Career Profiles: Deborah Lazarus

Mathematics, sciences, not early specialisation...buildings...engineering I cannot claim to have loved Meccano from an early age, but once I had decided I was interested in engineering I was fortunate to have a month of work experience at Ove Arup and Partners after my Lower Sixth Year. A brief introduction to early use of computers, site visits to the Barbican and the Wellington Hospital and general assimilation of the varied work being undertaken convinced me of my interest and the next step was three years (as it then was) at Cambridge University reading Engineering. Within this there was varied vacation work included workshop training at the National Physical Laboratory and two months on a motorway construction site.

I joined Ove Arup as a graduate engineer in 1975 and have pursued my career there since that time, pausing only for a number of children along the way.

Most of my time there has been spent in Building Engineering, working with architects on building design. Recently I have joined the Structures Team in Arup Research and Development. I have generally worked as part of a team; over the years my responsibility on projects increased, initially to running small projects on my own and subsequently to looking after larger projects, taking responsibility not only for the structural engineering design but also for programming our work, agreeing fees and monitoring our costs. I became an Associate in 1986 and was appointed as Associate Director four years later. My work has been varied, comprising projects of different sizes in several different countries. I have had two spells working on site, to monitor the construction on one occasion and to supervise a ground investigation on the other. A cross-section of my work in Building Engineering includes:

• Design work and drawings for Gulf University in Qatar, including an inspection of the concrete manufacturing facilities in Germany
• The design of the steel framework for a large statue, including liaison with the foundry casting the bronze 'skin'
• Design work on the large steel roof for Stansted Airport, where the terminal building set new standards for airport construction
• Specifications for the Millennium Wheel, the large ferris wheel to be built beside the Thames
• Scheme for the redevelopment of the Daily Express Site, with refurbishment of a listed building and removal of the printing presses from a deep basement

More recently I have looked at a scheme for moving a listed building away from the line of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link and given evidence (on oath!) as an expert in an arbitration case.

I am a member of the Institution of Structural Engineers and the Institution of Civil Engineers and I am involved in various ways with both bodies. I am also a member of the Women's Engineering Society and in 1997 organised the Verena Holmes Lecture on engineering for schoolchildren around the country. Within the firm I am involved with the training programme for our graduates.

In the time since I graduated I have seen the nature of our work change and this is likely to continue. The use of computers for analysis, design and communication has increased to an unprecedented extent. Engineers are expected to be more knowledgeable in general and to be able to offer advice on matters beyond the technical issues of a project. There is a greater emphasis on mobility and more opportunities for working overseas. We are required to undertake a programme of continuing education and training each year in order to keep abreast of both technical and managerial developments within the profession; while some of this is done on a formalised basis it is probably true to say that learning is still a continuous process for those at all levels - because no two buildings will ever be identical, because there are developments in methods and materials and because we need to sign on to the concept of continuous improvement if we are to be able to take the opportunities available within the industry.

Deborah Lazarus
MA(Cantab) CEng MIStructE MICE
Ove Arup & Partners