Atkins women helping make London 2012 Games - 17 March 2010
Two of Atkins’ women are featured in a limited edition calendar and exhibition to celebrate the women working across the Olympic Park project. The exhibition at the Museum of London, Docklands was opened by Olympics Minister Tessa Jowell and will close on 2 May.
Deputy project manager Saphina Sharif and senior ecologist Kim Olliver are among those whose photographs are displayed in the Women Making the Olympics calendar and exhibition.
Only 75 calendars were produced which were then auctioned to raise money for women’s charities.
Saphina Sharif is helping to oversee the Atkins’ enabling works team, as well as liaising with the main contractors and the client to deliver the early works on the Olympic Park site.
She has played an important role on the project, which has included looking after some of the site clearance, demolition, remediation and earthworks, utilities diversions and temporary infrastructure works, enabling contractors to build the various venues. Her responsibilities include the management of a team of inspectors, day to day liaison with the contractors, technical supervision and monitoring of programme and cost.
She says: “For me, the best bit about working on the Olympic Park project is that as a Londoner, I am involved in the transformation of part of London which will have a lasting legacy. I am proud to be doing my bit towards raising money for such a worthy cause whilst highlighting the key role women are playing in London 2012 and the construction industry.”
Kim Olliver has worked on site since December 2006 as a specialist supervisor for the enabling works and other contracts. Her role is focused on protecting the existing natural environment, making sure indigenous flora and fauna are conserved to flourish both elsewhere and on the site, during and after the Games.
One key project has been collecting seeds from native plants which will be safely stored and replanted when the work is complete. She has also managed the re-housing of 4,000 newts, over 300 lizards and 100 toads.
She says: “Having been on site since activities started and seeing the changes evolve has been fascinating. The most exciting aspect for me has yet to come – encouraging the recolonisation of wildlife to the Park.”
Ends
For more information:
Jane Sheils
PR Manager 01372 752350
jane.sheils@atkinsglobal.com
Notes to editors:
Atkins (www.atkinsglobal.com) is one of the world's leading engineering and design consultancies. We have the depth and breadth of technical expertise to respond both to the complex challenges of major infrastructure projects, and the urgent transition to a low-carbon economy. Whether it’s the concept for a new skyscraper, the upgrade of a rail network, the modelling of a flood defence system or the improvement of a management process, we plan, design and enable solutions.
The photographer is Janie Airey and the images are owned by Jennette Arnold.
For information on the exhibition at the Museum of London, please visit their website.
Recent projects include:
• Major infrastructure works, such as the design and programme management of the civil works for the Dubai Metro red and green lines;
• High profile transport planning and urban design – our innovative scheme to deliver a diagonal crossing at London’s Oxford Circus has helped tackle the problem of pedestrian crowding;
• Key rail projects – providing architectural and engineering design services on London’s Crossrail, Europe’s biggest civil engineering project, and designing stations, tunnelling and track systems on Gautrain, South Africa’s first high speed line.
• Multidisciplinary building design – North Wood Primary School in Darlington is an exemplar project which raises standards for environmental design and community engagement;
• Vital water and environmental projects – as part of a joint venture, Atkins is providing technical assistance to the Water Supply and Sanitation Sector Reform Programme in Nigeria, which will benefit up to three million people.
Atkins was named Consultancy of the Year in the CIBSE Low Carbon Performance Awards 2010; received the first ever certification of the Carbon Trust Standard awarded to an engineering consultancy in the construction sector; named in The Times Top 50 Companies Where Women Want to Work 2009; and The Times Top 100 Graduate Employers 2009. The company was also construction and civil engineering sector winner for the fourth consecutive year in the Target National Graduate Recruitment Awards 2009.
Atkins is the official engineering design services provider for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.