‘WE NEED TO GET YOUNG PEOPLE INTERESTED IN LIGHTING’

‘WE NEED TO GET YOUNG PEOPLE INTERESTED IN LIGHTING’

In our latest profile of young and up-and-coming lighters, Kier Highways’ Ben Steels explains how the ILP’s Exterior Lighting Diploma unlocked his career in lighting

By Ben Steels

TELL US ABOUT YOURSELF

I’m Ben Steels, lighting engineer with Kier Highways and YLP secretary. I started working in the lighting industry back in 2014. When I am not working, I enjoy music and playing guitar.

HOW DID YOU GET INTO LIGHTING?

I did a construction and the built environment diploma at my local collage. After I finished, I put my CV out on a job-search website and was later approached about a position of a street lighting design technician with Skanska. I interviewed and got the job, before moving to my current role for Kier Highways.

WHY LIGHTING?

A career in lighting is not something I had ever thought about until I started in the industry. I think a lot of people take it for granted. Then when I started, I saw how detailed and specialised it is.

I really enjoyed the office environment and the interaction between different disciplines in order to deliver a scheme.

Skanska at the time had the contract for my local authority PCC (Peterborough City Council) and I could see the difference the work I was undertaking was having on my hometown.

When travelling around the city I still think to myself, ‘I helped designed this’.

Ben Steels at the International Green Apple Environment Awards at the Houses of Parliament, where his previous employer, Skanska, won a bronze award

WHAT DO YOU FIND MOST INTERESTING ABOUT YOUR ROLE?

I think when you start a new scheme with the customer and identify the obstacles and potential hazards then seeing it come to completion the most interesting.

Two roads may look similar but have completely different requirements or restrictions.

However, the thing I most enjoy in my role is mentoring new starters to the industry and introducing them to software and design processes and standards.

HAVE YOU BEEN INVOLVED IN ANY PROJECTS YOU ARE PARTICULARLY PROUD OF, AND WHY?

With Kier I am just about wrapping up the designs for the Shropshire LED replacement scheme that includes about 15,000 assets.

This has been my first major design project since I started my position as an engineer and have been working on it for about a year, with bits in-between. I have had to learn a lot of new skills and adapt to the contract and people I am working with.

At my previous employer, Skanksa, I worked as the design lead for a bat-sensitive lighting scheme that won an International Green Apple Environment Awards bronze award and travelled to the Houses of Parliament to receive this.

HOW DOES LIGHTING INSPIRE YOU?

I like to think that the work I do has a positive effect on the environment, making it safer and easier to travel at night whilst reducing light pollution and minimising the effects to vulnerable wildlife.

I see lighting as a lifelong career and somewhere I can continue develop my skills and progress in this industry.

WHAT BARRIERS OR CHALLENGES WOULD YOU SAY THERE ARE FOR YOUNG PEOPLE WANTING TO ENTER THE INDUSTRY?

In my view there aren’t huge barriers in place for getting people into the industry. However, I wasn’t aware that a career in lighting was an option until after I left school and finished education.

I think we need to get young people interested in lighting and increasing awareness when discussing career planning.

HOW HAS THE ILP HELPED YOU ON YOUR LIGHTING JOURNEY?

A lot of my lighting education was through the ILP Exterior Lighting Diploma, which I completed whilst employed.

It was an intense few weeks with long days but pretty much tells you what you need to know. I did mine over three years, one module a year then my additional coursework. It’s also good for meeting and networking with people in similar roles to yourself.

Additionally, the ILP has its professional lighting guides and technical reports, which can be downloaded from the website and which I find especially useful.

WHAT’S YOUR AMBITION IN LIGHTING? WHERE WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE IN, SAY, TEN YEARS’ TIME?

I would like to be the manager of my own lighting team in ten years, delivering high-quality designs on a variety of schemes.

WHAT WOULD BE YOUR MESSAGE TO OTHER PEOPLE INTERESTED OR THINKING ABOUT A CAREER IN LIGHTING?

Why not go for it? There are good opportunities for progression and development.

The lighting industry is forever developing new technology and challenges. If it doesn’t work out for whatever reason, you will have developed enough transferable skills and experience to go towards other careers.

Ben Steels is a lighting engineer with Kier Highways and YLP secretary

FIND OUT MORE

To find out more about the ILP’s Exterior Lighting Diploma go to https://theilp.org.uk/courses/ ilp-exterior-lighting-diploma/

GET IN TOUCH

Don’t forget, if you’re under 35 or new to the industry and would like to tell your story during 2023, simple email LightingJournaleditor Nic Paton on nic.cormorantmedia@outlook.com or the ILP’s Jess Gallacher on jess@ theilp.org.uk. We’ll then send you a questionnaire to fill in and return with a photograph. Simple!