Civil Engineering Industrial Advisory Board

Darren James was appointed CEO of Aureos (formerly Keltbray Infrastructure Services) in August 2024 having led the purchase by EMK Capital of the infrastructure arm of the Keltbray group where he served as CEO from April 2020. Prior to this, he spent 30 Years at Costain Group PLC starting on their graduate development programme and rising through the ranks to be Chief Operating Officer.  He has a wealth of experience in leading high-profile programmes for both public and private sector customers, often in highly regulated infrastructure sectors, both in the UK and internationally.

A Chartered Civil Engineer and a graduate of the University of Surrey, Darren now Chairs the Industry Advisory Board for Civil Engineering.  Darren has also undertaken further postgraduate executive programmes at Harvard, Wharton and London Business Schools.

Darren is a fellow of the Institute of Directors as well as the Institute of Civil Engineers (where he Chairs the James Rennie Medal Panel) and the Chartered Institute of Highways and Transportation.  In addition, Darren also serves as a Non-Executive Director of Welsh Water where he Chairs the Performance and Safety Committee and is a member of the Nominations Committee as well as serving as a  Director of the Rail Industry Association and a member of the Rail Supply Group Council.

Previously, Darren served as Non-Executive Director at the Port of London Authority.

Liam graduated in July 2019 from the University of Surrey’s MEng Civil Engineering programme with a first and returned to Arcadis Consulting with whom he had a scholarship with and had spent each summer and his placement working for.

Liam has since been working within the Highways Structures sector of the business with a focus on structural design. During his time at the University, Liam accrued a series of awards and upon graduating he was awarded the highly prestigious “Wells Award” for the best overall final result from any of the MEng programmes offered by the Divisions of CCE and MMA. Liam hugely enjoyed his time at the Surrey and is forever grateful for the support and opportunities afforded to him by the academic staff.

Since returning to Arcadis, Liam has led development of a junior staff development group within his business unit and he currently chairs the ICE Thames Valley Graduates, Students and Apprentice Committee which focuses on providing development support to individuals at all levels working towards chartership, including students. Something which Liam has always been passionate about, having been both an Institution of Civil Engineers and Department of Civil Engineering Student Ambassador whilst studying at Surrey.

Colin is a Surrey ‘Civil Engineering with Computing’ MEng graduate with more than 20 years’ construction industry experience having worked as Contractor on the Channel Tunnel Rail Link, and Local Authority Highways, but predominantly as a consultant. As a design consultant he started his career designing buildings, bridges and temporary works.

After a period working in Hong Kong acting as designer’s site representative on numerous post-tensioned segmental concrete bridges as well as managing the team of independent checking engineers responsible for temporary works for the 1km span cable-stayed Stonecutters Bridge, Colin returned to the UK to manage design delivery of major rail schemes including Cannon Street Station Redevelopment, East London Line’s Silwood Grade Separated Junction and London Bridge Station redevelopment.

Colin moved into highways 14 years ago managing delivery of large port access infrastructure schemes, notable local authority bypasses schemes such as A142 Ely Southern Bypass, and national major projects such as the A417 Missing Link.

Colin is now Director responsible for Tony Gee’s Global Highway Sector spanning across its’ Canada, UK, Middle East and Asia businesses. Based in the UK Colin is also one of the eight senior Directors making up the UK Leadership Team who are responsible for Tony Gee’s UK operations.

Colin is a Chartered Civil Engineer, member and reviewer for the Institution of Civil Engineers, Fellow of the Chartered Institute for Highways and Transportation and has been a member of the University of Surrey Civil Engineering Industrial Advisory Board since 2019.

Irosha is currently working at BAM Nuttall on several AWE projects including; buildings and water treatment works. Irosha is also working on an Environment Agency Framework preventing coastal and river flooding to over 150 assets. Irosha supports the BAM and client team for scope definition, progress tracking, commercial reviews, and risk management. Irosha also supports the business to engage and set up contracts with new designers.

Irosha is a chartered civil engineer (CEng MICE) with over 10 years of experience in delivery of projects, design, and design management. Whilst predominantly in contracting, she spent almost two years in design and asset management whilst on secondment to Atkins. Her broad knowledge and experience of the whole project life cycle has enabled her to guide clients, challenge designers and support site teams throughout the project.

Irosha has worked on multi-disciplinary projects across sectors such as rail and infrastructure and sets a high standard for quality and adherence to processes and procedures. She harnesses the use of technology to drive efficiency, transfer information, model, collaborate and maintain records. Irosha has worked on bespoke, NEC3 and NEC4 contracts of varying sizes and complexity. Irosha delivers training across the business to enhance knowledge of design management.

Irosha graduated in 2015 from the University of Surrey with a First Class MEng with a year in industry. Whilst at university she was chair of the Civil Engineering Society and was on the ICE/Surrey Scholarship Scheme Committee, sponsored by BAM Nuttall during her degree. Her enthusiasm for the Civil Engineering Department led her to becoming a student ambassador and giving talks and tours for prospective students. Irosha won the first Griffiths Scholar Award for her commitment to the Scholarship Scheme and to the Department.

Following university, Irosha set up, chaired, and developed training for the BAM Nuttall national ambassador scheme to encourage staff to engage with STEM activities and inspire the next generation of civil engineers. During university and to the present day, Irosha continues to support BAM Nuttall and the University of Surrey by interviewing prospective students for the Surrey/ICE Scholarship Scheme. Irosha is highly motivated to join the IAB to bring her experience and enthusiasm to advise the University and bring about positive change aligning with industry current needs.

Philip graduated from the University of Surrey in 1988 and is now the UK Group Managing Director for Bachy Soletanche, the world leader in foundations and soil technologies.

Keith is the Board’s joker in the pack – proud to be not a Surrey graduate, but Southampton University (Master of Engineering, Civil Engineering) and Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées, Paris (Mastère Spécialisé en Ouvrages d’Art).

Keith is a Chartered Civil Engineer and Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers, with over 35 years' experience of delivering complex infrastructure projects in the UK and overseas. His experience includes working in Regulated Nuclear, Aviation and Rail sectors. Highlights include delivering designs for transforming former industrial land to form the public entrances to the Olympic Park for London 2012 Games; construction of the Large Hadron Collider at CERN where he was responsible for supervision of the surface works aspects; construction of the first privately financed motorway scheme in Eastern Europe, and design of rail, highway and airport upgrades in UK.

He has spent the last few years as Engineering Manager for design of Enabling Works and Earthworks at Sizewell C, a billion-pound-plus programme of Works including a 500m jetty and a 150m jetty with a novel berthing arrangement, temporary and permanent sea defences, excavation support and hydraulic cutoff structures for the big dig (approximately 450m x 450m, max depth circa 25-30m), substantial bridges for construction and operational traffic and construction-phase desalination to mitigate a regional water shortage.  This will help ensure a sustainable future for the energy supply of the United Kingdom, benefitting from a blend of construction, technical and design management skills, and French language/ culture experience working.

Keith also takes an active role as Supervising Civil Engineer and Mentor in developing staff towards ICE and Eng C accreditations, and has supported over 50 people through Technician, Incorporated Engineer, Chartered Engineer and ICE Fellowship.

Skanska, established in 1887, is one of the world’s leading project development and construction groups. Operating around the world in selected markets in Europe and the US, Skanska is listed on the Stockholm stock exchange and headquartered in Sweden’s capital city. Drawing on our Scandinavian heritage, we are green, innovative, and progressive. We bring together people and technology, as part of our objective to make construction a safer and more collaborative industry.

Professor Anusha Shah is a distinguished global leader in climate resilience, water and environmental engineering, with over twenty-six years of experience advancing sustainable development and nature-positive infrastructure across the UK and internationally. As the Past President of the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE), she made history as only the third woman and the first person of colour to hold the role in over 205 years. 

She is currently the Founder & CEO of 'Plan for Earth', a catalyst for systemic change in sustainability, climate change adaptation and nature positive infrastructure. She recently completed a successful tenure as Global Senior Director for Climate, Water & Nature at Arcadis where she led transformative climate strategies and represented the organisation on the London Climate Ready Partnership and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development’s 50L Home Initiative.

Professor Shah’s non-executive portfolio includes roles as a Non-Executive Director at the UK Met Office and Trustee at Green Alliance, and she previously chaired the Thames Estuary Partnership Board and ICE's Thomas Telford Limited Board. In academia, she has held visiting professorships at King’s College London and the University of Edinburgh, and lectured widely at institutions including Oxford, Cambridge, Newcastle, and the University of East London (UEL). She was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Engineering by UEL and University of Heriot Watt for her services to climate change. She was also awarded honorary Professorship from University of Wolverhampton and Amity University in India.

A passionate advocate for equity, inclusion, and climate justice, Professor Shah has contributed to numerous national and international publications and reports. Her accolades include being named among the UK’s Top 50 Women Engineers in Sustainability, CECA Inspiring Engineering Award, BME Leader of the Year, University of Surrey Alumni of the Year and has been recognised by Climate Reframe as one of the UK’s leading BAME voices on climate change.

Lydia is the Global Senior Director of Performance at Bentley Systems, providing infrastructure software solutions from design, construction and asset optimisation. She is responsible for leading teams in driving value and high-quality outcomes for accounts by aligning cross functional teams, addressing account challenges, and promoting long-term partnerships to deliver mutual results.

Lydia is a Chartered Civil Engineer and completed her five year Masters degree at the University of Surrey, including an industrial placement year. She spent the first half of her career in construction and infrastructure development, from physical site engineering to project managing multi-million infrastructure projects including Crossrail, HS2, National Highways and nuclear and energy contracts.

In 2015 she won the European award for Best Young Woman in Construction. After completing a part-time Executive MBA in 2019, also at the University of Surrey, she saw an opportunity to improve the efficiency of construction and moved into ConstructionTech as Digital Delivery Director, Managing Digital Consultants, creating digital go to market propositions and operating software development teams.

Today Lydia is using her deep industry knowledge and passion for digital technologies to ensure customers across the globe, are gaining the best value from their software subscription and sustainably advancing the world’s infrastructure for better quality of life.

Lydia is delighted to join the Advisory Board. She is passionate about promoting STEM careers to young people, an ally for women in engineering and construction and has seen first-hand how the industry is evolving through traditional construction methods, to leading teams developing highly technical digital twins and AI for improving construction performance. She is looking forward to being able to give a view on the skills and capabilities today's engineers should be equipped with.

Lily studied MEng Civil Engineering at the University of Surrey, graduating with First Class Honours in 2016. As part of the Surrey/ICE Scholarship scheme, she gained 18 months’ industry experience across multiple sectors with AtkinsRéalis, including international site visits in the US, UAE and Hong Kong.  She was awarded the R M Davies Memorial Prize in recognition of her achievements during her Professional Training Year. Lily joined the Industrial Advisory Board as a student representative during her Masters year and has continued as a member since.

Following graduation, Lily built her career in the transportation sector, combining design, engineering and project management to deliver innovative solutions for aviation clients and their local communities.  She was named AtkinsRéalis’ Infrastructure Graduate of the Year in 2018 and spent two years on secondment to London City Airport.

In 2019, Lily joined Transport for London (TfL), leading the delivery of critical infrastructure renewals and supporting the modernisation of rolling stock to improve safety, reliability and sustainability across London's transport network. Her project and programme management experience at TfL covered a range of modes, including the London Underground, London Trams, Woolwich Ferry, London Cable Car and Cycle Hire Scheme.

Lily is currently the Strategic Asset Replacement Lead at London Gatwick Airport and a member of London Gatwick's Engineering Leadership Team. She leads the development of Gatwick’s Engineering Asset Replacement Plan, alongside oversight of the Asset Management and Principal Engineering functions.