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The sound of music


Active musician Paul Driscoll explains why he left teaching for the melodious world of engineering acoustics


For Paul Driscoll, a musician by heart, becoming head of London acoustics at multi-disciplinary consultancy, BDP, was the perfect job – but it wasn’t his chosen career by any means. A graduate in music technology,


Driscoll started his vocation as a part-time music teacher when he was just 16. His career in teaching lasted a few years, but it was an inspirational lecturer in university and a chance Google search many years later that led him into the acoustics sector. Driscoll explains: ‘I sat in a


very dour electronics department lecture about logarithms and sound pressure calculations. The lecturer, David Howard, was incredibly enthusiastic. He started talking about how there were people out there whose job it was to design buildings for how they sound rather than just how they look. ‘I had been interested in


architecture since I was young but had never seen how that could tie in with my main passion – music. Then I suddenly saw that designing buildings for their acoustic properties would match up the artistic/creative side of architecture with the science of music and it would be a beautiful match!’ Now, as well as being an active musician playing in his ‘human jukebox’ band, the The Dukes Box, Driscoll manages a team of acoustic consultants providing advice to architects, building services engineers, interior designers and contractors – and he’s still only 29 years old. ‘One of the good (and often


challenging) things about acoustics is that you will typically be working on many different projects simultaneously,’ enthuses Driscoll. ‘In any one day I will typically advise on six or seven different projects, dealing with queries from contractors, doing design workshops with architects,


86 CIBSE Journal September 2010


Movers & Shakers Design,


engineering and project


management consultancy Morgan Sindall


Professional Services has appointed Dominic O’Hara as associate engineer. O’Hara is a member of CIBSE and a chartered engineer, based in the practice’s London office.


Ian Watmore, former chief executive of the Football


Association, is to become chief


There’s a few more


extract fan noise assessments than I had hoped,


but


there’s still enough creativity and art to keep me interested


marking up architectural plans to show acoustic requirements, or producing acoustic models of buildings.’ He leads a team of seven people,


ranging from senior acoustic consultants to assistants, but also works alongside many other people in different professions as part of the overall design team – one of the joys of the job. Recent projects include two recording studio facilities, a television studio complex and a rehearsal hall for an opera company, as well as the usual schools and shopping centres. Driscoll, who has been in the


industry for just five years, admits that the job involves ‘a few more extract fan noise assessments and motorway noise barriers than I had hoped’, but says the fundamental principle is the same, and that ‘there’s still enough creativity and art to keep me interested’.


Email people appointments/ role profiles to cbailey@cibsejournal.com


operating officer of the government’s Efficiency and Reform Group. As CEO, Watmore will work closely with ministers to make sure there is a co-ordinated approach to tackling waste and improving accountability across all government departments.


Steve Bratt will replace David Pollock as group chief executive of the Electrical Contractors’ Association, after Pollock announced that he would retire at the end of September. Following his retirement, Pollock will continue as an adviser to the association as well as representing the ECA’s interests in Europe.


Multi-disciplinary consultancy Atkins has appointed Phil Malem, former head of Sellafield


Limited’s Capenhurst decommissioning facility, to lead the development of its nuclear strategy and positioning in new markets. He is Atkins’ second senior energy management-level recruit this year, following the appointment of Tony Price.


Architectural and engineering practice Pick Everard has announced the appointment of two new associates, Jose Hernandez and Matthew Sweeting, and Doug Soutar as assistant director. Hernandez is a sustainability consultant, while Soutar joined Pick Everard in 2006 and has been key to the expansion of building services consultancy.


Mott MacDonald’s director Alan Powderham has been awarded the 2010 Royal Academy of


Engineering (RAEng) Sustained Achievement Award. This is one of the ultimate accolade for a British engineer and recognises Powderham’s influence on civil engineering over the last four decades.


The government has announced that Lord Heseltine will chair the Independent Approval Panel for the £1bn Regional Growth Fund, which will allocate funds for schemes – including capital projects – to areas hit hardest by public spending cuts. The government is now seeking views on how the fund should be designed to best meet the needs of communities across England.


Business secretary Vince Cable has appointed Roger Cashmore as chair of the United Kingdom Atomic


Energy Authority. Cashmore is the principal of Brasenose College, Oxford, and the current chairman of the Nuclear Research Advisory Council of the Ministry of Defence. He has previously worked for CERN, the European Laboratory for High Energy Physics.


Patrick D’Cruz has joined independent engineering and environmental consultancy Gifford as technical director. Based in Oxford, he will take a leading role in directing the mechanical and electrical engineering team.


Martin Burton is the new president of the Heating and Ventilating Contractors’


Association for 2010/11. Burton is also an associate member of the Institute of Domestic Heating and Environmental Engineers. He has been a member of the association’s council since 2005 and chairman of its commercial and contractual committee since 2007.


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