Meet the Engineer: Colin Murphy
At Tideway, our aim is to inspire the engineers of tomorrow by promoting the STEM subjects of science, technology, engineering and maths.
We also want to showcase some of the many talented people we have working across the project. Meet Engineer Manager Colin Murphy.
For Colin Murphy, this year will mark his tenth working on the Tideway project, and 16th in total working in the industry. Growing up, he always had an immense fascination in how mega engineering projects were designed and built. Or as he puts it: “How the seemingly impossible became possible.”
“I was hungry to understand everything from the Saturn V rocket to the Hoover Dam,” says Colin. “Living beside a river, near the sea I always had a keen interest in hydraulics and the control and conveyance of water. I studied for a diploma in civil and structural engineering in Cork, Ireland, for three years and continued my studies in civil, offshore and hydraulic structures in Edinburgh ultimately graduating in 2004 with a Masters in Civil Engineering.”
Along the way he took as much opportunity to gain experience where he could, spending time on sites in his native Ireland in junior engineering roles and, in 2003, he spent five months as a humanitarian aid engineer in north west Ecuador.
He has since worked in consultancy on infrastructure schemes in the UK and the Middle East on work ranging from major urban drainage, flood defence, maritime engineering through to tunnelling schemes across all sectors of the industry.
His move to the Tideway project initially came as a three-month secondment a decade ago. “I jumped at the chance and joined what became Tideway in September 2010. This year, I will celebrate 10 years on the project. I am immensely fortunate to have been on the original engineering design team and have been able to follow and see my own original engineering design work from blank sheet site optioneering through planning, procurement, tender and now delivery.”
Having always worked on sites on the western section of the project - each of which have their own unique challenges - Colin’s role spans from design assurance, technical review, compliance, and engineering safety, to standardisation of the design for access, operation and maintenance of the Tideway scheme.
Colin says he has been fortunate to have worked with, and learned from, some incredible professionals along the way, some of whom have been with him since he first joined.
“Today many of my closest friends are those I have met and worked with on the project. I am immensely proud of my work on Tideway. In terms of project legacy, well, I met my wife on Tideway and we recently had our first child, so you could say Tideway has left an immense legacy on my life too.”
Looking to the future Colin wants to continue to develop technically and on a career path driving and managing major infrastructure projects.
If he could offer any advice to younger professionals on the project, it would be: “Your future is in your hands, it is yours to drive. Keep your eyes and ears open and any opportunity you get to learn, take it.”