Jonathan Cooper

Civil Engineer, London Underground
Joined September 2009

The Journey Starts...

Having moved to London to study for MEng and PhD degrees in Civil Engineering at Imperial College, I wanted to continue to live in this amazing city that put the focus of my job hunt in London. Having looked around at the various options, I believed that working for London Underground would give me a well-rounded engineering experience, which would be important when I take my professional exams with the ICE for becoming chartered.

In the first four months I was quickly brought up to speed on the complexity and challenges of working with an Underground travel network that is over 100 years old. This included a two-week shift driving the Tubes and working in a central London station, both important for understanding how engineering decisions could impact the business, namely, moving people around London.

Other notable job placements have included delivering a new ticket office to Victoria Underground station and extending platforms for the newer and longer trains on the Metropolitan Line.

Extreme Engineering and Challenges...

Currently I am working with the engineering team at the Tottenham Court Road station upgrade. This engineering project will increase the floor area of the underground station ticket hall by six times, improve access, increase the capacity of the station for the future and link in with the adjacent Crossrail station. This has included some extreme engineering with the installation of some of the largest plunge columns in the country, using one of the biggest piling rigs in Europe, all on a small congested site in the busy West End of London - a real challenge.

A significant amount of tunnelling taking place alongside many other construction processes has given me a challenging, diverse and privileged opportunity as a civil engineer.

The Future...

Working for London Underground has exceeded my expectations, and from a professional development point of view the support is second to none. My goal of becoming a chartered civil engineer is heading in the right direction. In my job I want to be continually challenging the limits of my understanding and knowledge which I believe I can get with the investment in major upgrades that are taking place now and planned for in the future by London Underground.