I am a postgraduate student on the MSc Industrial Digitalisation course at Manchester Metropolitan University. In 2017, I completed an undergraduate MEng in Civil Engineering, and my career path is aimed towards construction, but I have seen the use of additive manufacturing develop within specialised sectors of the construction industry, and
believe that Construction and Infrastructure can benefit hugely with the application of additive manufacturing.
Following my degree, I worked for a small engineering consultancy specialising in sustainability. With them, I worked on several projects, including partnering with Virgin Trains and trialling Vanadium Redox Flow Batteries as mass energy storage to complement their renewable energy production. I also worked on a project to redesign the external cladding on a building on New Wakefield Street in Manchester, next to Oxford Road Station, and the result of that work is visible to everyone walking up Oxford Road.
I have been using digital design tools and CAD programmes to develop my own designs from my early teenage years. My proficiency in CAD developed through my undergraduate degree, primarily using AutoCAD, SolidWorks, Fusion 360 and Revit to shape the built environment.
In my 3rd year I read an ARUP article about the construction of a pedestrian bridge in Amsterdam using additive manufacturing, freeing engineers from the limitations of traditional construction, and allowing much greater efficiency in the design of the bridge. Advancing manufacturing processes like these has huge unrealised potential and brings immense benefits to industries capable of adapting such techniques. I want to be on the cutting edge of these innovations and feel the Industrial Digitalisation course will help me reach that position.
