Ms Evans was selected from a shortlist of eight finalists and Elementa came out on top after six firms reached the final stage of the CIBSE Young Engineers’ Awards sponsored by Andrews Water Heaters, Kingspan Industrial Insulation, Swegon Group and the CIBSE Patrons.

The ceremony was held at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) in London and also saw the presentation of the IMechE’s special achievement award to Bruce Arnold, and the Geoffrey Engert Award for a young technician to Lucy Austin of Atkins.

The CIBSE Young Engineers’ Awards have been celebrating the industry’s best examples of young engineering talent for 23 years and give recognition to those companies who champion the next generation of engineers through a commitment to education, on the job training and mentoring.

Ms Evans, who wins a VIP trip to the ASHRAE Winter Conference in Atlanta next January, is a graduate of Leeds Beckett University and is a senior project engineer at NG Bailey. She joined the company as a first year building services engineering apprentice in 2011, before going on to achieve a first class honours degree in Building Services Engineering.

Finalists

First runner up was Hannah Müller-Jones of Buro Happold and the University of Nottingham, who received a £600 bursary from the Rumford Club. The second runner up was Gemma Taylor from Atkins and the University of the West of England, who wins £300.

It is only the second time in the 23-year history of the award that the top three places are all filled by women. The other five finalists all received £100 from the Manly Trust.

As well as being overall winner, Elementa won the medium-sized company category of the Employer Award with Black & White Engineering in second place. S.I. Sealy took the small employer category, with Services Design Solution second, while AECOM won the large company award ahead of Hoare Lea.

The Graduate Award finalists each had five minutes to make a presentation to the packed IMechE lecture hall. Their topic was: ‘Recent events have raised questions about how the industry manages and monitors professional competence and upholds technical standards. What does this mean to you as an engineer and where does the engineer’s responsibility begin and end?’

This was also the subject of a highly stimulating debate featuring the 2017 Graduate of the Year, Raphael Amajuoyi, and the presidents of the three supporting professional institutions: Sheila Hayter of ASHRAE, Stephen Lisk of CIBSE, and Tony Roche of the IMechE along with Rumford Club chairman Geoff Prudence.

 “Being part of the judging process and the debate was hugely enjoyable and enlightening,” said Mr Lisk. “It was fascinating to see how young engineers are facing up to the wide range of new challenges facing our profession. They also showed great enthusiasm for embracing change and taking responsibility for their work and its impact on our global society.”

For more information and details on how to enter next year’s awards, visit www.cibse.org/yea.