Engineers are the nation’s rock stars

Government minister says engineers responsible for economic recovery should be celebrated

Young engineers should enjoy celebrity status just as the famous inventors of the Victorian age were treated like rock stars, a government minister said.

Speaking at the Semta Skills Awards minister of state for business, enterprise and energy, Matthew Hancock said it was vital that those who were engineering the UK’s economic recovery were held up as examples for others.

Hancock said: “None of the great engineers of the past had a traditional university background. All of them learnt the skills that transformed the nation on the job as apprentices.

“What we can learn from our Victorian forbearers is that the Industrial Revolution was dramatised through rock star engineers – Stephenson, Brunel, Bazalgette – they were not just famous for what they did but they were the rock stars of their day and investors put up money for all the unproven technology because of the excitement, hype and buzz that surrounded civil engineering at the cutting edge.

“It is vitally important that the nation regains this buzz. Celebrating success is one way we can do that.”

Alex Tomlinson, 24, from Birmingham, who is a third year powertrain emission test higher apprentice at Jaguar Land Rover based at Whitley, Coventry was named overall Best of British Engineering and also won the Apprentice of the Year category.

Tomlinson said: “I am absolutely staggered to win. The competition was so fierce. I will just continue to do what I love. I have put so much effort in at work. My ambition is to create a viable engine which doesn’t have any emissions – I hope to drive forward the idea to do it within 10 years.”

The evening also saw the second inductee into Semta’s Engineering Hall of Fame. Mark Chapman, aged 47, from Pilning, joins the likes of Brunel, Stephenson and Sir Frank Whittle having been nominated – and voted for – by hundreds of his peers.

His pioneering work on advanced jet propulsion systems is the driving force behind Richard Noble’s World Land Speed attempt. The Bloodhound car is hoped to exceed 1,000 mph thanks to the delivery of 135,000 brake horsepower.

Semta is the employer-led body responsible for developing programmes to equip the engineering, science and manufacturing technologies sectors with skills to grow their businesses. The organisation represents 138,000 companies with a 1.66 million-strong workforce.