Supporting our ICE QUEST Scholars – Emma Kippax

This year, we supported our three ICE QUEST Scholars in making the most of their summer, with opportunities to grow both academically and personally. One of our scholars, Emma Kippax, reflects on her eight-week secondment with Coventry City Council and shares what she gained from the experience.

“Over the summer, I had the opportunity to join Coventry City Council’s Highways team for an eight-week placement. This gave me valuable experience in both design and construction, helping me understand not only how schemes are developed but also how they are delivered on site.

My main project involved designing a new car park. This began with utility searches, site visits and client discussions to understand the site’s constraints and requirements. I then developed multiple layout options, using vehicle tracking to ensure the design was practical while maximising parking provision. Throughout the design process, I applied guidance from Manual for Streets and Inclusive Mobility to ensure appropriate road widths, accessible parking provision and pedestrian routes.

Once the preferred layout had been selected, I produced a detailed construction package in AutoCAD, including pavement construction details and a concrete bag headwall bridge crossing a drainage ditch. I particularly enjoyed solving some of the design challenges on the scheme. One example was designing kerbing around an existing tree, where I iterated the layout to minimise encroachment into the root protection zone while maintaining good vehicle tracking. Another challenge was drainage design. As the aim was to retain the existing surfaced areas, gullies within the car park were not a practical solution. Instead, levels and gradients had to be carefully designed to direct surface water to the carpark edges while minimising the amount of fill required. This also gave me the opportunity to gain experience using a level on site to collect additional survey information.

The skills I developed on this project were then applied to a second scheme, where I produced a construction package for a new toucan crossing from a concept sketch. This gave me experience using the Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions (TSRGD) and the Traffic Signs Manual, further developing my understanding of highway design standards.

Alongside my office-based work, I regularly visited site to observe resurfacing works and the construction of a new link road, including earthworks, plate load testing and culvert installation. These visits helped me better understand constructability and visualise how designs developed in the office are brought to life on site.

Overall, this placement has been a rewarding opportunity to see how engineering ideas develop from initial concepts into construction-ready designs and ultimately become reality on site.”