Elite engineers honoured as best in the business
A trio of top engineers have been honoured at UK Power Networks’ flagship awards, as some of the brightest stars in the business.
Valuable contributions from employees were celebrated at the company’s annual Living Our Values Awards, held in London and attended by over 300 employees.
The night was capped off by a musical rendition led by Electric Harmony, the company’s in-house choir.
Gary Wheeler, who lives in Bexley Village as a lead field engineer for South London, fixes power cuts and received the Lifetime Achievement Award after being nominated by customer service colleagues. He was described by colleagues as an asset to the company who delivers exceptional customer service, developing new kit to show team members how to resolve power cuts faster.
Gary said: “It feels amazing to win this award. At UK Power Networks we work in teams and support each other, every day, to strive to become the best network operator in the world. We continually innovate to stay ahead and I like being part of that.”
Fellow Lifetime Achievement winner was Simon Tapp, accreditation development manager based at the company’s Guildford office. Simon makes tough decisions with safety as the top priority. After 44 years of service, he represents the company to help develop new standards for the industry.
“It means the world to be recognised for this award, and for that I am truly honoured. The evening was fantastic, the choir performed wonderfully and it was great to be part of the UK Power Networks family at such a prestigious event,” Simon said.
“Electricity is dangerous by design but the work that me and my colleagues do makes people more aware of those dangers and ensures that they have the knowledge to stay safe for themselves and their loved ones.”
Irina Popova, design manager at UK Power Networks Services, received the Influential Engineer award after her critical work on multiple major projects for the company.
Irina was nominated by colleagues as a keen advocate for the industry and a strong promoter for Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths education, encouraging more women into engineering. Irina spearheaded designing the power supply for migrating the Port of Felixstowe’s container stacking systems to move fully to electric, greatly reducing emissions; and the Docklands Light Railway Beckton Depot upgrade, which provided power for the new maintenance train shed so that the DLR can run more frequent trains.
Irina commented: “It feels amazing to be chosen out of the group of greatly talented engineers, who work in our company.
“The event is a great way of celebrating achievements of our staff. The evening was perfect and our choir team were brilliant.”
Published: 10/10/23
Valuable contributions from employees were celebrated at the company’s annual Living Our Values Awards, held in London and attended by over 300 employees.
The night was capped off by a musical rendition led by Electric Harmony, the company’s in-house choir.
Gary Wheeler, who lives in Bexley Village as a lead field engineer for South London, fixes power cuts and received the Lifetime Achievement Award after being nominated by customer service colleagues. He was described by colleagues as an asset to the company who delivers exceptional customer service, developing new kit to show team members how to resolve power cuts faster.
Gary said: “It feels amazing to win this award. At UK Power Networks we work in teams and support each other, every day, to strive to become the best network operator in the world. We continually innovate to stay ahead and I like being part of that.”
Fellow Lifetime Achievement winner was Simon Tapp, accreditation development manager based at the company’s Guildford office. Simon makes tough decisions with safety as the top priority. After 44 years of service, he represents the company to help develop new standards for the industry.
“It means the world to be recognised for this award, and for that I am truly honoured. The evening was fantastic, the choir performed wonderfully and it was great to be part of the UK Power Networks family at such a prestigious event,” Simon said.
“Electricity is dangerous by design but the work that me and my colleagues do makes people more aware of those dangers and ensures that they have the knowledge to stay safe for themselves and their loved ones.”
Irina Popova, design manager at UK Power Networks Services, received the Influential Engineer award after her critical work on multiple major projects for the company.
Irina was nominated by colleagues as a keen advocate for the industry and a strong promoter for Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths education, encouraging more women into engineering. Irina spearheaded designing the power supply for migrating the Port of Felixstowe’s container stacking systems to move fully to electric, greatly reducing emissions; and the Docklands Light Railway Beckton Depot upgrade, which provided power for the new maintenance train shed so that the DLR can run more frequent trains.
Irina commented: “It feels amazing to be chosen out of the group of greatly talented engineers, who work in our company.
“The event is a great way of celebrating achievements of our staff. The evening was perfect and our choir team were brilliant.”
Published: 10/10/23