5 Minutes with Sophie Davies
Sophie Davies is an Associate at Heyne Tillett Steel, working within one of Structural Engineering teams in London. With over 9 years’ experience in the industry Sophie joined HTS in 2021. We sat down with Sophie to discuss her path into engineering, her work with the BCO as a member of their Next Gen committee and her recent trip to Val Thorens on the slopes for PropSki 2024.
Sophie, firstly, what made you want to study engineering and become a Structural Engineer.
When I was younger, I didn’t know anyone who worked in the construction industry or even what a structural engineer was.
But I always knew I wanted to be involved in the process of building something, particularly buildings which would last beyond my lifetime. Which led me down the route of picking structural engineering out of the career guide and then going on to study Architectural Engineering which gave me a good mix of architecture and engineering, which was right for me as I was still not sure what a structural engineer did on a day to day.
You’ve just become a BCO Next Gen member, what has that entailed?
Being part of the BCO Next Gen Committee for London and the South East has been great so far, everyone on the committee is so driven and devoted to putting on amazing events and initiatives like Career Ready which helps to unlock young talent and boots social mobility and events like the building tours and annual awards. I’m looking forward to getting more involved this year, along with attending the BCO annual conference in Birmingham. It happens to be where a lot of my first projects are, so I feel like I’ve played a role in building the city!
Any advice for others looking to get involved?
Just sign up and come along to the events, there’s something for everyone including yoga at some amazing venues. You might even see people you already know or meet some great new contacts or even friends.
It was your first time at PropSki, a networking event that takes to the slopes, how did you find it?
Attending PropSki this year was a great experience, and I would recommend it to everyone, skier, snowboarder or anyone completely new to the snow. It provides a fun opportunity to network with lots of different people in the property industry. It’s really easy to strike up a conversation as you are all there for the same reason, if that’s on the slope, chair lift or the after skiing apres. Or even at the race day, which was particularly fun considering we were dressed in inflatable dinosaur outfits, not the most aerodynamic but we definitely stood out and we still managed to come second.
What’s on the horizon for you this year, any project milestones you’re looking forward to?
I’m working on some really great projects this year, with Eldon House which is a refurbishment and extension to an historic office building near Liverpool Street finishing on site, and Judd Street which is an extension and the re-coring of an Edwardian building which is starting on site. Taking a project to site is the bit I really love, as you get to see your design come off the paper and become reality. Most of my projects involve elements of historic buildings which is great because I get to work on new and historic structures simultaneously and thread them together to give an old building a new lease of life, which also helps with reducing embodied carbon and waste.
On site at Judd Street