Meet the Engineer: Harry Thambirajah
At Tideway, our aim is to inspire the engineers of tomorrow by promoting the STEM subjects of science, technology, engineering and maths.
We also want to showcase some of the many talented people we have working across the project. Meet Construction Engineer Harry Thambirajah.
Harry Thambirajah is approaching his fifth anniversary since joining Tideway and he took a moment with us to reflect on his journey into the industry and, ultimately, onto the project.
Initially joining Tideway as part of the engineering team responsible for the design assurance of the Albert Embankment Foreshore site, over the last 18 months you’ll have found Harry on the Blackfriars site.
His role centres around assisting the Project Manager with day-to-day tasks, daily progress reporting, and ensuring that the correct documentation is in place for works planned for the next days, weeks and months.
“I love the people I work with, the variety of the different tasks I do - (specifically) at Blackfriars where we’re working on a huge floating structure in the River Thames - and the work-home balance that comes with flexible working hours.”
When reminiscing on how he originally picked construction as a career, Harry acknowledges that the environment he grew up in had a real bearing on his choice – as well as his dislike of ancient languages.
“From a young age, I have always been intrigued with building things. Maybe this is because I grew up in a developing country where building infrastructure was vital to economic development”.
“I think I wanted to be a doctor when I was younger” he continues, “but when biology became difficult - remembering Latin names annoyed me - I sought to go down the engineering route.”
It’s a choice that’s paid dividends for Harry ever since deciding to take the University route into the industry, by completing his BEng in Civil Engineering. As he moves into his sixth year on the project, his immediate focus remains assisting the Tideway team with the timely and safe completion and delivery of the works at Blackfriars Bridge Foreshore.
Eventually Harry’s goal is to capitalise on the experience he’s accrued by making the step up to Project Management. “In a few years’ time, I want to be a Project Manager on a major project. I have worked on major projects for a few years now and see myself, as the years go by, cumulating the knowledge and experience to be able to lead a project”.