Originally from France, Victor Henquel was required to undertake an internship to complete his HND in Civil Engineering. He was offered the opportunity to work at the Centre for Offsite Construction + Innovative Structures (COCIS) at Edinburgh Napier and jumped at the chance to move to Scotland.
COCIS sits within Edinburgh Napier’s Institute for Sustainable Construction. Its primary focus is on timber engineering, offsite construction and digitalisation within the built environment. Victor is passionate about sustainability and therefore the role was a perfect fit.
Once settled in Edinburgh, Victor met Robert Hairstans, head of COCIS and founder of Edinburgh Napier’s beX scholarship programme. The Built Environment Exchange (beX) provides degree funding to eligible prospective students who have career ambitions in the built environment. Victor leapt at the chance to apply and was delighted to be accepted as a beX Scholar. He enrolled on the BEng Civil Engineering course and graduated in 2020.
Victor studied part-time and complimented his studies by working for the Inverness-based company, Carbon Dynamic. They are a world leader in sustainable timber manufacture.
“I was delighted to discover Inverness and the surrounding area. The Scots are incredibly kind and welcoming. I love the outdoors and really enjoyed the opportunity to explore the landscapes of Scotland with its lochs and mountains. I was nicely surprised to find similarities with France – I didn’t have to travel for more than a day in any direction to experience real differences in landscapes and communities.”
Edinburgh was calling Victor home and he returned to Edinburgh Napier. He resumed his position at COCIS and continued to help the centre with research and projects relating to offsite construction and timber engineering. He also completed an MSc in Advanced Structural Engineering and graduated in 2021.
Victor is now back working in France as a Building Control Engineer at BTP Consultants. One of his responsibilities is to provide quality control for the new sustainable modular athletes’ living accommodation pods at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. The pods are built in the factory and then shipped to site and installed. By shipped, he means literally – the pods are moved to their locations from the factory via two or three canals. This all adds to the environmental sustainability of the projects as moving by boat is keeping carbon emissions at practically zero in comparison to road, rail or air transport.
Once the Olympics is over, the athletes’ accommodation will then be repurposed into full time student accommodation. Of all the projects that Victor has worked on, he admits this is the most rewarding to date.
Victor plans on spending the next few years working in France to gain more valuable experience. However, having a Scottish qualification means that returning to Scotland is always an option for future. LinkedIn helps Victor keep up to date with current projects and news from the Scottish built environment industry.
Victor offers his advice:
“Try your best to get professional opportunities whilst you are at Edinburgh Napier. There are a lot of academics and teachers with great connections in industry – don’t fear your teacher! Ask them to help you find opportunities as it will all help in your future working career. It really helped me to have insights from different colleagues. Also, don’t put too much pressure on yourself. 50% of my knowledge came via my studies and the other 50% through professional experience. I was very lucky to be able to do both.”