Claire dived in at the deep end, (or was she pushed!), arriving at Igne during preparation for an ISO audit.  But Claire is a colleague who’s incredibly calm under pressure, (even if she’s exceptionally creative when it comes to childcare catastrophising in the background – more about that later).

As the Process and Commercial Manager for our water wells and geothermal teams, here Claire shares her journey, insights, and what makes her an integral part of the Igne team.

Where does your story begin?

Probably not with my A Levels, which I failed because I had a spectacularly good social life at the time!

Oh, do tell…

Certainly not, my daughters might read this.  Let’s start with university.  Having realised the error of my academic ways, and after ending up working in a terrible job at a financial services company, I decided I needed to recommit to academia and went to uni and did a degree in Earth Science, followed by an MSc in Contaminated Land.

This was in the late 1990s when the concept of contaminated land was a big buzz word, with lots of legislation coming out – so my education was a direct stepping stone into an exciting career.

My professional journey took me from Celtic Technologies in Cardiff, where I cut my teeth on messy but fascinating gas works projects, to Guildford’s QDS, dealing with complex fuel spill remediation projects.  Every day I’d come home filthy and smelly, but happy!

And each role added a new layer of experience for me, from site investigations to quantitative risk assessments, all of which prepared me for my current role at Igne.

I think your daughters will be impressed to read so far…

Well, it was about this stage in my career that Holly was born, and in the early 2000s there was far less flexibility in terms of enabling working mothers to build a career part-time or flexibly around being a parent.  So, I had to change roles and went back into remediation, working for a company where I began putting tenders together.

After a redundancy, I found my place at Geotechnical Engineering in Gloucester where I was very much at home for 17 or 18 years in total, during which my husband and I welcomed Olivia, and I was able to work more flexibly.

As my daughters grew, so did my role and overall responsibilities within the business.

How did you juggle it all?

That’s exactly it, isn’t it?  You juggle.  You manage all your responsibilities and if you’re supported by a respectful employer, you can achieve everything and more within your professional role. 

There’s a saying, if you want something doing ask a busy person – I’d change that slightly to, if you want something doing, and doing well, ask a busy mum.

We plan, prepare, compartmentalise, manage time and know we have to over-deliver because we’re likely to be compared to our male colleagues or those without additional responsibilities.

I don’t know how I avoided the odd speeding ticket as I rushed from a site or a meeting to the school yard, but I made it work even if I was that parent rushing through the gates at the last minute.

I hear you sister!  My daughter is no longer surprised when I’m late, she just has a favourite spot on the school wall where she waits…

The key though, is having supportive colleagues, isn’t it?  And I couldn’t fault them at Geotechnical Engineering.  They enabled me to grow my role, and I transitioned from contract management to leading teams as a department manager. 

And by the time I left, I’d like to think I’d put so many systems in place, it was a well-oiled machine that practically ran itself!

You’re saying you managed yourself out of a job?

Ha ha no, definitely not.  But I decided when the role at Igne was put to me by former colleague Ben Cornish, the opportunity to develop new teams and new processes and improve the business was just too exciting to pass up.

Ben poached you?

Ben was an engineer within one of my teams years ago, and we’d always worked well together and kept in touch.  He didn’t entirely poach me – it was the perfect opportunity at the perfect time.

Apart from the time being right in the middle of an audit?

Oh yes!  Talk about a baptism of fire.  But I certainly got to know everyone very well and very quickly and get a comprehensive immersion in the workings of the water well and geothermal teams.  It was actually an excellent induction and enabled me to make a positive contribution to the team from day one.

Are you glad you made the move?

Absolutely, it has introduced me to such an exciting business, brilliant colleagues, and the variety of the work I am involved with means that every day is interesting.  You’ve also turned the spotlight on my colleague Scott.  We have found that our roles have grown around each other’s, and we are both very flexible to support Ben and the wider team.

And now you’re certainly not the only team member with a family?

Absolutely not, we have had a flurry of babies within the water wells and geothermal teams over the past year.  And as people management is a key part of my role, one where I feel I wear the comfiest slippers and add much value, I am delighted to be the enabler who ensures my colleagues with parental responsibilities get the support they need.

What do you get up to when you’re not working?

I enjoy kayaking, particularly on the River Severn and River Wye.  And of course, I’m dedicated to Holly and Olivia, both of whom are pursuing their own academic goals with the same determination that I bring to my career.  

There’s an anecdote that bridges kayaking, and kids isn’t there?

Yes, it’s one of those cascading catastrophes one imagines where your parenting fail ends up a headline in a tabloid!  Olivia was doing her GCSEs, and I had a day off and was kayaking off the south coast with a friend.  But my nerves were too jingly as I worried about her doing her exam and so I just couldn’t concentrate and came off the water. 

I was kind of foreseeing these awful headlines where selfish mother in an inflatable kayak ends up in France as daughter faces GCSEs and abandonment.  I just couldn’t get past it – why on earth, I don’t know!

Fame for all the wrong reasons!  But now you’re famous at Igne, where next for you and the teams you support?

I am excited about the future at Igne, particularly in growing my team and contributing to the company’s dynamic evolution.  My journey has been both challenging and immensely rewarding so far already, and I’m eager for what the future holds.  

It’s a time of growth and diversification, advancement and improvement.  I am delighted to be contributing in every area towards the ongoing success of Igne.

Let's give the final word to Ben:

The timing was perfect. Claire was looking for a new challenge and Igne Water Wells had one!  Claire was catapulted into our first IMS audits and found her feet very quickly working alongside the Water Wells and QSHE team.  Claire is a fantastic addition to the team and recently celebrated her one year Igne-versary.