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Shane Collins CEng FIHE, Smart Cities Sector Lead, 4way Consulting

I left university with a BA (Hons) in human geography, having identified during my third year that I wanted a career in transport planning. I was lucky enough to be offered a role with Morgan Tucker in 2007 as a graduate transport planner.

I soon realised that transport planning was not the correct career path for me as I was drawn to highway engineering and design.

I started to get involved in traffic signal design but realised that I wasn’t getting the intensive level of support I required to successfully develop in the discipline, so I left Morgan Tucker in 2009 to join WSP as an ITS engineer seconded onto the Northamptonshire highways service delivery contract.

The three years I spent at WSP were pivotal to my career and development as a traffic signal engineer, through a combination of working on projects from concept through to post-construction and excellent mentoring from my more senior colleagues.

I joined 4way Consulting in 2012 as an engineer to help deliver several traffic signal projects, which the company had recently won. I am now an associate and have been at the company for 12 years, helping grow the Urban ITS team from a team of one (me) to a team of eight. I have worked on many projects of various types and sizes, as a technical lead, including multi-disciplinary tramway extensions, traffic signal control strategy optimisation and validation for National Highways areas, private finance and Active Travel England initiatives, and bespoke traffic control system solutions.

My job role

My current role is the smart cities sector lead at 4way Consulting. I am responsible for the technical leadership and growth of our smart cities sector, which currently includes urban ITS and street lighting disciplines.

We deliver all elements of urban ITS and street lighting design services and I work with the discipline leads, providing technical governance to ensure what we deliver to our clients is both technically excellent and value for money. I am also responsible for the business development of the sector, winning work and developing relationships with our existing and future clients, as well as identifying new markets within the smart cities arena that we can move into in the future.

I help develop the engineers of the future by providing technical guidance, advice and mentoring. It has been very rewarding seeing our apprentices develop into budding engineers of the future over the last few years.

My role also requires me to attend and present at industry events such as the Transport Technology Forum and JCT Traffic Signal Symposium. I presented at JCT in 2023 on the Birmingham tramway Hagley Road design solution. I’m also involved in LCRIG and have recently been working with Salford City College, where I undertook an introduction to traffic signals overview to some of their students.

I arrange CPD events for the team so they can learn about the latest developments in the industry, as well as gaining an understanding of other engineering disciplines and how they interface with their own specialist areas.

My route to professional registration

There were times, early on in my career, when colleagues had asked: ‘How can you be an engineer…you don’t have a degree in engineering?’ This had an impact on my confidence as it made me feel like an imposter working in the industry, but I was determined to prove them wrong. My degree, while not in engineering, gave me an excellent platform and provided me with complementary skills to the engineering skillset, which I have developed throughout my career. It ensured I looked at problems with an analytical approach and gave me an excellent understanding of sustainable development, which is of critical importance in how we approach design and construction in our industry today and going forwards.

In 2017, I achieved my IEng through the IHE via the personalised report (technical report at the time) route. As I didn’t have a degree in a course certified by the IHE this was the most appropriate route for me. I was required to write a technical report, in addition to my professional review submission. My submission was reviewed by the IHE, following this review I was required to present my technical report and professional review submission to the review panel.

After a couple of years of being a registered incorporated engineer, I decided to apply for my chartership in 2020 and again had to do this via the personalised report route. I achieved my CEng in 2021 and was lucky enough to be awarded the CEng Review of the Year 2020/21 by the IHE.

I am keen to support others through their professional registration, mentoring them through the process and giving them encouragement and support when needed.