Arup promotes two directors from Nottingham office
Arup has promoted Steve Fernandez and Vicky Evans from its Nottingham office. The engineering consultancy named the pair as directors after a “rigorous” interview process, according to Associate Director Neil Harrison.
Harrison added, “We are absolutely delighted that both Steve and Vicky have been promoted to director – a huge boost for us in the region and indicative of the hard work and expertise they put into the business… For the Nottingham office to have two directors appointed is a huge achievement.”
Arup has had a presence in Nottingham for 30 years, with more than 100 staff based in the city’s centre now, but just the two new appointments represent just the second and third members of the Nottingham team to have been promoted to national directors. Between them, Fernandez and Evans have worked on major local, national and international projects, including the shopping and food destination Coal Drops Yard in King’s Cross, the St Pancras Chambers development in London, the Defence and National Rehabilitation Centre near Loughborough, and the government’s £3.6 billion Towns Fund.
Fernandez joined Arup as a graduate in 1999, working in Sheffield, London, Doha and Moscow before joining the professional services firm’s Nottingham office. In that time, he has designed and delivered a variety of iconic buildings and structures, ranging from a new school in Loughborough, the transformation of the listed Newton and Arkwright buildings at Nottingham Trent University, and a 60,000-seat football stadium in the Middle East.
He said of his promotion, “It is a huge honour to be appointed as a Director of Arup. Having worked in the Nottingham office for many years now, I’m relishing the new opportunity and helping the industry and our clients following the challenges of the last year. I am a designer at heart – I love design and working with clients to develop an idea and then seeing our work come to fruition is a great pleasure of the job.”
Evans meanwhile joined Arup in London in March 2006. Since then the Chartered town planner has also worked for the company in South Africa, Dubai and the Seychelles. As a specialist in housing, strategy, policy and economic development, she works across all aspects of the built environment at a regional and national level – as well as leading Arup’s residential business across the UK, Middle East, India and Africa.
“My work has become increasingly strategic, meaning that I’ve been able to influence decision-making at the very early stages of a project, which is really exciting,” Evans commented. “I’ve been doing a lot of planning and strategy work in the East Midlands – which is indicative of our region really putting itself on the map.”
The news comes as clients across the Midlands, and the UK look to meet a number of challenges, including national pushes for net-zero working, levelling up, and infrastructure improvement. According to Evans, Arup can help clients realise the sustainable, socially valuable and equitable solutions needed.
