Welcome to the website of The Worshipful Company of Engineers, one of the 32 ‘modern’ livery companies in the City of London.
We are a fellowship of leading engineers (and partners) who meet, socialise and exchange cross-disciplinary thinking at prestigious city venues and support the Engineers Trust in its educational, engineering excellence, and charitable objectives.
Our members are all Chartered Engineers, and are from all the professional disciplines of engineering, technology and business. Liverymen of the Company are Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering or at least one of the Professional Engineering Institutions.
The Company works to promote and develop all aspects of the science, art and practice of engineering within a social and charitable ethos which is at the core of the Livery movement. Explore the site for more information and our blogs for informal insights through our members’ personal reflections. For any further information, please do not hesitate to contact the Engineers’ Office.
Colonel David Swann, Clerk
On behalf of the Company, the Master and Wardens congratulate Member of the Livery Professor Hugh Griffiths OBE FREng on his recent election as a Fellow of the Royal Society.
Hugh is distinguished for his research in radar – in particular bistatic radar, in which the transmitter and receiver are spatially separated, and passive radar, in which the radar receiver exploits existing transmissions such as broadcast, communications or radionavigation signals. These configurations have important applications in military radar sensing in which the passive nature of the receiver is advantageous, and in the detection of stealthy targets, as well as in civil radar as demand for spectrum from all users increases. He has pioneered this subject over several decades in undertaking some of the first experiments on passive radar, and his work and publications have stimulated further work worldwide, to the point where passive radar is now a mainstream subject. Hugh received the IET A F Harvey Prize in 2012, the IEEE Picard Medal in 2017, and he was appointed OBE in 2019 for services to engineering.
Hugh joined the Freedom in April 2003 and advanced to the Livery in October that year.
DnaNudge has been named as the winner of the Royal Academy of Engineering’s 2021 MacRobert Award. The London start-up has been honoured for the development of its pioneering consumer genetics technology, pivoting and adapting the technology to deliver a rapid, lab-free RT-PCR COVID-19 test to NHS hospitals.
The background to this year’s Award will be covered during the Worshipful Company of Engineers and Engineers Trust Annual Awards ceremony on Tuesday 13 July at 6 pm.
It is hoped that the Royal Academy of Engineering will host an evening conversation with DnaNudge later in the Autumn. Full details will be published when known.
The Master and Wardens belatedly congratulate Liveryman Peter Cullimore on his Appointment as a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, announced in HM The Queen’s Birthday Honours List on 12 June 2021.
Peter’s honour was in recognition of services to the Provision of Social Care in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire.
On 27 July, the Worshipful Company of Engineers is holding an on-line Open Evening to explain the purpose, benefits and commitments in belonging to the City of London’s Engineers Livery. If you are a Fellow of a professional engineering institution, please get in touch.
For more information, click here
The Master and Wardens were delighted to see three members of the Company named amongst the 2021 Top 50 Women in Engineering announced by the Women’s Engineering Society on 23 June (International Women in Engineering Day).
On behalf of the Worshipful Company of Engineers they offer their sincere congratulations to:
The Company further extends it good wishes to all those worthy women engineers named in this year’s Top 50; the focus for which was women who have improved engineering in service of our society. Many congratulations to them all.
The Royal Academy of Engineering has announced the the short list of contenders for 2021 MacRobert Award. They are as follows:
Further information on each of the candidates and their submissions for the Award, including video clips outlining each, is available at this link.
The Winner of the 2021 MacRobert Award will be announced on 6 July 2021.
Professor Nigel Brandon, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering at Imperial College London, has been elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. Fellowships are given to distinguished scientists by the Royal Society in recognition of “contributions to science, both in fundamental research resulting in greater understanding, and also in leading and directing scientific and technological progress in industry and research establishments.” Professor Brandon became a Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Engineers on 6 May 2021.
Liverymen Gina Barney and Dave Cooper have received the President’s Commendation at the CIBSE Building Performance Awards 2021. This special award was to recognise the 13 authors who wrote and updated the series, including Recommissioning of lifts and escalators post-lockdown; and Occupancy and use of lifts. Gina and Dave are prominent experts in lifts and escalators.
CIBSE President Stuart MacPherson said the award recognised those who ‘worked tirelessly to update the guidance to reflect current research, public health information and, subsequently, to adapt to changes in Covid-19 restrictions’.
The guidance, which has been downloaded 65,000 times, is updated as new research and information becomes available.
The Annual General Meeting (Common Hall) of the Worshipful Company of Engineers was held on Wednesday evening, 5 May 2021. Unfortunately the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic prevented a physical meeting, but with a year’s worth of Zoom experience behind us it ran just as if the Company had been assembled together. The only thing missing was the Beadle’s commanding tones and the putting on of gowns.
The following Officers were installed for 2021-22:
Master – Dr Peter Blair-Fish
Senior Warden – Mrs Audrey Canning
Middle Warden – Mr Raymond Joyce
Junior Warden – Sir Michael Bear Hon FREng
The following were appointed as new Court Assistants:
Dr Clive Hickman FREng
Mr David Knight
Dr Dolores Byrne OBE
It was with great sadness that the Master, Wardens, Court of Assistants and all Members of the Worshipful Company of Engineers learnt, earlier today, of the death of HRH The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.
His Royal Highness’ support enabled the creation of the Fellowship of Engineering in 1976; the forerunner of today’s Royal Academy of Engineering. It can also be said that his support was a factor in the Company’s formation, encouraging the Founder Master and Members in their endeavour. Shortly before the presentation of the Company’s Letters Patent on 1st November 1983, the Founder Master invited His Royal Highness to accept election as the Company’s First Honorary Liveryman, to which his Royal Highness was pleased to agree. His first visit to the Company was on 21st February 1985 when he was entertained to Dinner by the Court.
The photograph taken on that occasion shows His Royal Highness with the Founder Master, Sir Peter Gadsden, and the Senior Warden, Sir Denis Rooke.
The Master has written to Her Majesty’s Private Secretary expressing the Company’s sincere condolences; and asked for them to be passed on to the Private Secretaries of the other members of the Royal Family.