland Shetland. Now operational, it is anticipated that this will be one of the most productive wind farms in the world, powering 500,000 homes.

Emma was one of three recently chartered professionals to be shortlisted as finalists for the award. During the ceremony, hosted by ICE President Professor Jim Hall, the three finalists presented their Chartered Professional Review reports. A question-and-answer session with the audience and panel of industry experts then followed before the winner was announced.

Emma McGregor said:
“What an honour it is to have won the 2025 James Rennie Medal. Just making it to the final felt like a win, so to come away with the medal feels extra special, especially with the calibre of the other two finalists.
Thank you to everyone who has supported and guided me along the way, it wouldn’t have been possible without you!”

Peter McDonald, Power and Energy Director, said:
“It is a fantastic achievement for Emma to win the James Rennie Medal, a true testament to the exceptional engineer she has become. Emma joined Tony Gee as an undergraduate through the ICE QUEST scheme, and it was evident from the start that she had the potential to develop into an outstanding engineer.”

James Rennie Medal 2025

Bridges to Prosperity Partnership 2025

Tony Gee and Knights Brown are excited to partner for another Bridges to Prosperity project in 2025.

Bridges to prosperity (B2P) work with governments and isolated communities to create access to essential health care, education, and economic opportunities by building trail bridges over impassable rivers.

This year, 10 people from Tony Gee and Knights Brown will form the 2025 team going to a small village in Rwanda. The requirement for an all-year-round accessible bridge has been raised by Bridges to Prosperity who, with the help of the team, will plan, design and construct a bridge which will meet the criteria of the landscape and the local people.

In the lead up to June the team will be fundraising for the £15,000 target goal in order to support their trip.

This is the sixth project that Tony Gee, Knights Brown and B2P will be completing together. In the past, the partnership have successfully built bridges in Rwanda and Uganda over dangerous river crossings, with the new structures helping to save lives and provide improved access to essential amenities for the local community. Since the first project in 2016, the Tony Gee and Knights Brown teams have successfully completed 5 bridges, sending 50 volunteers across the projects and connecting just over 24,000 people.

The team had their first meet up for the launch of the project at One Great George Street to meet each other, select roles for the project and discuss fundraising ideas.

Natalie Cropp, Sustainability Director and Project Sponsor, said “It was great to meet the team at the ICE this week, with clear enthusiasm for the cause and commitment to the project from everyone involved. The fundraising ahead is no small task but the team have some excellent ideas to challenge themselves and engage their friends, family and local communities in their efforts. Good luck B2P Team 2025!”

Alasdair Fowler, Executive Director, said “It is very pleasing to see us supporting another B2P project in 2025. On every project we have completed so far it has been very humbling to see just how much a single bridge means to the local communities and this project will be no different. There were many applications for the 2025 team so many thanks to everyone who applied and well done to the team selected. It is no small challenge the team has taken on – but like previous teams I have every confidence this experience will be extremely rewarding”.

We are looking forward to following the team during their fundraising efforts in the lead up to their trip to Rwanda, where they will spend two weeks with the local community to build a trail swing bridge.

Find out more and sponsor the team here

Tony Gee LLP Announces New CEO and Leadership Structure

Consultant engineering partnership Tony Gee has announced Alasdair Fowler is to take up the new post of CEO as part of changes to the group’s leadership structure, effective from the beginning of 2025.

He will also act as Tony Gee’s UK Managing Director after nearly 14 years with Tony Gee, most recently as Executive Director.

Executive Managing Director Chris Young will take up a new position as Chair of Tony Gee’s Executive Board, overseeing the group’s strategy.

Tony Gee expects its UK operations to remain the largest part of the business. The group’s continued growth means a more appropriate business structure is necessary to ensure the group remains agile and takes full advantage of global opportunities with continued integration and collaboration between all the offices around the world.

Alasdair Fowler said: “The change at Tony Gee will be good for our clients and for our very talented and dedicated team. It will help to ensure Tony Gee continues to innovate and provide sustainable and market leading consultant engineering services across all the sectors we operate in.”

Chris Young said: “These changes will drive the continued success and growth of Tony Gee across all disciplines and locations. It’s an exciting time for everyone here, but although we are becoming a bigger player, we will maintain our distinctive culture and values wherever we operate around the world.”

The Tony Gee Group celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. The business is technically led and works across both the private and public sectors in transport, energy, industry and education.

Read an exclusive interview with Alasdair Fowler for New Civil Engineer Magazine here.

Headshot of Alasdair Fowler
Alasdair Fowler

Iconic Hanson’s Ale bridge wins prestigious Heritage Award

Tony Gee and the Midland Metro Alliance are celebrating success after their collaborative design and delivery of the Hanson’s Ale bridge, one of the final structures delivered for phase one of the Wednesbury to Brierley Hill Metro extension, received a major accolade.

The new Metro bridge in Tipton, which was recently installed across Birmingham New Road, was awarded the Heritage prize at the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) West Midlands awards during a gala in Birmingham on 19th September.

The ICE West Midlands judges were impressed by the bridge’s homage to the previous structure, a “local landmark.” The organisations responsible for designing and delivering Metro extensions on behalf of Transport for West Midlands, went above and beyond to ensure the new bridge retained its iconic green and gold colour scheme, a nod to the former Hanson’s Ale branding.

This marks the second consecutive year the partners have been celebrated in the Heritage category at the ICE West Midlands Awards. In 2023, the restoration of the historic Parkhead Viaduct in Dudley received high commendation from the same judging panel.

David Lea, Associate Director, Tony Gee and Partners, said: “This award is a testament to the successful collaboration between Tony Gee and the Midland Metro Alliance. We are thrilled to have contributed to the preservation of this cherished local landmark, ensuring it continues to serve the community for generations to come.”

Tom Maplethorpe, Midland Metro Alliance Project Director for the Wednesbury to Brierley Hill Metro extension, added: “It is truly gratifying to see the Hanson’s Ale bridge acknowledged by such a respected institution with this award. Not without its challenges, from concept design through to delivery, the teams’ efforts have prioritized the preservation of this local icon – a shining example of the MMA’s dedication to leaving a positive legacy.”

ICE Awards Heritage Win
From left to right: David Lea, Associate Director, Tony Gee; Nathan Griffiths, Associate, Tony Gee; Antony Lowbridge-Ellis, Head of Communications, Midland Metro Alliance

This win is part of a recent wave of industry recognition for the organisation’s work on structures for the highly anticipated Wednesbury to Brierley Hill Metro extension. Earlier this summer, the restoration of Parkhead Viaduct won the Rail Bridge Project of the Year award at the inaugural New Civil Engineer Bridges Awards. The alliance’s heritage-focused approach has also been acknowledged as one of the light rail industry’s Visions of the Year, while the delivery of a massive delta junction for the scheme in Wednesbury is a contender for the Outstanding Engineering Initiative of the Year. Both categories will be decided at next month’s Global Light Rail Awards in London.”

Tony Gee appoints Head of Digital Technology

Tony Gee has appointed Jon Frost as Head of Digital Technology.

Jon will provide strategic leadership across the Tony Gee Group, enhancing the delivery of digital technology for the group’s clients and projects.

The appointment demonstrates Tony Gee’s ongoing commitment to invest in digital technology.

Jon has more than 20 years’ experience in engineering consultancies, where he has developed and applied technology, processes and solutions in engineering projects and business operations.

He will be leading targeted digital transformation programmes adding value to business operations, project delivery and clients’ outcomes.

Executive Managing Director, Chris Young, says: “Tony Gee has built a reputation for simple, elegant solutions to complex problems, so it is fantastic that Jon is joining us to further enhance our capabilities in the digital environment. Our industry is well on its way towards a digital revolution, and with the support of Jon’s experience and expertise, Tony Gee fully expect to maintain its position as a leading player.”

Designers’ views on delivering lower carbon outcomes under PAS2080

The climate crisis is the defining challenge for our generation, and as engineers we have a pivotal role to play in addressing the issue.

PAS2080:2023 Carbon Management in Buildings and Infrastructure (PAS2080) has been recognised across industry as a key tool to delivering decarbonisation. The recent ICE State of the Nation: Infrastructure in 2024 report notes:

Carbon management must become mainstream practice for ICE members.”… “It is the ICE’s view that the consistent application of the principles of PAS 2080:2023 across the institution’s civil engineering community and professional practice will help to deliver national net-zero policies around the world.

Tony Gee hosted a roundtable session at Interchange in Manchester in March. The session was for designers to discuss the actions we can take together to accelerate decarbonisation of infrastructure using PAS2080. In the context of the climate emergency, and the need to act quickly, we wanted to find the parts of the carbon management process where we can put competition to one side and work together. Ultimately, we want to free up our time and creativity to focus on the parts that will really make the difference in reaching Net Zero.
The round table had great collection of industry leaders in this space, with participants from across the design sector; large, medium and small organisations, and individuals who represented their personal, organisational and also sector interest group views.

A summary of the discussion and its findings can be found below and we have also produced a more depth report. If we want meaningful change to happen, we need to keep these conversations going, so we are planning more discussion group building on from our initial findings.

If you would like to be part of the discussion group, please contact Natalie Cropp.

Where is the industry at?

We looked at the maturity of the industry to deliver the different aspects of PAS2080 with a view to teasing out some of the key issues and the things we can do to address them. We categorised each part of the carbon management process against a maturity score illustrating the stark reality that there is a lot of the process that is still emerging in practice, and very little that is commonplace or standard yet.

Some of the key issues that we discussed were:

  • Biodiversity net gain requirements will help to drive the use of nature-based solutions, but we still have a long way to go for these to be routinely integrated into projects.
  • We see differences in approaches to whole life carbon assessments and very little sharing of carbon data across infrastructure projects to inform baselines and targets.
  • Baselines and targets were a hot topic; how do we use them consistently, how do we ensure the baseline is fair, how do we tie them to Net Zero trajectories, do we even need a single target?
  • Designers have a role to play in sharing successes across clients; our experience is showing it is a no risk strategy with cost and carbon savings achieved for the projects using PAS2080.
  • We still need a cultural shift in behaviours around practically delivering carbon management in projects with the same attention we give to cost, programme and risk.

Whilst there are a lot of questions and challenges in this space still, there are some great examples of what can be achieved; be it driven by the clients’ commitment or the designers deciding to simply “just do it”.

What do we need next?

To really progress in delivering decarbonisation using PAS2080 we need to be able to move aspects of the process from the novel and emerging towards standard practice. We discussed the tangible things that need to happen but also the facilitating mechanisms we can use to drive this agenda forward.

We came up with four key actions we can take:

  1. Just do it – put carbon in our standard design practices
  2. Value for carbon not value for money – move the conversation to the broader benefits and outcomes for our projects
  3. Share data – share the as built carbon data we all need to build meaningful baselines and targets; through existing initiatives or new ones
  4. Build client buy in – Sell the opportunities; focussing on carbon saves cost, it supports funding opportunities and helps clients to meet their own ESG and net zero obligations.

To help us drive this conversation forward we identified that using existing forums offers opportunities for the designer community to own our role in decarbonisation and collaborate on meaningful actions.

In the project space we identified the need for the holistic decision maker – someone that can keep carbon in the conversation alongside risk, cost and programme as well as the other outcomes that need to be balanced. In major projects the Design Champion could be this person, in smaller schemes, we can raise the skills and role of our own Project Managers.

Read the PAS2080 Report here

Professional Services Alliance awarded ISO 44001 for Collaborative Business Relationships

The Professional Services Alliance (PSA), consisting of Kier, Tony Gee and RPS, A Tetra Tech Company, has been awarded ISO 44001 certification – the international standard for Collaborative Business Relationships.

Formed in 2019, the alliance was established to create an enhanced delivery model for key highways projects, using integrated design and build and early contractor involvement. Combining complementary skills and expertise, the alliance enables more effective collaboration among the three companies, which translates to increased flexibility, value creation and problem solving for clients and other stakeholders.

ISO 44001 sets out requirements for the effective identification, development and management of collaborative business relationships within or between organisations. The certification measures behaviours, organisational culture, and management processes, and recognises the best-in-class collaboration demonstrated by the PSA following an in-depth two-stage audit process undertaken by the BSI (British Standards Institution).

The PSA is currently delivering the design for key projects across the UK for National Highways, including the A417 Missing Link, M6 Lune Gorge structures and the A66 Trans-Pennine Link.

Jordan Flint, chair of the PSA, said: “The Professional Services Alliance brings together the skills of three companies, providing our clients with a well-rounded, fully integrated design capability. This certification is a culmination of the focus we have invested in working collaboratively to offer the best outcome for our clients and we look forward to seeing how the alliance continues to grow.”

Simon Healey, Operations & System Certification Director UK&I, said: “BSI would like to congratulate the PSA on their achievement of being successfully certified against ISO 44001 for their collaborative business relationship.”

“Pursuing the certification has shown the alliance’s dedication and commitment to adopting collaboration, openness and flexibility as core values. They are to be congratulated for their focus on this in order to drive forward new ways of working, push innovation and support the objectives set out by the UK Government in The Construction Playbook for delivering excellent public works.”

Evan Ho Wins First Prize at the Malaysian Road Conference

Evan Ho, Group Director in Tony Gee’s Malaysia office, was awarded the ‘Best Technical Paper Award (1st place)’ at the Malaysian Road Conference & Exhibition and International Road Federation Asia Pacific Regional Congress.

Evan delivered the award-winning paper titled ‘Alternative Design and Construction of DASH CB1 Mainline Long-Span Bridge’. It focused on the optimisation of design philosophy, construction methods and logistics adapted to suit the challenging site conditions.

“The design exhibited remarkable optimisation. The construction methodology was both agile and innovative, reflecting a forward-thinking approach in execution.” – Judging Panel

About Evan Ho

Evan is the Managing and Regional Group Director of Tony Gee and Partners and Vice Chairperson of the Institution of Civil Engineers, Malaysia. He is a chartered civil and structural engineer with over 25 years of experience in design and construction for several large-scale, technically challenging bridges & building projects in the Middle East, Asia and the UK. He has a particular interest in complex structural problems, dynamic analysis and bridge design. He is also actively promoting the engineering profession and advancing infrastructure development in Malaysia.