Chris Northey, a member of IHEEM’s London branch who, having begun his career as a plumbing apprentice in July 1987 with his father’s firm, is today Public Health Design Group head at London-based consulting engineers BDSP Partnership, last month visited Buckingham Palace to collect the City & Guilds Prince Philip Medal 2011 from the Duke of Edinburgh.
The Duke’s “personal gift”, the Medal goes to just one individual each year who has displayed “outstanding achievement in science, technology and industrial development”, or “exceptional proficiency in workplace skills”. It is noteworthy in being awarded to “exceptional individuals who, having started at the bottom of the career ladder, have reached highly responsible positions”. All recipients will have been “helped on their way” to their current position via successful City & Guilds study. Earlier in his career, Chris Northey gained City & Guilds qualifications including the Craft Certificate in Plumbing, the Advanced Craft Certificate in Plumbing, and an ONC and HNC in Building Studies. He went on to gain a BEng (Hons) degree in Building Services Engineering Design and Management from Reading University, is now a Chartered Engineer, and, in addition to being a Member of IHEEM, is a Member of CIBSE, of the Institution of Engineering and Technology, and of the Chartered Institute of Plumbing and Heating Engineering, and a Fellow of the Society of Public Health Engineers. Prior to joining BDSP Partnership in 2006, where he heads a team of public health engineers, he worked for consulting engineers Zisman Bowyer and Partners and, before that, Oscar Faber. Among the many healthcare projects he has worked on have been a new 400-bed acute general hospital and new private wards at the Princess Royal University Hospital in Farnborough, Kent; a major pharmacy and laboratory complex at the Royal London Hospital; new medical facilities for Northwick Park Hospital in Harrow; a new PFI-funded clinical building for King’s College Hospital, London; new cancer treatment facilities for London’s Royal Brompton Hospital; new wards at The Royal Alexandra Children’s Hospital, Brighton; a new treatment centre to supplement existing facilities at, and major refurbishment of, the A&E Department at Darent Valley Hospital, Kent, and a new 870-bed PFI acute hospital, 10,000 m2 Integrated Care Centre, and 10,000 m2 Mental Health Unit, for the Peterborough Hospital PFI project. This year he became chair of the Professional Bodies Forum and director of SummitSkills, the sector skills council for the building services engineering sector. Alongside working on healthcare projects, he has extensive professional experience on schemes ranging from an 88-storey residential tower in Abu Dhabi in the UAE, to working on the design of the Velopark development, part of the London 2012 Olympic Games. He said of being awarded the 2011 Prince Philip Medal: “I was very surprised, but extremely honoured, to learn that I was to be given this latest award. I believe I may have been nominated by one or more of my BDSP colleagues. I have had an extremely interesting, varied career, and am delighted to have some of my professional and academic achievements recognised in this way.”
