How do you describe your job when you meet people at a party?
Broadly I’m a consultant, which encompasses lots of different things – environmental consultant, landscape consultant etc. As a professional I class myself as a soil scientist. I’m sometimes tempted to say I’m an accountant to stop the conversation! One example of my work is I was a soil consultant for the Terminal 5 project. That’s something people can visualize. They know it’s a big project. It involved re-engineering the land in a 380 hectare site. I was responsible for all the soil issues to do with the landscaping, including growing plants
What is ‘cutting-edge’ about your work?
There are two big buzz words – sustainability and recycling. What we’ve done with our knowledge of soils has created a whole new sector. Soils are not just stripped and placed elsewhere. We recycle unwanted soil materials. For example, soil from the Terminal 5 project was used as river dredging soil. When you’re able to reuse waste soil, it ticks the sustainability box and gives you a commercial advantage, saving you money. When soil is re-used it means you’re not using previous landfill space
Describe briefly how your career has progressed to date.
After my Masters I got a job with a small independent consultancy in West London. I spent six months in a lab analyzing soil, which was necessary to understand the job and the limitations of chemistry in the commercial world. Then I became a soil scientist doing survey work and interpretive report writing, which I did for four years. I went on to help set-up another firm doing the same thing, where I spend another four years before I struck out on my own. I now employ four consultants. My soil science is focused on construction and landscape: major road works, business parks, retail parks, sports and pitch design, schools etc
How is your job cross-disciplinary?
We have to speak more than one technical language. For example, we have an interface with both civil engineers and geo-technical engineers. Engineers are very matter-of-fact. It’s a very old industry with certain ways of doing things. We also deal with architects and landscape architects who are design oriented. And then there are the hydrologists and ecologists who deal with contaminated land issues. The phrases, terms, expressions are all different across these groups. You have to know your own subject very well as well as other people’s subjects
How do you see your field developing over the next 5-10 years?
I think my role in the business may change. As employees and senior consultants evolve, you mentor more. One of our aims is to stabilize the size of the business and possibly bring on a couple more consultants. Climate change will also have a major impact on my field. Floods, biodiversity, ecological diversity, carbon sequestering...etc
What’s the most unexpected thing about your job?
The variability and variety of the work that I do. One day we may be looking at soil issues to do with a green roof in a city high rise and the next day we may be looking at soil issues at a landfill in Northumberland. There are many technical, commercial and time variables on any given project. We work on a diverse range of topics and locations. It’s a great element to the work and keeps it interesting. My worst fear is to pigeon-holed into doing just one thing.
What’s the biggest achievement of your career so far?
It’s setting up my own business, maintaining it, and maintaining the continuity and quality with our clients who thankfully speak very highly of us. I never have problems getting trade references from people. We’ve worked for some people and companies for 16 years who we have a lovely rapport with
