Jane Wernick
structural engineer
Jane Wernick was the structural engineer behind the Millenium Wheel’s design. She specialises in the design of unusual and challenging structures, working closely with leading architects. Architects need good design-conscious engineers, and Wernick – who was associate director at the mighty Arup consultancy before setting up her own firm in 1998 – works with the best of them. In an industry dominated by men, Wernick has made her name in the profession. It was her mother who set her on the path to an engineering career; Wernick says "my mother found a list that the Institution of Civil Engineers had produced which had stars by firms that would employ pre-university students, and crosses by firms that would employ women. She helped me apply to Ove Arup & Partners before I went to university. That was my first lucky break!" She has gone on to win numerous awards, including the First Woman of the Built Environment last year. On what has inspired her, she says "it's almost impossible, when you look around you, to see anything that has not in some way been fashioned by an engineer."
Also nominated for the Architecture sector.
