Celebrating Women at Wintech
For International Women in Engineering Day 2020, Wintech wanted to once again proudly shine a spotlight on some of our colleagues. In an industry where diversity can still be improved, we invite you to take a glimpse at some of the achievements of our engineers, each sharing their own inspiring paths and experience.
Priyanka Ganatra, Façade Engineer
What does your job involve?
I am involved in pre-tender façade planning including thermal calculations, design review and optimisation, and post-tender design audits, site visits, and fire surveys.
What inspired you to pursue a career in engineering and the façade industry?
Façade engineering is one of the specialisations within the construction industry which considers both design and technical aspects holistically.
What was your career path to get to where you are now?
I studied architecture and worked as an architect for 2 years. I felt that I lacked technical knowledge while coordinating with various project consultants on site. Hence, I decided to pursue my Masters in Building Technology, which included topics related to façade engineering like building physics, acoustics, structural design. Thereafter, I was involved in façade consultancy projects in Asia, Middle East and currently in UK.
What do you enjoy most about your job?
Practical experience and on-site challenges.
Have you faced challenges as a woman in your profession?
Having worked in the Middle East and India, I believe women are more encouraged to work in a science field in the UK than they are there. Although the amount of women working in the construction industry is still marginal and hopefully the numbers should increase in the future.
What is it like working at Wintech?
It has been an enjoyable experience learning and interacting with people coming from different backgrounds.
What piece of advice would you give to your younger self?
No regrets! I have enjoyed and learnt a lot from the ups and downs faced in my career.
Jasmine Young, Façade Engineer
What does your job involve?
I am currently assisting in the review of drawings and technical submissions on a project which is currently at the technical design/construction stage. I have been to witness their PMU test and soon will be able to go on a factory visit to see the façades in production. Alongside this project, I assist with fire surveys, the production of reports and help with the research tasks for projects in their earlier stages.
What inspired you to pursue a career in engineering and the façade industry?
I like façades because it is a quite multidisciplinary subject; and complex challenges often need resolving in their design. I came across façades later in my education and liked that it combined my architectural background with newer things that I had learnt in relation to building physics and smart buildings. Specifically, I’m inspired by adaptive façades as a solution. Being able to design this type of façade is my eventual goal.
What was your career path to get to where you are now?
Initially, I studied architecture because I wanted to pursue something challenging and use both my creative and academic sides. As I progressed through my studies, I developed an interest in the technical design of the buildings, particularly façades. I continued to study an MSc in Modern Building Design which featured modules on low carbon building envelopes and smart buildings confirming my interest in façades.
Following this, I applied for jobs within the façades industry with little to no success. Therefore, I applied for a MSc qualification specialised in Façade Engineering to improve my technical skills in the domain.
After the taught stage of the course, I was offered a position at Wintech and I completed my dissertation and the MSc while working.
This is a very academic route into the profession, and I am very privileged to have taken that path. When I started working in the industry, I found that absolutely nothing can replace actual work experience.
What is it like working at Wintech?
At Wintech, there is a huge variety in the work that the company takes on so you can try different types of work and figure out what you enjoy; whether these are surveys, site visits, calculation based or design work.
Personally, I have a special interest in performance testing of façades and have been given opportunities to witness many of these tests to learn more including witnessing tests further a-field at other facilities in Germany.
Most of the work you do is solo; so day to day you’re very much in charge of your own schedule and managing your jobs and there is a lot of flexibility allowed in the way you work. Trust is given in your technical opinion and you are expected to acknowledge if you don’t know something and ask. Curiosity and questioning is largely encouraged in this sense. Each person’s experience of working at the company is very individual and commonly very different to each other as you take on work suited to your experience and interests.
What piece of advice would you give to your younger self?
If I had to begin again, I would look for an organisation that offers the chance to do academic study alongside working, just as Wintech do.
Nadha Dawood, Associate Director
What inspired you to pursue a career in engineering and the façade industry?
I started my career as an Architect. Whilst training at Norr Dubai, working on the façade design of Atlantis, The Palm was an eye-opener into an area of engineering where architectural aspirations came to life in a discernible way.
At that time, CWCT in University of Bath was offering an M.Sc in Façade Engineering which I enrolled myself into. There was no looking back after that!
What was your career path to get to where you are now?
I started as a Graduate Façade Engineer in Buro Happold in 2007 and worked on some amazing projects both internationally and in the UK. Ian Maddocks, who was the Façade Director at Buro Happold at that time, helped me develop my career by showing me the ropes to combine my skills both as an Architect and façade engineer. This helped me go the extra mile with Architects who were passionate about the way the building looked.
Moving to Wintech in 2013 was a natural progression in my career. At Wintech, I got the tremendous opportunity to work on projects during the construction phase. There is no experience like seeing a build on-site. It was a steep learning curve but it helped mould me into an engineer who understood the ins and out of what it requires to get a fully functioning building. Although, I have to say I am still learning!
Paul Savidge (MD) and Chris Macey (CEO) of Wintech have been two people who have been extremely supportive and influential in the way my career has grown. I have been quite fortunate to have their advice at certain points in my career that has helped me to develop my skills laterally and use my experience in supporting Wintech where expert witness capability is required along with the façade consultancy work we undertake.
I am currently a Fellow with both CIBSE and SFE and a Member of CIArb in Mediation. I am an Accredited Mediator and pursuing Fellowship in the same.
What do you enjoy most about your job?
I love that I can learn something new every day. Just when you think you have found the best way to do something, some projects throw you a curve ball.
What is it like working at Wintech?
A company is only as ordinary or extraordinary as its people – the experience at Wintech has been an extraordinary one! Everyone working here comes from various backgrounds which only maximises the experience and knowledge in-house. I never have to worry if I do not know the answer to something – I know I can always count on someone else!
Everyone is constantly encouraged to learn and are supported if they wish to undertake the MSc course and attain memberships in CIBSE and SFE. I am aware not all feel they are treated equally in this industry, but I have been quite fortunate at Wintech.
What are your thoughts on diversity in the facade industry?
The focus on this industry and the relevance of façade engineering has grown tremendously in the recent years. Although, there are more qualified façade engineers now than before, I think we still need a lot more people to pursue this as a career option.
Do you sometimes have to juggle a work-life balance?
All the time! Growing up, my father always instilled in me and my sister on how important it is to be educated and more important to have good work ethics. At the same time, my mother taught us how important family is and how to balance both. I have a 6 year old and a 3 year old and its quite important that I am there for them as much as I focus on work. Fortunately, between me and my husband, we juggle it quite well. He is extremely supportive!
What piece of advice would you give to your younger self?
Don’t be afraid to ask people for things you want if the worst outcome is that they say no.
Farnaz Shahini, Structural Engineer
What does your job involve?
I am working on UK based projects as well as those in the US. My role has included structural design for multiple façade systems. I have also coordinated and reviewed test procedures and reviewed calculation reports by other consultant engineers.
What inspired you to pursue a career in engineering and the façade industry?
I was brought up in an engineering family and generally working as a structural engineer in every type of project (hospitals, exterior façade, shopping centres, and high-rises residential buildings) that gave me a sense of achievement once it is finished. Moreover, in structural engineering there has been an opportunity for me to be working with wider engineering teams i.e. architectural, mechanicals, contractors and understanding the construction issues and supporting their technical requirements.
Although my area of speciality and experience is Structural Seismic Design and Detailing of multi-stories to high-rise buildings, I feel working as a façade structural engineer on thin-walled structures to be an interesting as well as challenging field.
What was your career path to get to where you are now?
I obtained my Undergraduate degree in Civil Engineering followed by Masters in Structural/Earthquake engineering in 2009. I subsequently joined the Applied Research Centre at the University of Tehran. I was a senior structural engineer with technical design positions and working with a structural engineering research group with specialism in linear and nonlinear seismic design and analysis of multi-stories to high-rises buildings and seismic rehabilitation of existing buildings. Of the projects in which I had an active part the following national projects are of note: 33 stories Third Millennium Tower, Padideh Shandiz Mashahd a high rise building with 56 stories and 240-meters in height, The Grand Mosalla, a reinforced concrete structure with 110-meter width and 80m in height, and “Fereshteh” Residential High Rise (winner of the Project of the Year Award in 2015 at the 16th Steel and Structure National & International conference, Tehran– I was also awarded as structural designer of the year project).
Having sought and obtained the opportunity to get scholarship from the university of Aberdeen, I began my PhD research program in 2015 and have since published a few papers based on both my research and my past industrial experiences. I have worked on a research project in the Thin‐Walled Structures program which is mostly focused on the development of cold-formed steel (CFS) structural systems for sustainable multi-storey buildings. Additionally, I have conducted experimental studies on the slip critical CFS moment connection at the Iranian Housing & Urban Development Research Centre as part of my joint PhD Program.
What do you enjoy most about your job?
Working with a wide range of building material steel, concrete, aluminium, and glass.
What are your thoughts on diversity in the façade industry?
I believe the company has got the balance right. I have the honour of working in a multi-ethnic and highly talented individuals irrespective of their ethnicity.
Do you sometimes have to juggle a work-life balance?
Who doesn’t!
What piece of advice would you give to your younger self?
Live more.
Maria Arce Recatala, Façade Engineer
What inspired you to pursue a career in engineering and the façade industry?
My love for the hygrothermal performance of the building envelopes inspired me to pursue a career within the façade engineering profession.
What do you enjoy most about your job?
The variance. Each problem is different and offers you the possibility to learn more.
What is it like working at Wintech?
A pleasant working environment with very experienced people.
What are your thoughts on diversity in the façade industry?
It is a quite new field where there is still lots to do and to establish standardised procedures. In addition, right now the performance of building envelopes appears to be studied from individual perspectives (e.g. thermal, ventilation, air infiltration, condensation, structural, acoustic…) whereas all of them should be studied together because they affect each other. I think a more holistic approach is required in the study of the building envelopes.
Do you sometimes have to juggle a work-life balance?
Yes! I am happy because at the moment I do not have children, but regardless, it is hard to balance both sides.
