Civil Engineering Industrial Advisory Board

Darren James was appointed Chief Executive of Aureos (previously Keltbray Infrastructure Services) in 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.

An honours graduate in civil engineering from the University of Surrey, Darren has undertaken further postgraduate executive programmes at Harvard, Wharton and London Business Schools.

A Chartered Civil Engineer, Darren is a fellow of the Institute of Directors, the Institution of Civil Engineers and Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation.

Darren is a non-executive director of the Port of London Authority, a director of the Rail Industry Association, a member of the Rail Supply Group Council and industry champion for the Sustainable Railway pillar of the Governments Rail Sector Deal.

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 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 Western Approach Viaducts.

Colin moved into highways 10 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.

Colin is now Group Director responsible for Tony Gee’s UK Highway Sector portfolio which includes delivery of Local Authority, private developer and major National Highways infrastructure projects.

Colin is a chartered civil engineer, member and reviewer for the Institution of Civil Engineers, member 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.

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.

Passionate about improving well-being and regenerating the natural environment through nature and people positive infrastructure solutions, she has contributed to media and national/ international articles on water, climate change, nature, and equity topics. Anusha is a frequent keynote speaker and panellist at regional and international events such as COP26, COP27, and COP28.

Anusha has specialisation in water and environmental engineering with over 25 years’ experience in designing, managing and leading projects in the UK and internationally. In 2000, she was awarded an MSc in Water and Environmental Engineering from the University of Surrey. This set her well towards many important roles in the industry leading up to her current role of Global Senior Director, Climate, Water and Nature at Arcadis. She was also seconded to the Effiage, Kier, Ferrovial and BAM Nuttall joint venture on High Speed 2 as senior director of environmental consents.

Anusha actively contributes to industry NetZero, Climate Resilience and Nature groups, representing Arcadis at London Climate Ready Partnership, Rebuilding Nature Alliance, and the 50L Home Initiative of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, which envisions a future of low carbon, and 50 litres of daily water use per person that feels like 500L.

With Visiting Professor roles at King’s College London and University of Edinburgh, she has lectured widely in many universities, including Newcastle, University of East London, Oxford and Cambridge inspiring the next generation to keep ethics, climate, nature and inclusive design at the forefront when designing places and infrastructure.

She has been actively involved in the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE), being the youngest and first female chair of the ICE London region (2010) and a member of the ICE R&D Panel, the Qualifications Panel and Executive Board where she was the ICE Senior Vice President (2020-23).

In September 2023, Anusha made history as the first person from a non-white background and only the third woman to serve as President of the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) in its 205 year history. She championed nature and people positive solutions globally, by making connections across sectors, geographies, and generations implementing pioneering, innovative and high impact initiatives.

Her achievements include double honorary doctorates, honorary professorships, and multiple awards such as the UK’s Top 50 Women Engineers in Sustainability in 2020 and University of Surrey Alumni Award in 2024.

Recognized by Climate Reframe as one of the UK’s leading BAME voices on climate change, Anusha delivers real, impactful, holistic solutions driving both strategic direction and hands-on execution.

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 drive 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 Surrey and graduated with first class honours in 2016. Whilst at university, she was a scholarship student on the Institution of Civil Engineers/University of Surrey Scholarship scheme, gaining 18 months of industry experience across a variety of industry sectors, including overseas site visits in the US, UAE and Hong Kong.

After graduating, Lily pursued her interest in the transportation sector, blending design, engineering and project management to deliver innovative solutions for aviation clients and their local communities at London City Airport and Gatwick Airport. In 2019 she joined Transport for London, leading projects upgrading infrastructure and supporting the modernisation of rolling stock to deliver improved safety and reliability, environmental benefits and transformative customer experiences.