Principal / Project Lead Engineer – Temporary Works     

Reporting to:  Principal Engineer (Design Team Leader) or General Manager

Description:

The Project Lead Engineer (PLE) is responsible for production of drawings, calculations and specifications for a diverse range of temporary and permanent works schemes, as well as the provision of buildability, construction methodology and value engineering advice for live projects and tenders, as required by the business.

The PLE will be a primary point of contact within the Temporary Works Design Office for projects, as allocated by the General Manager.

The PLE will manage a team of junior engineers within the temporary works department and will have accountability for the output of their team, as well as responsibility for their training, development and mentoring.  Staff training will be agreed with the General Manager, in order to fulfil the overall departmental obligations.  The PLE will also engage with and manage external supplier and subcontractor designs, as workload dictates.

The PLE will have a strong technical background.  Fluency at designing with all mainstream structural materials (i.e. steelwork, reinforced concrete, timber, etc.) using Eurocodes is expected.  Geotechnical design capability is also highly beneficial.  Familiarity with a range of proprietary falsework, formwork and shoring equipment is also an essential requirement of the role.

A professional qualification (e.g. CEng, MICE, MIStructE) is desirable in order to fulfil 3rd party requirements for certification of schemes (e.g. Network Rail, HA, LUL, National Grid etc.)

Key Responsibilities & Objectives

Commercial, Contractual

• Ensure that designs are economic through application of knowledge and experience.
• Manage own and subordinates' time in respect of charging, use of supplier design services, use of appropriate software etc.
• Assume full responsibility for routine administration of the workload of their design team.
• Manage any outsourcing of work to design suppliers, where appropriate.

Safety

• Ensure all Design complies with any relevant health and safety legislation, e.g. HSWA, CDM, LOLER, PUWER, EU Directives etc. and maintain a sound, up-to-date knowledge of legislation.
• Fully comply with the company Safety and Quality Management Systems.
• Assume full responsibility for engineering output of their team, by allocating competent design staff to undertake design and checking, commensurate with the design complexity and construction risk.
• Produce suitable and sufficient information required for the safe execution of the design.
• Undertake Design Risk Assessments, ensuring construction risks are identified and addressed within the design.
• Ensure any Residual Risks inherent within the design are clearly communicated to the customer.
• Detail any Performance Constraints (e.g. safe working loads, rates of pour etc.) on drawings.
• Identify any Safety Critical Components including recommendations for specific inspections and / or tests required to demonstrate adequacy.
• Provide Construction Sequence Information for use in site method statements, task briefings and risk assessments.
• Review Design against any in-house and/or externally published safety or technical alerts.
• Where required, provide Inspection Checklists for erection, use, operation and dismantling.
• Where appropriate, carry out site inspections during erection / prior to use to ensure that the construction has been executed in accordance with design requirements.
• Undertake engineering reviews on other design teams' outputs, as required.

Develop Innovative Construction Methods and Engineering Solutions

• Provide value engineering in determining the best solutions, utilising FE analysis and 3D modelling where appropriate.
• Design to relevant industry standards and published guidance with experience and competence in structural steel, timber, reinforced concrete.
• Provide geotechnical advice on ground retention, temporary slopes, battered or benched excavations, use of imported and site-won engineering fills, reinforced earth, working platforms and haul roads.
• Select appropriate and applicable Codes, Standards and methods of analysis to carry out the design.
• Consider all relevant load cases including temporary stability load cases during erection and dismantling or demolition.
• Oversee the work of junior design engineers and carry out design checks on schemes produced by others, including independent checks, as may be required by the Highways Agency, Network Rail, etc.
• Ensure that permanent works design assumptions are not compromised by proposed methods of construction.
• Communicate temporary works methodology clearly with the permanent works designer and/or Principal Designer.
• Provide outline methodologies and temporary works schemes in appropriate level of detail to enable estimators and planners to price and schedule tenders with sufficient allowance for construction method.
• Provide technical input into tender submissions, as required.
• Provide technical support to contracts on methods and temporary works.
• Produce drawings and design deliverables through effective use of CAD, BIM and other support resources available in the organisation.
• Contribute to business improvement initiatives within the department in order to drive process efficiency, e.g. through use of software, automation of routine tasks, etc.

Staff Training and Development

• Maintain up-to-date knowledge of industry matters and new developments through participation in research, self-study, professional development activities, seminars, committees etc. as appropriate and maintain CPD records.
• Develop junior design engineers, by identifying training and development needs on individual basis and providing mentoring and career support.
• Assist in the production and development of training modules to meet business unit objectives.
• Deliver temporary works training to site-based engineering staff, as required.

Team Management

• Set staff performance and development goals and monitor progress.
• Undertake staff performance reviews in accordance with relevant HR processes, and ensure any areas of concern are promptly addressed.
• Ensure all routine staff administration is completed in a timely manner, using the appropriate company HR and IT systems, including monitoring and recording annual leave/sick leave, training requests, IT requisitions, etc.

Quality Assurance and Information & Change Control

• Ensure compliance with all quality procedures, including checking and approval of drawings and calculations, production of certificates, etc.
• Ensure all necessary document control and filing is completed, in conjunction with departmental document controllers.
• Assist in and implement the continuous improvement and development of quality procedures.

Don't match all the criteria? We are open and always happy to hear from people with transferable skill sets and a commitment to learning.

Please be aware that the business has a Christmas shutdown period. Please bear with us on your application as the team will be in contact after the 13th January.

About us:

Laing O'Rourke are an international engineering and construction company delivering state-of-the-art infrastructure and buildings projects for clients in the UK, Middle East and Australia.

Certainty, reliability, quality – this is what our clients want. And at Laing O'Rourke, we have more than 150 years of experience delivering it. Laing O'Rourke's story is one of energy, passion, ambition, people and teamwork. We harness the power of our experience, stretching back over a century and a half to deliver certainty for our clients.

As part of the Disability Confident scheme, we would like to enable access to candidates with long term health conditions and disabilities through the ‘Offer an interview scheme'. This supports applicants that meet the essential criteria by offering an interview for the advertised position. Please let us know prior to interview what adjustments are required as well as discussing how we can support you in the workplace.

We want to ensure our recruitment process is accessible to all. If you need the application form in an alternative format or you would like to know more about our recruitment process, please email resourcingteam@laingorourke.com

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