We are very pleased to announce that the Lyons O’Neill team has grown this year. Anna Bergman joined as as a Project Structural Engineer back in May, bringing with her years of valuable experience and industry knowledge. And as part of our Meet the Engineer series, we spoke to Anna to discuss life as an engineer. Including what first attracted her to the profession, what she enjoys most about it, and what advice she’d offer to other young women thinking of pursuing the career.

When did you join Lyons O’Neill and where were you before?

I moved to UK in April this year from Stockholm where I worked as a structural engineer at Byggnadstekniska Byrån (BTB) and started working here at Lyons O’Neill almost immediately thereafter.

What first drew you to the engineering profession?

I have always enjoyed the design of buildings and like to know how everything works. I was first drawn to Architecture, but when I realised that you could study to become an engineer and combine the engineering and design aspects of work I was immediately more drawn to that instead.

What do you enjoy most about engineering?

I like to know how buildings come together and that you always learn something new in every project, the work is never the same. The variety of the profession is one of the main reasons that I chose structural engineering.

What advice would you give to young women thinking of pursuing a career in engineering? 

One of the most important things is that you believe in yourself even when you get challenged or if someone is mansplaining you. I would advise any young person to try and get a wide knowledge of all the materials and building techniques early in their career so that you get a good basic knowledge of how a building works. I also believe that it’s an advantage to learn a bit of programming & how you can use that to your advantage since it’s going to be more and more important in our roles as engineers.

What has been a highlight of your time at Lyons O’Neill so far?

I have been working on a number of projects since I started here and they have mostly been RC-Frames projects, which is exciting and new to me, because the usage of in-situ concrete is much more common here on sites than what I’m used to from projects in Sweden. The usage of masonry in general is also much more common here, which has been a great chance for me to learn more about it since the projects I have been working on before haven’t used it at all or have only been using it in prefabricated façade panels.