• • • EDITOR’S INTERVIEW • • • “Thames Tideway Tunnel is an interesting


project for us, because we’ve been on the journey since 2017.” Thames Tideway Tunnel is a completely new


sewage system in London. Mr Whitehead continued: “We’re involved in


one package of that which is electrical and automation across 22 different locations. “We’ve delivered to four of the 22 sites and the project is due to be completed next year.”


Shadow Minister for Work and Pensions visits BGEN and meets the next generation of electrical engineers


“We need to be constantly feeding those


apprentices, trainees and graduates in, but at the same time, looking at how we attract people into this industry and business.” In terms of skills, Mr Whitehead said BGEN is


doing a lot of work in this space. “Around the skills piece, what’s evident to me


personally, is the challenge our clients have with a lack of electrical skills,” he said. “We spend a lot of time now placing our people


into those client organisations to fill the gap of those electrical design or electrical engineering resources – that’s how we like to differentiate ourselves and that’s why we’ve got that breadth of offering.” The other element that BGEN is keen to develop


within the business is greater diversity. Mr Groarke said: “When we’re talking about


skill shortage, when you sort of discount half the population immediately, it seems to be like a glaringly obvious way to try and resolve that for this sector. “We’re on an early journey with that, but we are


starting to take some quite progressive steps.” BGEN recently set up a Women’s Forum, which


is doing surveys across the business on what the issues that females face on the ground. “Robin and I don’t really know the issues that


female engineers face,” Mr Groarke said. “Now they’ve got a direct line of communication to Robin – it’s all anonymous – and we’ll put an action plan together in the next couple of months.” Mr Whitehead added: “We’ve got some really


talented female engineers who have delivered the most complex contracts and projects we’ve ever delivered. “Equally, we don’t want to lose the knowledge


and experience of the people that are leaving the business as well.” He said that BGEN’s apprenticeship, graduate


and trainee programmes are a key part of the business. “In terms of the dynamics and the age


demographics of this business, we’ve got a lot of engineers with years and decades of experience. We must keep feeding the front end with graduates, trainees and apprentices and we’ve got a successful programme that we’re continuing.


electricalengineeringmagazine.co.uk ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING • MAY 2022 13 “More than 90% of the graduates we employ,


we’ve retained, which I think is down to the breadth and types of projects we work on – the graduates have got the opportunity to get involved in all sorts of projects.” Looking at some of BGEN’s work, in the last


12 months, the business has won two frameworks for National Grid. It also has a lot of utility frameworks in the water sector with Thames, Anglian, Guernsey, Severn Trent and Scottish Water. Mr Whitehead said: “We’ve won four significant


frameworks in Scotland for Scottish Water. “We’ve doubled the size of our Grangemouth


office in the last 12 months and we’ve doubled the number of people already working there and the recruitment that we’ve got going on in Scotland is phenomenal – this could give us up to 12 years’ worth of work at Scottish Water.


Alison McGovern MP, and Shadow Minster for Work and Pensions, recently visited BEGN’s electrical manufacturing facility at Penketh, Warrington to discuss tackling the skills shortage and attracting more young people into the engineering sector Ms McGovern said: “I had a great day with


BGEN. It is clear that new technology in engineering offers great jobs, particularly in work that is crucial for our country, such as addressing the consequences of climate change. Thank you to all at BGEN for helping me learn more about some of the most important jobs for our country’s future.” Mr Whitehead said: “It was great to


introduce Alison to some of our apprentices, several of which work at the business with their parents. At BGEN we have a culture of supporting people throughout their careers and are proud that employees recommend the company to their children.”


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