The competition for the prestigious Harding Prize concluded this evening, with Dr. Sauer & Partners’ Cate Anthony competing as one of the three finalists.
The Harding Prize named in honour of Sir Harold Harding, the founding Chairman of the BTS recognises outstanding performance in the tunnelling industry for young engineers. The competition is open to engineers aged 33 or under, with papers that are submitted addressing aspects of tunnelling which are considered of interest to the tunnelling industry. The winning paper then being selected by a judging panel.
This year’s competition saw the three impressive finalists presenting their papers virtually via YouTube with live Q&A and then judging subsequently taking place, with Mott MacDonald's Benjamin Lafarga named as the winner at the end of the live online judging event.
Cate said: "Many congratulations to Benjamin, a very worth winner and an absolutely fascinating element of tunnelling works.
For me, the works for 6-8 Princes Street Pile Load TransferStructure will always be one of the most interesting elements I have ever worked on. Of course, as with all projects, this was a team effort and I would like to thank Dr. Sauer & Partners, Dragados, London Underground and The Worshipful Company of Grocers for their support and collaboration throughout. Particular thanks to Ali Nasekhian, Brian Lyons and Bethan Haig for their continued support of my development as a tunnel engineer.”
Congratulations to all three finalists for this respected industry prize, and congratulations to Benjamin on winning.
The finalists and their paper topics are as follows:
Benjamin Lafarga (Mott MacDonald) “HS2 Euston Station Ventilation and Substation Enabling Works: Implementation Of Parametric Design in The Tunnelling Industry”.
Cate Anthony (Dr. Sauer & Partners) “Bank Station Upgrade: The Design and Construction of Pile Interception Load Transfer Structures at 6-8 Princes Street”.
Christina Trigle (BAM Nuttall Ltd) “Thames Tideway: The impact of COVID-19 on TBM tunnelling for the Thames Tideway Tunnel”.
