Managing Partner, Paul Withers, is making effective use of his 40+ years in engineering despite stepping back from day-to-day management of HBPW.
The silver-haired civil engineering man can still occasionally be found at his Retford desk in Nottinghamshire.
But, this time, rather than designing piles into some mega structure in Merseyside or casting an eye over Immingham Renewable Fuels Terminal’s storage handling facility, his role has become increasingly advisory.
Paul, who has been behind some of the largest civil engineering projects in the country, said: “There are times I am driving up the motorway and, after more than four decades in the industry, I find myself mumbling, ‘oh I designed that’ or ‘we did the design engineering on that’.
“However, there comes a time when you have to pass the reins on in terms of the drawing and design work but that still doesn’t prevent me from using my experience to help out in certain situations.
“These days I have become a font of reference not only for people within the business, but for clients wrestling with very specific technical issues.”
Paul said he had he had been looking at problems of floor concrete spalling in a Northamptonshire cold store, failed concrete hard standings, a review of bearing stresses on racks for a bascule bridge, reviewing the design of DMS columns under an embankment and even examining corroded steel and composite floors at an Aberdeen abattoir.
“I am quite happy to be away from the day-to-day drawing board, so to speak, however, the Engineer in me still loves a challenge, so it is great to be helping out when there is a technical problem and, in most cases, I still get to the heart of the issue and find a solution!”