We asked Geo-Environmental Consultant Kayleigh McGeoch what led her to want to pursue this career, what a typical day looks like to her and how she’s found being in the team at PJA. Read what she had to say to give a real insight into being in the ground engineering and contaminated land industry:
When I was young I had a fascination with rocks and would keep picking them up and putting them in my pockets and growing up I loved collecting shells and interesting rocks (be they colourful or oddly shaped!). I have always loved learning about how the Earth was made, what created the geology that we stand on everyday and was able to visit a number of geological features as part of family holidays
I started out with a Bachelors degree in Geology at Royal Holloway, University of London, followed by a Masters degree in Volcanology at the University of Bristol. Both degrees offered me the opportunity to explore how geology and geological structures of an area can affect a number of factors taken into account within construction and engineering including groundwater presence, slope stability and mining history.
After finishing university, I decided that I wanted to move into a career that required me to use the knowledge I had gained during my degrees, which was when I found a geo-environmental engineer position. It allowed me the chance to observe ground conditions across a number of sites and gain a deeper understanding of the geology of the UK. After a few years of primarily geo-environmental consultancy and contracting, I wanted to expand my knowledge and explore the geotechnical side of the industry. Following a couple of years in a geologist position I decided that I wanted to focus more on the consultancy side than the contracting side of the industry and my years in contracting gave me a good head start in that direction. When the consultant opportunity at PJA arose, I immediately applied for it and when I started the role I immediately felt like a part of the team.
A typical working day varies from day to day. One day I could be on a site helping to set up a ground investigation or conducting a site walkover and the next I could be working in the office on a report or organising an upcoming ground investigation.
The main thing I enjoy about working in engineering is the huge variety of projects across the country, each of which are completely unique and vary from commercial and industrial developments to remediation projects.
I think that my biggest achievement to date was helping to run an on site mobile laboratory running chemical analyses on up to ten samples a day, both soil and water samples, and providing laboratory results to clients within a 24 hour turnaround. This allowed materials on the sites to be stockpiled on site and either reused or disposed of as waste based on the chemical results.
If anyone is contemplating a career in engineering, definitely consider whether the type of job you would like is either purely office based or whether you enjoy time outdoors as well (in all weathers!). If you are an outdoorsy person, like me, then engineering is an ideal career for both spending time at a desk and spending time at a variety of locations across the country.
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Kayleigh McGeoch
Kayleigh is a geo-environmental consultant with nearly 6 years of experience in geo-environmental consultancy and ground investigation and has worked on a wide range of geo-environmental and geotechnical projects across the UK.
BSc(Hons) MSc
Contact Kayleigh: [email protected]
