Flood & Civil

What's the best way to explain what a drainage engineer does to a room full of 9-year-olds?   Turns out the answer is: give them water, a few homemade props, and let them get curious. On 19th July, my colleague Maria Carrasco Gigante and I were invited to Cyril Jackson Primary School's Career Day. Instead of staring at a screen all day doing some design, I got to spend it talking to kids about civil engineering - and it was brilliant.   We kept the talk short and saved the fun for two hands-on experiments we'd built ourselves:   Experiment 1 - City vs Nature We used a plastic tray as a hard "road" surface, and a little planter inside a glass dispenser with a tap (homemade!) as a rain garden. Then we poured the same amount of water over both. The road? Instant runoff. The rain garden? It soaked most of it up. A simple way to show why cities flood - and how green spaces help slow the water down.   Experiment 2 - Can we clean dirty rainwater? Using the same rain garden, we mixed biochar into the water to mimic the pollution that washes off our roads. The water mixed with biochar was completely black. But when it trickled out of the tap at the bottom… it came out clear again. The kids' faces at that moment were priceless - that was the one that really got them.   Honestly, this may be one of my favourite days in a long time. The kids were so engaged and some asked such sharp questions that I could genuinely see a younger version of myself in some of them. If we sparked even a little curiosity about engineering, I'll call that a win.   A big thank you to Cyril Jackson Primary School for having us and we'd love to come back next year. It's fantastic to see schools opening kids' eyes to different careers this early - giving them the chance to find out what they love while they're young. (At that age, I'm fairly sure the only thing on my mind was which snacks to buy after school.)

Are you wondering who’s helping us decide the ICE East of England Merit Awards 2026 winners? Meet our judging panel! Kirstie Broadbent, Robert Bird Group Lewis Hubbard, Lewis Hubbard Engineering Agnieszka Read, BAM UK & Ireland Oliver Dodd, Flood & Civil Claire Lepoutre, Skanska Chris Clarke, Kier Stephen Christian, Jackson Civil Engineering Sakthy Selvakumaran, University of Cambridge & BKwai Andy A., Anglian Water Jennifer Laight, Arup Stuart Payne, Kier Nicola Oldfield IEng FICE ACIWEM, Middle Level Katerina Spitieri - Isseris MEng MSc CEng MICE, Connect Plus Craig Hopkinson, Anglian Water Mairead McGeeney CEng MICE, Laing O'Rourke Richard Nunn, Environment Agency Maria Manidaki, Mott MacDonald phillip mcloughlin, Jacobs Our awards are judged by a panel of respected industry professionals who bring a wealth of experience, insight, and passion for civil engineering. Their expertise helps ensure we recognise the people and projects truly making a difference across the region. Judging is currently underway, and our panel is carefully reviewing this year’s entries. Special thanks to our Headline sponsor Kilnbridge

Two big milestones! Time flies when you're having fun ✈️ It's been going so fast I almost let these two major events pass by without updating my network. The first one: As you may have seen from Matthew Butt's recent updates, Matt has now officially joined Flood & Civil as a partner and director. This was always part of the plan when Matt joined the business in April 2025, but that doesn't make it any less exciting! Matt's appointment reinforces our delivery of technical excellence, builds fundamental resilience and is a major step in our continued business development supporting both valued existing and new clients. I've had the pleasure of working with Matt at two previous companies and knowing him as a close friend I know his impressive capabilities, drive and intuition will play a huge part in the business as we grow and evolve. And the second one: January marked the two year anniversary of Flood & Civil's inception. It's taken some breathing space and reflection time to fully appreciate and celebrate this milestone! It's been a fantastic journey so far. From the start - late nights (on holiday!) collaborating with esteemed colleagues on a bid, using my wife's (awful!) old laptop; to a #flood of work and many more uncivil hours worked on a variety of fantastic schemes; then moving in to an office space with our friends at Momentum Structural Engineers and transitioning from a one man army to the diverse and energetic team of four we now are. Never did win that bid! But, we've been lucky to work on a super variety of projects from householder development to strategic flood alleviation schemes, schools and commercial sites. £200m+ mixed-use developments, riverside parks and residential developments. We've developed our skills, knowledge and experience in areas like #FloodModelling and nutrient neutrality to enhance our service offering. Whether it's a feasilbility study, planning application or detailed design, we have approached the challenge with intuition, creativity and efficiency and received some lovely feedback in the process. I feel proud to say my initial vision for Flood & Civil is shaping up nicely. It wouldn't be possible without the great team Jiaxi Zheng Matthew Butt Maria Carrasco Gigante, the trust of our valued clients and the support of our trusted collaborators along the way - so thank you all! I thought I'd share a few highlights looking back - let us know your favourite! #CivilEngineering

Fresh weather, fresh energy and new perspectives! I am delighted to welcome Maria Carrasco Gigante to the Flood & Civil team! 🎊 Maria joins us as a Senior Civil Engineer & Flood Risk Consultant, bringing with her 9 years of experience excelling on projects covering a wide range of sectors, from highways and leisure to resdiential and complex mixed-use urban regenration. Maria's technical strength shines through from feasibility and planning through to detailed design and construction. I've had the joy of working with Maria previously and know her analytical skills, fresh energy and motivation will be a huge boost for the Flood & Civil team as we continue our journey navigating the engineering industry with the joint goal of developing resilient, sustainable infrastructure to positively shape the built environment. This is exciting progression for us as we approach the two year milestone (how time flies!). Thanks to all of our clients, collaborators and friends who have helped us on our way and continue to trust and support us. Please join us in giving Maria a warm welcome and as always, if you fancy meeting up for a coffee to talk all things #FloodandCivil drop us a line! ☕ Ps. Yes we really were out there on Maria's first day checking the rainfall intensity! Thanks Chun Yin Lo for the umbrella! Matthew Butt Jiaxi Zheng #CivilEngineering #FloodRisk

Last week I had the chance to run a ‘When I Grow Up Week’ session with three Year 1 classes at my daughter’s primary school. We talked about how almost everything manmade involves an engineer, and that engineering is all about solving real problems. The children worked in teams to build the tallest and strongest towers using magnetic construction kits. Each class stayed focused and energised for over an hour, which says a lot about how naturally kids connect with problem solving when it’s fun and hands-on. If we want to keep attracting talented people to the industry, we need to show them early what engineering is really about.