Ponciano Perez, SCL Tunnel Agent, Ferrovial Agroman, has won the Rising Star of the Year Award at the 2015 NCE Tunnelling & Underground Space Awards.
The winners of the 2015 NCE Tunnelling & Underground Awards were announced to the industry on 3 December at the Grosvenor House Hotel, London.
After careful review by the panel of expert judges, Ponciano Perez won the Rising Star of the Year Award because of his proven success delivering the tunnelling works for two Crossrail stations in the past year in addition to his enthusiastic promotion of Health and Safety, innovation and inclusive team management. Ponciano’s approach to project delivery and his accomplishments throughout the year have made him a clear leader – an impressive achievement at such a young age.
Mark Hansford, editor of New Civil Engineer said:
"Now in their sixth year, these awards celebrate tunnelling success and recognise overall excellence in the delivery of international tunnelling projects. And our winners - and indeed all our finalists - amply illustrate the brilliance of this industry: its ability to innovate, find solutions to tough problems, and fundamentally - to crack on regardless."
Perez has been working as Tunnel Agent for Crossrail Western Tunnels & Stations Contract in London as part of the BAM Ferrovial Kier (BFK) joint venture for the last four years.
Of the recognition, Ponciano has said:
"I am honoured and grateful to have received this prestigious award. Working on Crossrail in the UK has been both exciting and challenging. I would like to thank my outstanding colleagues for all their support and I look forward to developing my career further on the next project."
Following successful completion of the Tottenham Court Road (TCR) tunnelling works, the first of the Crossrail network to be finished using sprayed concrete linings, earlier this year, Ponciano moved to Bond Street station (BOS) to manage the underground works to completion. The tunnels in the two stations together comprise excavations in soft ground (London Clay) of more than 2,000m of SCL tunnels with cross sections from 20m2 to 80m2, totalling an approximate value of £150m.
"I am delighted Ponciano has received this award. His work on Crossrail highlights how valuable large infrastructure projects are to the development of young engineers. As a company, we invest greatly in the engineers of the future, and provide them with the experience and tools necessary to forge an impressive career. I feel very proud of Ponciano for embracing this opportunity."
Ignacio Lopez, Project Manager, Ferrovial Agroman UK & Ireland, said:
"Ponciano not only represents the core values of Ferrovial Agroman, but he takes them to the next level. His development and tunnel expertise have exceeded expectations, proving his great ambition to fulfil his potential as a senior manager of the company. Ponciano has worked extremely hard to deliver his challenging sections of work to the highest standards. To be recognised at industry level is a great honour and will encourage others to follow in his footsteps".
Ponciano has also managed the Compensation Grouting activities at BOS and TCR, 45km of grouting tubes which have been installed in the ground to allow grouting to mitigate settlement caused by tunnelling. Aside from leading the construction activities, Ponciano has cultivated an open attitude of collaboration between contractor, designer and project manager, supporting innovative ideas from the team leading to successful delivery of Crossrail’s first two deep level tunnelled stations.
Ponciano completed his Civil Engineering degree in Madrid and soon after moved to start his career in Switzerland . In 2011, Ponciano joined Ferrovial Agroman and came to work on Crossrail’s Western Running Tunnels and Station Caverns project in central London.
