Lloyd Clough discusses his Jean Venables Medal
Some students can take a while to find just what it is they would like to do with their lives and know what it is they want to study. Others fall in love with a career path from a very early age. BEng (Hons) Civil Engineering student Lloyd Clough certainly considers himself to be in the latter group.
“From school, I had been in the Air Training Corps and had always been fascinated by the RAF and engineering as a whole,” he explains. “My stepfather is a site manager and was always bringing technical drawings home, which I was very interested. Everything just grew from there, really.”
Qualifications and experience
“I secured a role working for Morrish Consulting Engineers, which is a great opportunity for me,” he says. “I signed a training agreement with them to cover studying my National Diploma and then university. Having completed my National Diploma, it was time to find the right university for my degree – something which led me to LSBU.”
As Lloyd began to develop his qualifications he realised that professional accreditation was key in his career – this is where his involvement with the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) began. With a suitable record of continual development and a mix of projects under his belt with Morrish, including exciting events through LSBU from ‘TeamBuild’ weekend through to a Harbin University exchange trip to China, he has recently been admitted as an Engineering Technician to the Institution of Civil Engineers.
Natural choice
Our accreditations, reputation, location and the way we understand the demands of part-time study all combined to make LSBU the natural choice for Lloyd and his employers. “The length of the part-time course suited me perfectly, and the campus is convenient to travel to from my home in Suffolk,” he says. “Balancing work with study has been tough at times, but LSBU understands that part-time students have to make that balance work, and that understanding has really helped.”
Latest thinking in industry
As someone who is working as an engineer while completing his qualifications, Lloyd also feels that he has benefitted greatly from the way courses at LSBU are influenced by the latest thinking in the industry. “The curriculum is very current,” he explains, “and incorporates contemporary issues such as design by Eurocodes. As we explore each area of Civil Engineering, the design processes we learn in the classroom can be implemented in my day-to-day role with Morrish.”
Lecturers have industry backgrounds so they relate what we cover in lectures to real-world situations all the time. It’s also great that I am studying alongside part-time students from a wide range of roles in the Civil and Structural Engineering industry, and it’s interesting to hear what projects they have been working on.
Lloyd Clough
Dedication and enthusiasm
It seems that Lloyd is determined to make a great start to his career, winning the prestigious Jean Venables Medal for newly qualified Engineering Technicians. ‘I’m ecstatic about winning it,” he says. “I was told I had similar technical ability to the other finalists, but my extra-curricular work combined with my enthusiasm and dedication brought me out on top.”
Lloyd is currently putting that enthusiasm to good use as he strives to secure the highest mark possible for his degree. “After that, I’ll be looking to secure incorporated membership with the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE), with the aim of one day helping to carry out Technician Professional Reviews.”
Plans for the future
Lloyd also has clear plans for the future of his industry, as well as his own career. “I continue to work with Morrish, I also want to carry on working as a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) ambassador,” he says. “It’s great to help schools and colleges as much as possible. I’ve been volunteering since 2013, and it has been incredibly rewarding to be in a position to enthuse students not much younger than me to consider a career in Engineering.”
It’s something that the young boy excitedly poring over technical drawings with his stepfather would certainly approve of.
Read more about studying BEng (Hons) Civil Engineering at LSBU.