Engineering Excellence Worldwide
 
A Warm Welcome to Loukas
Loukas Lowe
In June this year Loukas Lowe joined K Home International (KHI) as part of its ongoing undergraduate scheme. Loukas is currently at Teesside University where he is studying towards a Masters degree in Civil Engineering. As part of his studies he will be carrying out his one year of industry within our Thornaby Head Office.We caught up with Loukas to see how he began his career within engineering and how he feels about our undergraduate scheme.The inspiration behind Loukas becoming an Engineer was from a very young age, he has always had a keen interest in design and construction, mainly by the influence from his parents who both graduated with degrees within Art and Design. Initially he had his eyes set on becoming an Architect but after undergoing a placement in an Architect's Office he felt he would like to have the opportunity to be more hands on, participating in the design and construction phase itself. As a result, Civil Engineering captured both the technical and creative aspects as well as the opportunities to be out on site.Loukas is a home-grown talent having studied at Stokesley School then progressing on to their Sixth Form excelling academically in both. He successfully received a place at Teesside University studying towards a 5 year sandwich MEng Civil Engineering Degree.The work he has been carrying out during his time at KHI is on various aspects of simple steel structures to produce a compliant design. Initially working by hand and progressing to use design software such as Tedds and STAAD. Performing relevant checks in accordance to British Standards Loukas is able to assign section properties to the design. With the added opportunity to design buildings baseplates, bolts, welds, siderails and purlins. Loukas has also visited site to observe the design and construction interface."I'm finding this scheme and the support of the KHI team extremely beneficial and I believe it's a great asset for my future ambitions." said Loukas.The future is bright for Loukas his plans are to gain sufficient engineering experience and skills that can be applied to his University studies to help gain a first class Masters degree, completing the course within the proposed 5 years. Once he has completed his Masters degree his aspirations are to gain further experience and training in order to become a fully qualified Chartered Engineer."Loukas has developed a great working relationship with all his peers, he has settled into the office environment very well and has joined the KHI 5 a-side football team. He is gaining as much experience as possible which I am very pleased to see." Said Amanda McMahon, Manager of Engineering at K Home International."I believe I speak for everyone here at KHI we wish Loukas the very best in his studies" added Amanda.