Secondment Spotlight – Louise Morgan

Flood risk work is often about looking ahead: understanding where water could go, how deep it could get and what needs to be done to keep people, places and infrastructure safe.

Louise Morgan is a Senior Environmental Scientist on secondment to AtkinsRéalis. Her work focuses on flood modelling, flood risk assessments, and outline concept designs, all aimed at understanding and mitigating flood risk from fluvial and surface water sources.

As a senior member of the team, Louise also reviews and checks work completed by graduates and assistants, helping ensure technical outputs meet the right standards before they are issued.

Feeling part of the AtkinsRéalis team

Louise joined Waterman Aspen in June 2022 and moved straight into her secondment with AtkinsRéalis. Since then, she has become fully embedded within their team. Colleagues at AtkinsRéalis are often surprised to be reminded that she is on secondment, given the strong working relationships she has built and the significant contributions she has made to complex projects.

Working on projects from local to national scale

Louise’s role has given her experience across a broad range of schemes, from local flood risk assessments through to major infrastructure projects. Her work has included the Docklands Light Railway extension, the Lower Thames Crossing and Sizewell C, as well as smaller local schemes such as a flood risk assessment for a school in Epsom.

The scale of these projects brings plenty of complexity. On major infrastructure schemes, Louise works with large multidisciplinary teams, coordinating with design teams and specialists, such as natural capital colleagues, to ensure flood risk requirements are properly understood and incorporated.

Flood risk is at the centre of whether something can be delivered safely. “It can sometimes be seen as a bit of a tick-box exercise,” she says. “But if you can’t prove it’s safe, you can’t build it.”

That responsibility is one of the reasons Louise finds the work so rewarding. Flooding can be complex, with different sources and contributing factors, so the role requires adaptability, organisation, analytical thinking and creativity.

A proud moment on Sizewell C

One of Louise’s proudest achievements so far has been her work on Sizewell C, where she served as lead modeller on projects addressing extreme flooding.

The project gave Louise the opportunity to apply her flood modelling skills in a new and highly regulated setting. Working on a nuclear project meant understanding different requirements, expectations and levels of scrutiny, while ensuring the modelling work supported decisions around flood safety.

Louise describes it as a defining moment in her career. She and a colleague were initially working together on the project, before that colleague went on paternity leave. Louise suddenly found herself taking on more responsibility, attending meetings with senior stakeholders and representing the technical work.

“It was a real sink-or-swim moment in my career. Fortunately, swim happened,” she says.

The experience helped Louise recognise how far she had progressed. It was also one of the first times she felt she had moved beyond being a junior member of the team and taken ownership of a complex piece of work.

Supporting her chartership journey

The complexity of Louise’s secondment experience also played an important role in helping her achieve chartership. Her work gave her strong examples to draw on when evidencing the required competencies, allowing her to demonstrate technical knowledge, judgement, communication and professional development.

Waterman Aspen’s support was also a key part of the process. Louise received help from colleagues who reviewed her submission, acted as sponsors and supported her through mock interviews.

“I could have gone to anyone who was chartered and asked them to look through it, and they would have said yes,” she says.

That encouragement helped Louise refine her submission and approach the process with confidence. It also reflects one of the things she values most about Waterman Aspen: the support available, even when day-to-day work is delivered within a client team.

Growing with Waterman Aspen

Alongside her technical role, Louise has recently progressed into an Area Manager position. The opportunity was a natural next step, with Louise feeling that Waterman Aspen had recognised her strengths and supported her development.

“I’ve never felt like I’ve had to prove that I’m good at what I do,” she says. “My career has progressed very organically. It feels like everybody is helping me up.”

The Area Manager role also gives Louise the chance to combine two sides of her career. She enjoys technical flood risk work and did not want to move away from modelling completely, but she was also interested in management, recruitment and supporting people.

The transition has brought new challenges. However, Louise has found support from colleagues across Waterman Aspen and knows she can ask questions as she continues to learn.

The right environment for progression

Louise’s secondment shows the value of being able to build a long-term role within a client team while still having the backing, development and security of Waterman Aspen.

She enjoys the people she works with at AtkinsRéalis, the variety of projects and the feeling of being part of the team. At the same time, she values Waterman Aspen’s support, training, career progression and wider colleague network.

For Louise, that combination has created a positive environment to grow technically, achieve chartered status, and take the next step into management.

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