Geoffrey Engert Award winners revealed

The Geoffrey Engert Award recognises excellence by an engineering technician in the field of heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC), and this year was won by Owen Sayers and Elliot Brown.

Owen is an engineering technician at Atkins, having first started out as an engineering apprentice after he left school.

“After taking my A-levels I realised that maybe just going to university wouldn’t be right for me,” he said. “With a passion to work, I started to look for building services design engineering apprenticeships, as I have always been interested in how things work and thought it would be a good lifetime career.

“Since starting at Atkins two and a half years ago, I have grown a passion and interest for mechanical systems and BMS engineering, which led to me starting my Level Six Degree apprenticeship in September.”

Owen added that the award has been confirmation that he is in the right career, and has him aiming high for the future.

“Having someone recognise my hard work made me feel like it was all worthwhile, and then winning the award confirmed to me that I’m doing the right thing,” he said. “My plan for the future is to complete my Level Six Degree Apprenticeship within the next four years and then apply to become chartered, and maybe in the long run to become a CEO of an engineering consultancy.”

A HVAC technician, Elliot was shocked to have even been nominated for the award, but said the win would help him with his future career progression.

“I was shocked to get nominated, let alone win the award,” he said. “It was totally overwhelming, and it is going to help me in my career because I want to become a mechanical engineer in the future, and this will really help me to go for a degree.

“Awards such as these are really important because it makes engineers push to improve themselves and make themselves better at what they do, and that will help us perform better for our clients and be more innovative in our solutions.”

Owen echoed this sentiment, saying that both the IMechE and awards such as the Geoffrey Engert Award were an important factor in developing the next generation of engineers.

“They encourage young engineers to be driven and to push themselves towards a goal,” he said. “I also believe it is a great way to raise the profile of mechanical building services engineering.”