Major M&E Move For Costain
1 June 2010
Costain is striking up a closer relationship with the
Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE), as part of its
strategy to develop its Mechanical and Electrical (M&E)
capabilities.
The move is driven by the increasing importance of M&E in
providing solutions to Costain's customers. This is being seen in
all sectors as asset and infrastructure owners strive to get more
for less - be it a road using variable speed signs, water and waste
infrastructure adapting to new sustainability legislation, a school
meeting environmental requirements or better solutions in the power
and energy sectors.
Matt Crabtree, Sector Director for Water explains: "In water it
stems from our success in winning a series of contracts with water
utilities for the fifth of the sector's Asset Management Programmes
(AMP 5). The new AMP has an increased reliance on M&E within
the business."
"Increasingly, our workload in the water sector has a strong
mechanical bias to it. As we go through the AMP process we're
finding a lot of the projects are smaller and more capital
maintenance-related and a lot of that maintenance tends to be
M&E related".
"Historically we've been very much focused on civil engineering
and are now looking to strengthen our training and relationship
with the IMechE. We have accredited training schemes that have been
validated by the Institution and for the first time have mentors
for all our Mech Eng graduates."
The strengthened relationship will include Costain taking a
place on the Institution's employer panel. "A lot of its current
members are manufacturers and it is keen to get a representation
from infrastructure providers on the panel," explains Crabtree.
The Panel is being developed to create more employer engagement
with IMechE and to provide a business-focused contribution to the
Institution's strategy, policy and activities by considering key
issues. Costain now has the opportunity to contribute to that
debate.
In the near future Costain will be holding an IMechE membership
day for graduate engineers with a view to making them aware of the
benefits of joining the Institution, striving for chartered status
and thus improving the depth of skills within the Group, he
adds.
Ends